Irish angered by Czech president: Financial Times FT.com »
Posted By gamahuche 1 year ago in Political NewsIreland was on Wednesday night embroiled in an unseemly row with Vaclav Klaus over an outspoken attack by the Czech president on the European Union's Lisbon treaty.
Read Full Story at ft.com »
307 Views Share Story 1 Comment Report
Submitted By:
gamahuche
"I would rather be a square peg than fit in a pigeon hole" -
an essay which won me the "Lamb Essay Prize" at the Religious ...
Who Also Submitted: All »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 4 (view all)
-
Neutral
gamahuche1 year ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Our elected President - not by me! - declined to fly the EU flag over Prague Castle for the 6 month period that we would "enjoy" the Presidency of the E.U. because he is PERSONALLY too much of a sceptic to do so.
Reply
Never mind that a solid majority of our population and of our politicians are absolutely in favour of taking our place and paying our rightful role in Europe,in short order he trotted off to the Republic of Ireland where he thoroughly disgraced us and considerably p***ed off his hosts by hanging out with his equivalent Irish sceptic, presumably plotting, while the Irish government was already wringing its collective hands in embarrassment about not meeting their obligations and potentially putting the entire treaty at risk.
One paradox is that, economically at least, Ireland has moved into the 21st C in amazing style, going from one of the most economically backward countries in Europe to being an economic powerhouse. [There are, however, some people who do not agree that this has been worth the price because of, for example, intense pollution of lakes.]
That was definitely not Mr Klaus's point of view, however. Shortly before this trip he was in the US promoting his denial of global warming - an English-language edition of his book - where the attention that his Press Conference in Portland OR, received,for example, totalled 3 reporters. One of these, who worked for a website, was a former reporter for the Eng. language weekly The Prague Post, and from hus prior experience of Mr Klaus, came prepared to give him a very hard time. I imagine hus only good impression of Portland, since he didn't have the honour of meeting out very own TC, was drinking a few beers in a brew pub owned by some Czech descendants, where he waxed lyrical and for a few minutes he must have appeared like a pleasant and likeable human in this exchange with the Czech Ambassador:
"This is a most unusual beer," said ambassador Kolar as he took a pull from his imperial pint. "We believe that beer is more than just a drink --- it is medicine, and not just for the body but for the soul."
President Klaus agreed: "To do something in space is irrelevant," he said, raising a glass to Ockert, "but to make good beer, that is something."-
Neutral
gamahuche1 year ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
[Just to make clear I'm not JUST grinding my own axe.. From another part of the same paper as this original story is from, today..]
Reply
Prague - Almost three-fourths of Czechs believe that President Vaclav Klaus should not present his private views abroad regardless of the government's position, and a half of them say Klaus, with his opinions, harms the image of the Czech Republic, Czech Television said today, citing a STEM poll result.
-
-
Neutral
gamahuche1 year ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is quite a full account of this matter in the Times Online - most of which is accurate though some of the information is a little tendentious.The provocateur from Prague indeed!
Reply
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/irelan... -
Neutral
gamahuche1 year ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
“I would say that the Czechs share the views of the citizens of Ireland,” he said, referring to the verdict of the referendum in June.
Reply
This is one completely false statement, for example.
The Czechs are VERY determined to take their place in Europe - partly because they loved for so many decades - even centuries subjugated by foreign interests.
What the article also doesn't refer to is Klaus's extremely dubious relationship with Westinghouse and his personal rich rewards from approving the construction of a nuclear power plant in a "green" area of South Bohemia.
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.