Kubera's last hurray

Senate Pres. Jaroslav Kubera of ODS, who died yesterday at the age of 72, was at his best when he combined his wit with his keen political sagacity. Just hours after Miloš Zeman was elected president for the first time on Jan. 27, 2013, Kubera said that it was already clear that the CR was heading toward a presidential system. The government could fall, he half-joked, and Zeman could appoint Václav Klaus Sr. to head a technocratic government. The jokes continued when the government of Petr Nečas did indeed fall six months later. "We'll pick a new prime minister," Kubera said, "and they'll arrest him two weeks later." Instead, of course, Zeman appointed a Klaus-like technocratic government with Jiří Rusnok at the helm. In one of his last political statements, Kubera told MFD that Andrej Babiš would be the next PM. It startled some party colleagues, but he reassured them with a grin that it was all a ploy to lull the enemy into a sense of false security and then to pounce.