Sobotka and the coming security clampdown

As recently as two months ago, PM Bohuslav Sobotka said that it was very likely that the Islamic State and its various branches were operating in refugee camps in the Middle East, although the Czech government had no information from the intelligence services to the effect that any refugees detained here were linked to ISIS. Sobotka is now able to go on television, as he did yesterday, and declare that his government's reserved policy toward uncontrolled migration was right from the very beginning. This prudence, which grated so much on a small, vocal part of Czech society, will continue to serve Sobotka well as European leaders increase security precautions and further erode personal freedoms in reaction to the very security threat that they helped to create. Sobotka is in an ideal situation: He, too, will be delighted to clamp down, but he will be able to put the blame on not just the terrorists, but also on his EU counterparts.