The two Mireks
The way Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek is defending the Czech budget from expensive spending packages is admirable, but the points he wins there are nullified by his revenue-depletion policies in other areas. Wherever there are gaping holes with money gushing through them - whether in privatization, EU funding, environmental cleanup, defense procurement or arbitration settlements - Kalousek's fingerprints are all over the place. The longer he stays in office, the more he drags his protector, Mirek Topolánek, down with him. When George Bush finally found the courage to sack Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, it boosted his fortunes and gave hope that the mess in Iraq could be cleaned up. Topolánek, a great admirer of the moral dimension Bush brought to politics, might find that the price he must pay for winning the next parliamentary elections is cutting Kalousek loose.
Glossary of difficult words
two Mireks - Topolánek and Kalousek (the short form of Kalousek's first name, Miroslav, is Mirek);to nullify - to cancel out; to make of no use or value;
to deplete - to diminish in number or quantity;
gaping - wide, huge;
to gush - to flow out in a rapid and plentiful stream;
procurement - the act of acquiring equipment or supplies;
to cut someone loose - (in this context) to let someone go.