There were some rather interesting comments recently posted at several previous entries. Rather than respond to them there -- where they would likely be obscured by thick sedimentary layers of others' random musings -- I thought it best to break everything out here as a wholly separate entry.

After reading the heated replies to this particular post, I was reminded of my late grandfather's expression for precisely situations like these: Mir darf os chillin', he would say. Loosely translated it meant, "cool it, bubba."

I'd like a clear explanation from someone precisely why Zdenek Svejnar's reputed collaboration with the former Statni Bezpecnost negatively affects his son's campaign for Czech Head of State?

I ask because if this is, in fact, the yardstick via which we measure his son's candidacy for Czech Presidency, then you can add the following prominent international statesmen to the list of supposed personae non gratae:

** Francois Mitterand, who was endlessly dogged by alleged Vichy-era ties during the latter part of his leadership in France. Apt for Cesko, since this would be yet another example of a noted head of state with potentially compromised relationships...and, friends, Mr. Svejnar is not (yet?) on the stature of a Mitterand (neither is Mr. Klaus, for that matter).

** Konrad Adenauer, first post-WWII German Chancellor. Here was a leader who did much to not only heal the Continental rift which had developed in war-torn Europe, but he restored relations with the then-nascent State of Israel, and cooperated magnificently with the Allied Occupying Authority in West Germany for a smooth post-War transition.

Adenauer was reputed to be a member of the Hitler Juegend (i..e Hitler Youth), but since the Americans were too busy outmanoevering Soviet spooks in Berlin at the outbreak of what was then to become the Cold War, no one messed around in Adenauer's closet. A tacit agreement was made: a certain threshold of former Nazis would be permitted to serve in the Bundestag as a "healing measure." For the same reason, Czechs shouldn't be mucking around in Zdenek Svejnar's dirty laundry, christ...

** take pretty much the entire Spanish government and cabinet in the post-Franco context, following the (re)ascendancy of King Juan Carlos I (de Borbon) of Spain to the Spanish throne. Is someone going to tell me with 100% certainty that first post-Franco PM Navarro hadn't a single relative that potentially had dealings with Spain's dreaded Guardia Civil?

** the famous scandal surrounding former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, and his very questionable service in the war on the Eastern Front in the Wehrmacht and then in Northern Greece, as part of his service in the mounted core of the Stuerm Abteilung (SA). Talk of Waldheim's Nazi ties during his Secretary-Generalship of the UN in the '70s and '80s completely destroyed his reputation.

** the lustration madness taking place in our neighbour to the northeast, Poland. Have we become like them already (Heaven Forbid!)?


Allow me to remind you:

** we don't elect Svejnar, 280 Czech Deputies and Senators do!
** he's a figurehead president with very little legislative authority. And even if he is elected come Friday -- and Paroubek subsequently becomes PM -- guess who runs in the roost in that kind of configuration (wink, wink)? And this is a problem?
** how much higher will Klaus' hot air rise once he's nominated to a second term? If you think it's bad now, think of all the damage control we'd have to do then.

So it begs the question -- why is this Friday's presidential face off such a hot button issue for locals?

Instead of taking all your energy out on Klaus vs. Svejnar, how about grounding your roiling frustrations into the NGO or private sectors, to evoke more meaningful change (completely under your control)?

People, people, people...cool those heels, please!