Czech preferences

[White Cossack]

germans never learn... Too bad Russians were too good on them.

[TsarSamuil]

Klaus supports his aide´s criticism of homosexual march.

Čtk.cz
05.08.2011, 20:03

Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus has backed up the controversial statements by his office deputy head Petr Hajek on a planned homosexual march in Prague, and he said the event should not be held under the auspices of the Prague mayor.

Hajek wrote that the homosexual carnival is a pressure action and a political demonstration of a world with deformed values, and he also called homosexuals "deviant fellow citizens."

Klaus writes in his statement released on his website www.klaus.cz. that the carnival is not a manifestation of homosexuality but "homosexual-ism" which he fears similarly like any other modern "-isms."

Hajek sharply criticised Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (senior government Civic Democratic Party, ODS) and chairman of the Prague ODS branch Boris Stastny for having supported the planned homosexual event.

The opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and the junior government Public Affairs (VV) today called on Klaus to distance himself from Hajek´s statements.

"I resolutely reject the demands voiced by the CSSD and the VV that I distance myself from the statements by Petr Hajek that he made in connection with Mayor Svoboda´s patronage of the Prague Pride event," Klaus said in reaction to the parties´ appeal.

"Though the statements were not mine and I would probably choose slightly different words, I do not feel any pride in the event either," Klaus says.

According to Klaus, Hajek is not protesting against the march alone but against the fact that this event is held under the auspices of the mayor, and possibly some political entities in the country.

"One thing is to tolerate it, but to express public support on behalf of a significant institution is something completely different," Klaus writes.

It is a mere quibble to demur at Hajek´s use of the word "deviation" in connection with homosexuals, Klaus notes, adding that he considers the word deviation neutral.

"In any case, homosexuality is a considerably minority phenomenon, and it deserves our protection as such, but not necessarily our apotheosis," Klaus writes.

Svoboda said he insists on the event being held under his auspices. He said he rejected any classification of people according to their race, religion or sexual orientation.

"Such classification proved to be more than pernicious in the past," Svoboda said.

Prague 1st district mayor Oldrich Lomecky (TOP 09) who is also a patron of the festival said his patronage is no preference but tolerance.

Lomecky rejected Hajek´s opinions. "These are claustrophobic views and the top of the iceberg is (Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring) Breivik. This view leads to intolerance," Lomecky pointed out.

Stastny said people may have different views on the mayor´s patronage but he added he considers unacceptable to label homosexuality a deviation.

Thirteen Prague-seated embassies, including those of Britain, Germany and the United States, expressed support to the Prague Pride. The British Embassy said this support had nothing to do with Klaus and Hajek´s stances.

The five-day Prague Pride Festival of Tolerance to be held by the gay and lesbian community for the first time in Prague on August 10-14 will culminate with a carnival parade in the centre on Saturday, August 13.

The festival is held under the aegis of Svoboda and Prague 1 (the city's historical centre) Mayor Oldrich Lomecky.

[TsarSamuil]

Political correctness destroys serious discussion - Klaus.

Čtk.cz
23.08.2011, 21:24

Alpbach - Czech President Vaclav Klaus believes the so-called political correctness destroys serious discussion, he said in his address on a life in a radically changing society at the annual European Forum Alpbach today.

Klaus focused on various stages through which the Czechoslovak and Czech society went during his life in his speech.

He praised the Alpbach Forum for enabling and supporting serious discussion. He said this seemed the sole reason why he continued to be invited to Alpbach in spite of his allegedly not politically correct views.

Klaus warned against current new, apparently less dangerous, ideologies and various "-isms" that try to limit and block human freedom like the Czechoslovak communist regime in the past.

He said communism is dead and it is pointless to fight against it now. However, some of the new ideologies do not threaten people´s lives physically but they do not respect unpleasant ideas and political stances very much, he added.

Klaus pointed out that present society in which he is living is far better than society under communism. He nevertheless said there is still a lot to be done.

Previously, Klaus warned against ideologies like "europeism", "multiculturalism" that he called a tragical mistake of the present Western civilisation and the ultimate cause of terrorism, "homosexualism" that he distinguished from homosexuality, and "environmentalism" that according to him wants to suppress economic growth and limit prosperity.

[TsarSamuil]

Czech operators to pass data to counter-intelligence - press.

Čtk.cz
23.08.2011, 08:19

Prague - The Czech Interior Ministry has placed a clause in the planned amendment to the electronic communications law under which operators of communication networks will have to provide data on cell phones and the Internet to the civilian and military counter-intelligence, daily Pravo writes today.

The legislation is to be dealt with by the government in late September, Pravo writes.

Pravo has written that along with the contacts of the persons in question, the required data will reveal their day-to-day movement as registered by operators' technologies, up to six months back.

Marek Benda and Jan Vidim, deputies for the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), said the secret services should only have access to the data under very strict conditions.

"This must have the same rules as bugging," Benda told the paper.

Jan Subrt, spokesman for the civilian counter-intelligence BIS, has dismissed any abuse of the data.

"We only demand this with the consent of a judge, as in the case of wiretapping," Subrt said.

Subrt said the operational and localisation details were vital for the BIS and in many cases had a bigger importance than the content of the conversation itself.

The amendment to the electronic communications law reacts to a ruling of the Constitutional Court from May stating that the police overused the phone statements and cancelled this method with which to break the right to privacy.

Under the amendment, operators will have the duty to secure the data against any abuse and it will be also strictly defined that the data must be stored for six months.

"The amendment to the criminal code limits the opportunity to demand the operational and localisation data only for the needs of criminal proceedings over deliberate crimes carrying the penalty of at least three years," Interior Ministry spokesman Pavel Novak told Pravo last week.

[TsarSamuil]

Over half of Czechs want Klaus to stay in politics-poll in press.

Čtk.cz
24.08.2011, 08:06

Prague - Over a half of Czechs or 55 percent wish President Vaclav Klaus did not leave politics after his presidential term expires, according to a poll conducted by the Millward Brown agency and released in today´s issue of the daily Lidove noviny (LN).

A quarter of respondents (28 percent) are of the view that Klaus, 70, should run in a possible direct presidential election.

On the contrary, over two-fifths of the polled (44 percent) say Klaus should withdraw from the political scene.

So far the both houses of parliament have elected Czech presidents.

Klaus´s second and last five-year term in office expires in March 2013. Klaus, former PM (1992-98), indicated previously that he would not like to withdraw from the public life afterwards.

A total of 15 percent of the polled want Klaus to return to the currently senior ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) which he helped established in 1991 and chaired until 2002.

Twelve percent support the idea of Klaus heading a completely new conservative party.

However, most people, over 70 percent, take a negative stance on Klaus´s possible cooperation with the controversial Ladislav Batora, head of the Education Ministry's personnel section, who was running for the extremist National Party (NS) in the past and now chairs the D.O.S.T. conservative group.

Klaus discussed the project of a new conservative party with Batora in the past. Batora confirmed to LN that he was prepared to help Klaus return to the political scene after his presidential term expires.

According to political analysts, Klaus has a chance to succeed with his political comeback no matter whether he returns to the ODS or establishes a new party.

The poll was conducted on 534 respondents on August 20-22.

[TsarSamuil]

Extra police will stay in turbulent Czech area as long as needed.

Čtk.cz
04.09.2011, 16:38

Prague - The Czech police will be reinforced in the Sluknov area, where violent incidents between Romanies and the majority population resulted in increased tension, as long as it will be needed to maintain order and security, Prime Minister and Civic Democrat (ODS) head Petr Necas said today.

Fifty riot policemen from Prague have recently been sent to the Sluknov area to help calm down the situation on Necas´s order. Originally, they were to stay in the area no more than three weeks.

The Police Presidium and the Interior Ministry will assess the situation and decide on the further steps to be taken, Necas said on a Prima TV disccusion programme today. He said four mobile police units may be established to operate in the Sluknov area in northern Bohemia.

Opposition Social Democrat (CSSD) leader Bohuslav Sobotka criticised the government for reacting belatedly to the violence in Sluknov area. He said the government´s politics even worsens the situation.

The CSSD shadow cabinet will hold in next meeting in northern Bohemia, Sobotka recalled.

In early August, five Romanies attacked guests to a bar with machetes in Novy Bor, northern Bohemia. Two weeks later, a group of Romanies beat several youths in nearby Rumburk.

Some local Romanies claimed that the problems were caused by newcomers to the area.

Locals started staging protests against the Romany violence and far-right groups organise them, too. Town halls from the area called on the government to help them deal with the social tension.

The Interior Ministry promised that a special riot unit of 200 policemen would be established at the end of the year.

Necas said today the problems in the Sluknov area and in other regions cannot be solved in a short time.

He recalled that the government agency for social inclusion has been dealing with the situation.

Necas said the solution was based on the following principles: the payment of welfare benefits needs to be linked to sending children to school and doing community work, and the same rules must be applied to all.

"It must be clear that when I receive welfare benefits, then I must do something for society," he said.

Sobotka argued that the police do not have enough money for operation costs and the planned mobile units will not be able to buy gasoline.

Necas said the police budget for operation costs would be increased by one billion crowns next year.

Karel Schwarzenberg, chairman of the junior government TOP 09, said the governments failed to prevent an unfortunate trend of moving poor Romanies to new areas.

He said entrepreneurs bought old houses inhabited by Romanies in the centres of towns and - with help from town halls that appreciated the idea of getting rid of the Romanies - they moved the Romanies to different regions and less lucrative areas.

Schwarzenberg indicated that at least a part of the problem would be solved if the Romanies returned to the locations in which they had been living before.

($1=17.053 crowns)

[CHORNYVOLK]

I love when Nato members have disputes.

[TsarSamuil]

Generous social policy causing unrest in north Bohemia - Czech PM.

Čtk.cz
17.09.2011, 12:20

Brno - A too generous social policy is one of the causes of the current problems in the Sluknov region, north Bohemia, afflicted by a tension between majority population and Romanies, Prime Minister Petr Necas said at a meeting of mayors for the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) today.

It is still more advantageous for many people to collect welfare benefits rather than to legally work, Necas said.

"I consider the abuse of the money of those working one of the reasons of the escalating problems," Necas said.

There are more causes of the existing state of affairs, he added.

The state should primarily ensure public security and protection of ownership, Necas said.

It is an illusion that "there are miraculous and rapid recipes," he added.

Tension between Romanies and the majority population has been growing for long in the Sluknov border area adjoining Germany and Poland.

The situation came to a head at the beginning of August when a group of Romanies armed with machetes attacked people in a bar in Novy Bor, north Bohemia. Two weeks later up to 20 Romanies assaulted six members of the majority population by in Rumburk.

In reaction to the violence, local residents have convoked several anti-Romany demonstrations.

The state has sent riot police to north Bohemia.

Necas said they would stay in the region as long as necessary.

"People must have the feeling of being safe in the streets," Necas said.

Necas said the current situation called for changes in legislation.

A number of proposals have been tabled, he added.

Under one of them, repeated and continual minor violation of law is to be considered a criminal act carrying an alternative punishment, Necas said.

Necas said the payment of welfare benefits should be bound to regular school attendance of the parents' children.

"Those living on welfare must render some work to the community. No money is free," Necas said.

A few days ago, mayors from the towns in the Sluknov region turned to Necas in an open letter. They accused him of passivity and lack of interest in the problems of the region and asked him to come and help them.

Necas is likely to go to the Sluknov region next week.

[TsarSamuil]

Anti-Romany protesters, their opponents verbally clash in Prague.

Čtk.cz
01.10.2011, 16:16

Prague - Tens of anti-Romany demonstrators from Varnsdorf, north Bohemia, verbally clashed with protesters against racism at their rallies and during a march in Prague centre today, but the police anti-conflict team prevented any brawls, dividing both groups.

Dozens policemen and a special riot unit were monitoring the events.

Police have detained two people at the demonstrations.

A 23-year-old who was chanting racist slogans faces an accusation of incitement of racial hatred. Another 24-year-old man was detained on attempting to mar the march of Varnsdorf inhabitants to the Government Office, police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova said.

Some 60 people attended a meeting against racism and social exclusion that started on Palacky square in Prague at 13:00. It was also staged in protest against a demonstration challenging anti-discrimination and political correctness that inhabitants of Varnsdorf in the turbulent Sluknov border area scheduled at the same place at 16:00.

"This event should be an effort to make another voice be heard than the voice of organised racists, neo-Nazis and xenophobes," one of the organisers of the first rally, from the Alerta association, said.

The organisers also enabled people with different opinions to speak up at the rally. One young man, for instance, complained about a problematic cohabitation with Romanies at a housing estate in Prague.

A group of people headed by Lukas Kohout, organiser of anti-Romany meetings in north Bohemia, came to the spot at 15:00.

The inhabitants of Varnsdorf, who have been complaining about Romany crime, called on the opponents to take Romanies to their homes. They were chanting a slogan "Gypsies to Prague," said a CTK reporter who was on the spot.

Several Praguers came to support the anti-Romany protesters who mainly expressed indignation at the banners reading "Nazis, Go Away from Prague" and "Down with Nazis".

They denied having anything in common with neo-Nazism and the far-right Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS), successor to the outlawed Workers' Party (DS).

Nevertheless, one of the DSSS deputy heads was the first speaker at the anti-Romany rally and DSSS supporters were also among its organisers.

"These people want the government to take notice of it and finally start solving the problems of the Sluknov Hook," Kohout told reporters.

Participants in the anti-Romany demonstration could also sign a petition against lowering the prison sentence imposed on a Romany who beat up, robbed and raped a 12-year-old boy from a children's home in Krupka, north Bohemia, last year.

The anti-Romany demonstrators then marched to the government seat. The march was not officially announced beforehand but the City Hall gave consent to it.

Policemen were accompanying them to prevent direct clashes with their opponents.

The protesters from Varnsdorf were marching on the left bank of the Vltava River, while participants in the anti-racism rally were on the right bank.

The march culminated in a battle of words outside the Government Office.

The Varnsdorf inhabitants were chanting "We Are Not Racists, We Just Want Rule of Law" in reaction to their opponents´ slogan "Racism Is The Problem". Both camps agreed on one joint slogan only: "Work for Romanies".

A coach to pick up the people from Varnsdorf arrived in the city centre at around 18:00 and the protest thereby ended.

Kohout said at the end that the protests would continue in north Bohemia on Sunday, and he thanked the DSSS for support.

Tension between Romanies and the majority population has been growing in the North Bohemian Sluknov border area, adjoining Germany and Poland, lately.

Anti-Romany demonstrations have been staged in Rumburk, Varnsdorf and other towns in the area since August in reaction to Romany violent attacks and other crimes. Demonstrators marching to Romanies' dormitories clashed with the police several times.

The situation in Sluknov escalated in mid-August when up to 20 Romanies assaulted six members of the majority population in Rumburk. Two weeks earlier a group of Romanies armed with machetes attacked people in a bar in nearby Novy Bor.

Right-wing extremist movements joined the anti-Romany rallies trying to abuse the situation to win political support.

[TsarSamuil]

Anti-Roma Protests Flare in Czech Republic.

Novinite.com
World | October 4, 2011, Tuesday| 172 views

The town of Varnsdorf, located in the Czech Republic off the border with Germany, has seen repeated protests against the local Roma minority.

The local rallies have especially targeted about 60 Roma living in a social housing complex; the protests have resulted in the local Roma living in fear, DPA reported Tuesday.

Riot police have been lined up to protect the Roma-inhabited building which has become the focal point of local protest marches. The Roma building is under constant video surveillance, and a permanent police watch has been set up at a neighboring house.

The central government in Prague has drafted in several hundred officers to this remote region for an unspecified length of time.

"Roma to work," chanted the Czech demonstrators. The Roma, however, say no Czech employer of Slav origin is willing to hire them.

"We believe (the protests) could have serious psychological effects on (Roma) children,' says German journalist Markus Pape, founder of a social initiative called Hatred is Not a Solution, as cited by DPA.

Pape organized a film screening and prepared a play to distract the children, who make up two-thirds of Roma at the Sport housing complex.

The black economy is the only chance of employment for the Roma, says one man, who lives on a meagre social welfare allowance together with his wife and five children.

Why there is such hatred of the Roma in Varnsdorf, he cannot say. 'Maybe they just want to live a racist adventure on weekends,' he quips sarcastically, as cited by DPA.

The demonstrators also claim that an influx of Roma has made crime rates soar in Varnsdorf. Police figures, however, show that criminality has risen by just 0.9% over the past five years.

Extensive research by the Radiozurnal radio station was unable to find evidence of any noticeable increase in the number of Roma - now estimated at about 500 people - in the economically underdeveloped town of 16,000 residents.

However, with the unemployment rate in the Decin district running at more than 15%, march organizer Lukas Kohout has been able to attract up to 350 angry demonstrators to protest the Roma presence in Varnsdorf.

The 28-year-old made national headlines in 2002 when it emerged that he had travelled around the world by falsely pretending to be an assistant to former foreign minister Jan Kavan, at the time serving as the chairman of the United Nations General Assembly.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas visited the Varnsdorf area in September in an apparent attempt to show he had the situation under control. Necas should be glad he was not robbed, said Kohout, who intends to keep up his anti-Roma campaign.

The protests the Czech Republic's Varnsdorf appear similar in nature to the anti-Roma rallies in major Bulgarian over cities in past 10 days, which erupted after the associates of a Roma boss, Kiril Rashkov, aka Tsar Kiro, ran over and killed, allegedly deliberately, witnesses say, 19-year-old Angel Petrov, an ethnic Bulgarian boy from the village of Katunitsa near Plovdiv.

[TsarSamuil]

Former Czech President, Dissident Vaclav Havel Dies.

Novinite.com
Obituaries | December 18, 2011, Sunday| 412 views



The former President of Czechoslovakia and one of the most well known dissidents in Eastern Europe Vaclav Havel has passed away.

Havel, a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician, has died at the age of 75.

His assistant Sabina Dancecova said Havel died Sunday morning at his weekend house in the northern Czech Republic.

Václav Havel, who was born in Prague in 1936, became a respected playwright in the 1960s before he became a leader of Czechoslovakia's anti-communist opposition.

He spent some five years in communist prisons. Havel first came to international fame as a dissident playwright in the 1970s through his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77.

He was elected the country's president in the wake of the Velvet revolution in December 1989, and the president of the Czech Republic in 1993, a post he held for ten years.

Havel was his country's first democratically elected president after the nonviolent "Velvet Revolution" that ended four decades of repression by the Soviet-imposed communist regime.

As president, he oversaw the country's transition to democracy and a free-market economy, as well its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003).

He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally.

Havel has received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award and several other distinctions.

He was also voted 4th in Prospect magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.

Havel is known as one of the most famous dissidents in the communist countries in Eastern Europe since before the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968 by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

[TsarSamuil]

Prince, Ex-PM to Square Off in Czech Runoff Vote.

MOSCOW, January 12 (RIA Novosti) – Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg created a local political sensation on Saturday by making it to the runoff of the country’s first direct presidential vote, where he would face former Prime Minister Milos Zeman.

Social democrat Zeman, 68, led the first round of the elections with 24.2 percent of the vote, the Czech Statistical Office said after counting more than 99 percent of the ballots.

Schwarzenberg, a prince from an 800-year-old aristocratic family who holds center-right views, had 23.5 percent, defying opinion polls most of which pegged him as the second or third runner-up.

Another ex-Prime Minister, Jan Fischer, named the most likely runner-up, was only third with 16.4 percent.

Leftist politician Jiri Dienstbier Jr. was fourth with 16.1 percent, while the remaining five candidates all scored in the single digits.

The turnout at the vote, which took place on Friday and Saturday, was 61.2 percent. The runoff will be held on Jan. 25 and 26.

The presidential office in the Czech Republic is vested with considerable authority. Since the country declared independence in 1993, the president was elected by the parliament, but rules were amended last year, paving the way for the first presidential elections in the country.

Schwarzenberg, 75, who spent the years of Communist rule in emigration, is known for his considerable wealth and has been proclaimed Czech Republic’s richest politician – which, he claimed, makes him immune to corruption.

On the other hand, Zeman, who was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002, is reputed to be the country’s poorest politician and considered to be incorruptible, though his Party of Civic Rights – Zemanovci admitted to ties to pro-Russian lobbyists.

[TsarSamuil]

President Klaus stll most trusted politician in Czech Republic: poll.

English.news.cn 2013-01-15 04:50:21

PRAGUE, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The outgoing President Vaclav Klaus is still the most trusted politician for Czech people, according to a poll released Monday.

In the poll conducted by the CVVM polling institute in early December, Klaus was in the first place with popularity of 51 percent, 3 percent higher than last summer.

The second place went to Constitutional Court Chairman Pavel Rychetsky whose popularity increased from 43 to 48 percent and Chamber of Deputies Chairwoman Miroslava Nemcova took the third place with 37-percent popularity.

Current Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who took the lead in the presidential election with former Prime Minister Milos Zeman, was in the fourth place with 36 percent.

Klaus has been the most trustworthy politician since the poll was first conducted in 2010.

[TsarSamuil]

Favorite to win Czech elections calls Kosovo "terrorist"

B92, Danas
Politics | January 24, 2013 | 14:05

PRAGUE -- The favorite to win the Czech presidential elections runoff, Miloš Zeman, has voiced strong criticism of Kosovo.

Speaking for the ČTK news agency he said that if elected, he would "not allow a Czech ambassador to be sent to Priština".

"I would withdraw even the charge d'affaires that is there now, let alone send an ambassador. I consider Kosovo a terrorist regime financed by narco-mafias," Belgrade-based daily Danas is quoting Zeman as saying.

According to opinion polls, Zeman is more likely to win in the second round of the elections, scheduled for late January. His opponent is Karel Schwarzenberg.

It was the opposition of the outgoing president, Vaclav Klaus, that prevented the appointment of an ambassador in Priština, although the Czech Republic is among the 22 of EU's 27 nations that have recognized Kosovo.

Ethnic Albanians there five years ago unilaterally declared independence - a proclamation that Serbia rejects and considers unconstitutional.

[TsarSamuil]

Czech New President Milos Zeman: I am All Citizens' Voice.

Novinite.com
World | January 26, 2013, Saturday| 464 views

Former PM Milos Zeman, who won the Czech Republic's presidential election in a triumphant return to the big political stage, has promised to be president of all people in the country.

With all the votes counted, Milos Zeman won 54.8% of the vote for the largely ceremonial post, the Czech Statistics Office reported. His opponent, conservative Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, had 45.2%.

"Long live Zeman!" his supporters chanted at his campaign headquarters in Prague.

"I promise that as a president elected in a direct popular vote I will try to be the voice of all citizens," Zeman said.

Voters seemed to punish Schwarzenberg for the government's unpopular austerity cuts that aimed to reduce the budget deficit.

"It definitely didn't help me," Schwarzenberg said, adding he will continue to serve as foreign minister.

Czechs were electing the country's president in a direct popular vote for the first time, choosing a leader to replace euro-skeptic President Vaclav Klaus.

Klaus' second and final term in office ends March 7.

The new president will be sworn in the following day.

Correspondents in Prague have stressed that Czechs had to choose between two very different candidates - Zeman, the acerbic former Social Democrat prime minister, and Karel Schwarzenberg, the elderly, aristocratic foreign minister.

Zeman is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking politician, known for his witty put-downs of his political opponents while Schwarzenberg is a titled prince, 75 years old but wildly popularly amongst young, urban voters, BBC correspondent said.

In the early 1990s, Schwarzenberg worked as chancellor to the President Vaclav Havel, the leader of the Velvet Revolution that brought down Communist rule in 1989.

The new president will represent the Czech Republic abroad and appoint candidates to the constitutional court and the central bank, but does not carry much day-to-day power.