This was so informative as I have little to no knowledge about the politics of the region. Shame on me. I recently visited Bratislava Slovakia and absolutely loved it. Charming. And I agree that the Czech people are just lovely.
My father served in the American army, infantry, in WWll, and was fighting in Czechoslovakia when the war ended. He never talked about the war, I think there were horrible memories, but he talked with a smile about the Czechs. The ones he knew loved the Americans. Of course they did.
He said that from out of nowhere came meat and alcohol hidden during the war, gratefully shared with their liberators. He told of parties in cold barns, with one accordion player. In no time, everyone was dancing (the polka?) and no one was cold. Everyone was so happy.
After the war, he always had a cocktail when he got home from work, and every night he would toast me and my sister in Czech. "Nasdrovy!" he would say, and we would answer, "Sport dues dar!" I know my Czech words are mangled, but the spirit was love for the Czechoslovakian people.
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” - William Faulkner. I believe that all countries distort their history to justify what they do in the present. We certainly have been guilty of that in our own country. Just look at how Trump recently exaggerated the role of the US in World War II. As truly significant and decisive our role was, you still cannot ignore the fact that ~80% of all German soldiers killed in the war died on the Eastern Front. We are still fighting over the history of the Civil War and its aftermath, particularly the "Lost Cause" myth that dominated our history for so long. And talk about forgetting who the bad guys are, we named US Army bases after Confederate generals who were responsible for killing and wounding thousands of US Army Soldiers. Even now, the history of 2020 election and January 6th are being officially rewritten. The administration is also attempting in direct what our universities teach and the DoD is banning books to ensure are military remain uncorrupted by "politically incorrect" ideas.
Stalin was a horrible person, as is Putin. But . . . Russia was extremely important in winning WWII. It lost the most people (largely due to Stalin), but it was there so Hitler could open a second front and lose. If not for Russia's presence and size, we'd be eating wienerschnitzel outside Buckingham palace. I often judge people (often unfairly) by what role they'd be given by central casting. Look at the photo of Fico. Obviously the villain. Or at least a mean henchman.
And amazingly, survived an assassination attempt almost exactly one year ago by an unstable man upset with Fico's "anti-EU stance" and the assailant's wish for Slovakia to supply munitions to Ukraine. IOW, a person upset with Fico's Putinism. Yes, a very unattractive villain indeed.
Terrific post! Can you write the next one in response to your own question:
> What is more difficult to understand is how the likes of Fico came to dominate the politics of their countries, especially under the banner of phony patriotism.
A Hungarian friend told me “I don’t care about democracy, I just want them to have a plan.” This was in Orban’s second year in power.
A Chinese grandmother told me, the 80s were better because everyone was poor, now the difference between the lives of the rich and poor is so vast.
My guess is that for the small states in Eastern Europe, not to mention Ukraine & Russia, once the Soviet Union collapsed, they got crony capitalism and corruption.
And they saw that the West cheered capitalism more than democracy. And since they got the worst form of capitalism and the weakest form of democracy, they soured on both and embraced nostalgia.
It was unfortunate indeed that the Soviet Union fell with a Republican administration in power. Instead of heavy investment and acceptance of Russia into the EU, it was all about bootstraps pulling and the "miracle of unfettered markets."
This was so informative as I have little to no knowledge about the politics of the region. Shame on me. I recently visited Bratislava Slovakia and absolutely loved it. Charming. And I agree that the Czech people are just lovely.
My father served in the American army, infantry, in WWll, and was fighting in Czechoslovakia when the war ended. He never talked about the war, I think there were horrible memories, but he talked with a smile about the Czechs. The ones he knew loved the Americans. Of course they did.
He said that from out of nowhere came meat and alcohol hidden during the war, gratefully shared with their liberators. He told of parties in cold barns, with one accordion player. In no time, everyone was dancing (the polka?) and no one was cold. Everyone was so happy.
After the war, he always had a cocktail when he got home from work, and every night he would toast me and my sister in Czech. "Nasdrovy!" he would say, and we would answer, "Sport dues dar!" I know my Czech words are mangled, but the spirit was love for the Czechoslovakian people.
Thank you for this piece.
Alexander Dubcek, a Slovak Communist of a very different and far nobler sort, must be spinning in his grave at the craven duplicity of Fico.
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” - William Faulkner. I believe that all countries distort their history to justify what they do in the present. We certainly have been guilty of that in our own country. Just look at how Trump recently exaggerated the role of the US in World War II. As truly significant and decisive our role was, you still cannot ignore the fact that ~80% of all German soldiers killed in the war died on the Eastern Front. We are still fighting over the history of the Civil War and its aftermath, particularly the "Lost Cause" myth that dominated our history for so long. And talk about forgetting who the bad guys are, we named US Army bases after Confederate generals who were responsible for killing and wounding thousands of US Army Soldiers. Even now, the history of 2020 election and January 6th are being officially rewritten. The administration is also attempting in direct what our universities teach and the DoD is banning books to ensure are military remain uncorrupted by "politically incorrect" ideas.
Stalin was a horrible person, as is Putin. But . . . Russia was extremely important in winning WWII. It lost the most people (largely due to Stalin), but it was there so Hitler could open a second front and lose. If not for Russia's presence and size, we'd be eating wienerschnitzel outside Buckingham palace. I often judge people (often unfairly) by what role they'd be given by central casting. Look at the photo of Fico. Obviously the villain. Or at least a mean henchman.
And amazingly, survived an assassination attempt almost exactly one year ago by an unstable man upset with Fico's "anti-EU stance" and the assailant's wish for Slovakia to supply munitions to Ukraine. IOW, a person upset with Fico's Putinism. Yes, a very unattractive villain indeed.
Terrific post! Can you write the next one in response to your own question:
> What is more difficult to understand is how the likes of Fico came to dominate the politics of their countries, especially under the banner of phony patriotism.
If we can begin to understand how their people chose Fico and Orban, we may be able to get a better handle on how our people chose Trump.
A Hungarian friend told me “I don’t care about democracy, I just want them to have a plan.” This was in Orban’s second year in power.
A Chinese grandmother told me, the 80s were better because everyone was poor, now the difference between the lives of the rich and poor is so vast.
My guess is that for the small states in Eastern Europe, not to mention Ukraine & Russia, once the Soviet Union collapsed, they got crony capitalism and corruption.
And they saw that the West cheered capitalism more than democracy. And since they got the worst form of capitalism and the weakest form of democracy, they soured on both and embraced nostalgia.
There’s MAGA people with the same take. Example: the wildly pro-Russia Tucker Carlson. No idea what’s motivating him.
Who knows about Carlson. I think he thinks he should be more powerful than he is
I think you’re right.
Very well said. Has something along those lines happened here, unbelievably?
Yes, I think that’s a good part of it. I wrote about it from a different perspective a little while ago.
https://substack.com/@cgchi1871/p-161467101
It was unfortunate indeed that the Soviet Union fell with a Republican administration in power. Instead of heavy investment and acceptance of Russia into the EU, it was all about bootstraps pulling and the "miracle of unfettered markets."
Good point!
All the post-Soviet countries had some sorts of economic collapses. Most of them are now EU member states.
The mistake was to treat Russia as the heir of the USSR.
To be fair, it was the same after Clinton won. The consensus that trade and capitalism led to freedom and democracy was bipartisan