Czech Republic // Current TV

Vaclav Havel (1936-2011)

A tribute via the BBC World Service Newshour program.

Gordonskene
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Did Czechs, not Germans, destroy Woodrow Wilson statue?

In the United States the Czech Republic is known for two things: a distrust of vowels... more

cornucopia3000
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Hail to the thief: Czech President caught stealing a pen on live TV

President of Czech Republic Václav Klaus "steals" pen during his... more

sbacker
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Teenage Hijacker Tells His Story

Michael recounts the story of how he and two other 15-year-olds attempted to hijack a... more

frank_runyeon
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If You Discount The Earthquake, Financial Crisis And The Blackout In Canada, January 10, 1998 Was A Pretty Ho-Hum Day. | Newstalgia

Still looking for that day in history where nothing happened. It wasn't this one... more

Gordonskene
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Mistaking Ewan McGregor for Jude Law: Long Way Round Web Extra

In this web extra, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman meet Prague fans. Ewan gladly... more

MikeBunnell
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Fred Terna and Rebecca Shiffman: An oral history of a Jewish-American marriage - New York NY | Examiner.com

I interviewed Fred and Rebecca in August 2007 in their Clinton Hill, Brooklyn... more

davidfcooper
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Chuck Norris stars in T-Mobile Christmas campaign (in the Czech Republic)

No, you're not joking (and not in one of the list of jokes), but Chuck Norris has... more

smurph25
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Czech Prez: Climate Change Is No Threat

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Climate change is not a threat and the consequences of... more

rodstradamus
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Czech President Speaks Out Against Global Governance

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday... more

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Police arrest Czech lawyer defending Armenian mafia boss

The Czech police organised crime squad Friday arrested well-known defence lawyer... more

Flare_Network
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Czech Republic: police detain 21 Vietnamese on suspicion of marijuana growing

The Czech police and customs officers detained 21 Vietnamese on suspicion of growing... more

Flare_Network
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Czech Republic becomes EU crystal meth capital

An EU member for six years, it has already flooded the continent with a deadly drug.... more

Flare_Network
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Burned Little 3-Year-Old Girl a Symbol of Roma Hate... and Hope | Czech Republic

Watch more about the Roma's plight on CNN International World's Untold... more

EthicalVegan
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Man who caught runaway tram could face jail

The tram moved out of the depot without a driver and kept moving even when the... more

Mcellie
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Czechs Defeat Russians 2-1 in World Finals!!

The underdog Czech national team has just defeated the Russians in a scrappy fight to... more

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Boost Voter Turnout... with Beer?

The Czech Republic is a country of 10.5 million people with the largest beer... more

frank_runyeon
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Worldwide cybertheft: 70 arrests in Romania

Romanian police arrested 70 suspects Tuesday who they claim were involved in eBay... more

Flare_Network
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Dissent in 2.0, the internet versus Václav Klaus

This post is a tag team operation organized by Andrew Fitzgerald of Current_News. I found funny pictures on behalf of Current_Comedy.
The Czech President, Václav Klaus, has been doing his best to hold up the EU’s Lisbon Treaty for a while now, but today he finally ratified it. He’s famously skeptical of the EU, but plenty of people put plenty of pressure on him. Lisbon aims to further unify the EU – giving Europe a President and a “foreign representative” for example. Václav Klaus, notably, is not Václav Havel – the only other post-Soviet Czech President who confusingly also happens to have the first name “Václav.” Havel, a rock star on the diplomatic circuit, is much more liberal – Klaus is considered much more conservative. -AF
The current state of the internet, makes finding subcultures easy. Quick Facebook searches, yield groups of dissenters. Flickr finds photos of objectors. Then Google Translate roughly deciphers the Czech. Flickr user donatien snapped this anti-Václav Klaus graffiti. It's translated as "all suffer Klaus-trophobia." Ideozlocin.cz is an affiliate of contemporary anarchists CrimethInc Ex-Workers' Collective Another photographer tmkelly, caught this sitcker produced by nemluvizame.cz or "Doesn't speak for me."

This anti-Klaus rhetoric is reminiscent of domestic anti-Bush sentiment. The phrase "not my president" is being used by dissenters on Facebook. Václav Klaus is not my president! has nearly 1,700 members (it's rival group has only 1,200 members.) These are some photoshopp'd images I found on anti-Václav Klaus Facebook groups. "Balbinova Provisional National Library: V. Klaus philosophy, Václav Klaus Writings, V. Klaus travel, V. Klaus law and state, V. Klaus dissident, V. Klaus ecology, other unattractive literature." I think this implies that his bookshelf is empty, and that the leader might be intellectually vapid. To further convey that Klaus is a "blbec" (is an idiot/jerk) someone presented this picture: "Klaus signed the Treaty of Lisbon." The joke implies the president's signature is too daft to know where to affix his signature. Klaus isn't sold on Global Warming, as inferred by this satirical photograph:
"Global warming? Nonsense, I just sweat at tennis!"
Others comment on the president's devout Catholicism, and the hypocrisy of his egotism. "Nation wearing: father son holy spirit" Organizers of a protest cast Klaus as a Black Sheep.

A few months ago I discovered the Spanish Prime Minister's Goth Daughter international meme. Today I didn't find a meme, I just found humorous dissent against the president of the Czech Republic.This post is a tag team operation organized by Andrew Fitzgerald of Current_News. I... more

joshuaheller
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The EU finally gets Lisbon; Thanks Vaclav Klaus

Josh Heller at Current_Comedy and I are conducting a joint investigation into Czech President Vaclav Klaus. This is what I wrote for him post: "Dissent in 2.0, the internet versus Václav Klaus"
The Czech President, Václav Klaus, has been doing his best to hold up the EU’s Lisbon Treaty for a while now, but today he finally ratified it. He’s famously skeptical of the EU, but plenty of people put plenty of pressure on him. Lisbon aims to further unify the EU – giving Europe a President and a “foreign representative” for example. Václav Klaus, notably, is not Václav Havel – the only other post-Soviet Czech President who confusingly also happens to have the first name “Václav.” Havel, a rock star on the diplomatic circuit, is much more liberal – Klaus is considered much more conservative. -AF
Josh goes looking for an anti-Klaus meme, but instead just finds humorous dissent (yes, that's the Czech President on toilet paper). But what about Klaus the politician? Foreign Policy's Passport blog describes him as a "legendary euroskeptic" and points to their article "The Other Vaclav":
Although mostly known outside his country for his skeptical views on global warming (environmentalism, in his opinion, is "the most prominent antiliberal, populist ideology of the contemporary world, comparable to communism and Nazism.) Klaus is one of the most important figures in post-communist Czech history, and the Lisbon battle is just the latest in a long series of controversial stances in his career. But lately, this lifelong iconoclast appears more and more as a tragic political figure. He is now totally isolated in Europe, shunned by most EU politicians, who view his obstructions as proof of his, and his country's, lack of democratic credentials.
Both Vaclavs, Klaus and Havel were there when the Soviet system collapsed. And both of them quickly made the transition into the new fledgling government. Havel, the poet-President, however, left the game. Which left the Czech Republic in the hands of Klaus, who served as Czech Prime Minister during his rule, and had long been Havel's rival. The NY Review of Books has a great short piece on "Vaclav vs Vaclav":
The two Václavs, it can be said, represent two poles of the broad Czech democratic center. Havel, the more liberal, believed that a new political culture should emerge from a rich and diverse civic society, with a healthy degree of decentralization and strong regional governments. As president he argued for policies that supported the nonprofit sector and mitigated the worst effects of rapid privatization. Klaus, an economist and admirer of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Margaret Thatcher, was a market fundamentalist who believed in a strong central government in the hands of strong political parties. The political friction between the two men was exacerbated by a clash of personalities. Beneath their quite different exteriors—Klaus abrasive to the point of arrogance, Havel polite to the point of shyness—each man had a firm will that made their differences seem inevitable and irresolvable.
So now the EU has finally gotten its Lisbon treaty, and Klaus seems to have used it to upstage his former rival's global presence. But still no meme for Vaclav Klaus. (If only he had a different first name!) Recently on the Current News Blog: - Election Perspective: New York and New Jersey by ScorpioGee - Hamas has a new rocket? - USS New York arrives in New York (Video) - Tomorrow is election day - Clinton's 11 foot statue in KosovoJosh Heller at Current_Comedy and I are conducting a joint investigation into Czech... more

afitzgerald
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