Sobotka finds a new godfather

Zdeněk Bakala is rather useless these days as a godfather, and this requires Bohuslav "Suitcase" Sobotka to find a new patron. You won't hear about it from the mainstream media, and especially not from Czech TV, but the hand Sobotka now kisses is Petr Kellner's. If Sobotka has suddenly taken a keen interest in the highway-toll tender, it's because his task is to see to it that Kellner's SkyToll supplants Kapsch as the keeper of the gates. If the industry ministry is looking at taxing wi-fi frequencies, keep in mind that Sobotka and Vladimír Mlynář of PPF first joined forces in the Špidla cabinet to squeeze value out of Český Telecom. If, as the international press likes to note, the CR is still soft on Russia, blame it not just on Miloš Zeman, but also on Sobotka's efforts to mitigate the awkward situation of Kellner's Home Credit unit. Sobotka and Zeman might be at odds otherwise, but they're on the same wavelength when it comes to PPF.