Press Review
The aftermath of the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia continues to dominate the front pages of the Czech newspapers today. Another prominent story is the failure of the Prague tram driver's strike on Monday, when some tram services were disrupted. But one thing that is still going is the search for a Czech president, and it remains a big story in the newspapers. This time the focus is on the academics Helena Illnerova, Pavel Klener and Ivan Wilhelm - but will the country find a president in one of these figures?
Keeping in tune with the presidential theme, LIDOVE NOVINY reports on its front page that the United States' Congress will vote on Wednesday on a declaration that will honour Vaclav Havel. The declaration was submitted by the Democrat Ron Kind and three Republican representatives, and it is expected that it will be adopted. If it is, Vaclav Havel will be the first Czech ever to be honoured in such a way by the United States' Congress.
Together with the aforementioned academics, another person making a foray into the presidential elections is Karel Gott, one of the most popular singers in the Czech Republic. As MLADA FRONTA DNES reports, a group of artists led by Ales Brichta have begun a campaign called "Karel Gott - prezident." The artists say that their initiative is a serious one, intended not so much to get Karel Gott into Prague Castle but rather to show how ridiculous Czech politicians have been in their failure to elect a successor to Vaclav Havel. While Mr Gott does not want to be president, some may see an advantage in having a president who can both command the armed forces and sing for the troops at the same time.
And if someone will be singing for Czech troops, they'll probably be doing it in the Middle East, as the Czech Republic lends its support to the United States in a possible war against Iraq. PRAVO writes that the United States has now asked the Czech Republic to send a representative to a meeting of the Iraqi opposition, which should take place in the middle of February in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq. According to Czech Deputy Foreign Minsiter Alexandr Vondra, it would not be the first or last time that official representatives of the Czech Republic have met with the opposition of a country with which Prague has diplomatic relations - and Prague's relations with Baghdad are in any case tense.
HOSPODARSKE NOVINY reports that a Palestinian man arrested at Prague's Ruzyne Airport is an asylum seeker and not a potential terrorist, as the German magazine Focus had reported. The man, Walid M., arrived on a flight from Moscow last Monday with three other men, three women and one child, most of them Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. All of them had valid passports except for Walid M., who later admitted that he was travelling under a different identity and that he had contacts with the organisations Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But after having conducted an investigation, Czech police maintain that the man is not a terrorist, and that he and his group are seeking asylum in the Czech Republic.
