What happens if we lose the wars?
Gideon Rachman, chief foreign-affairs columnist for the Financial Times, wrote this week that Iran could emerge "stronger and more dangerous" from the war with the United States and Israel. Iran's international position could be strengthened, he said. He didn't say bluntly that Iran could be the winner of the Middle East war, but that's one way to interpret his arguments. Rachman can get away with this because the Overton window about Iran and Ukraine is shifting. Not, however, in the Czech Republic. Anyone who steps outside the bounds of acceptable speech as prescribed by Czech TV, Czech Radio and the rest of the mainstream media, the BIS counterintelligence agency and the state prosecution is ostracized. The result is a deeply divided society and, often, investment, career and personal decisions that are based on one-sided assessments of the world situation. The reality is that the West is in two wars that it probably won't win, and most Czechs have been prevented from mentally preparing for this.
Glossary of difficult words
to get away with - to escape blame or punishment;
Overton window - the range of policies and ideas that the mainstream public finds acceptable at any given time;
to prescribe - (in this context) to state authoritatively or as a rule that (an action or procedure) should be carried out;
to ostracize - to exclude from a society or group.