Czech-Slovak spy wars

PM Petr Fiala told Václav Moravec of Czech TV yesterday that neither he nor any of his ministers intervene in Slovak domestic affairs, but Moravec didn't follow up by asking if the same applies to Pres. Petr Pavel. It was Pavel who said on Jan. 24 that "no signs of a coup in the making have taken place" in Slovakia. This was in direct contradiction to what his Slovak counterpart, Peter Pellegrini, had said at a press briefing one day before and to what the Slovak Security Council had stated in a resolution. That official document spoke of an "attack on the constitutional order" and an "attempt to change the government." Perhaps the Czech intelligence agencies told Pavel that Pellegrini, the Security Council and Slovak PM Robert Fico were lying. Or perhaps the reports Pavel received affirmed what they had said. Either way, Pavel's intervention suggests that Slovakia is a test case for seeing whether the structures put in place in Central Europe during the Obama-Biden era will continue under Donald Trump.