Bigger than the Velvet Revolution

Lidové noviny misquoted Václav Klaus Sr. when it wrote on its front page on March 21 that he considers the coronavirus situation to be "the biggest event of our lives." He actually said, "the biggest event of its type of our lives." This seemed to eliminate the Velvet Revolution, whereas Angela Merkel did indeed include the reunification of Germany when she said a few days earlier that this is the biggest challenge for Germany since World War II. One thing seems to be clear when looking back on 1989 from today's perspective: The world was better prepared for the fall of the Berlin Wall than it was for this virus. Klaus told LN in Oct. that he and a small group at the Forecasting Institute had studied for years and were basically ready when Communism collapsed. Today, we have all kinds of highly trained epidemiologists and experts, yet they can't even agree on whether banknotes can transmit the virus or if there's a benefit to wearing a mask to protect against what is described as a highly contagious disease. These worldly experts are starting to resemble the clueless Communists who were ousted in 1989.