Press Review
Making the headlines in all of today's Czech dailies is Prime Minister Spidla's announcement that the US has asked for Czech support if America and her allies go to war with Iraq. According to Mr Spidla the US asked the Czech Republic to broaden its mandate for its nuclear, biological and chemical unit to be able to operate outside Kuwait, where it is currently stationed.
251 Czech soldiers currently make up that contingent. Parliament will have to decide the issue, as well as whether the Czech Republic will grant the US the use of its airspace and allow the stationing of troops. The headlines are understandably sombre: "The Czech Republic to send soldiers to Iraq", "Czech Republic to join in military conflict for first time", "US asks the Czech Republic to get ready for war".
But, turning to other news now, MLADA FRONTA DNES writes that in just six days from now both houses of parliament will meet to try and choose a successor to President Vaclav Havel. But the paper says it is unlikely any of the current candidates will find enough support to become elected and the outcome for the 15th of January will most likely be a stalemate. The political parties have known for years that Havel would be stepping down, and the Czech Republic has no experience in choosing a president from a wider field of candidates.
In 1993 and 1998 the playwright and former dissident Vaclav Havel was the only obvious choice, says MLADA FRONTA DNES; in these elections four candidates have officially been nominated, none of whom enjoy wider support across the political spectrum. Only if one party dropped its candidate and threw support behind another, could a resolution be found, a possibility all politicians reject so far. The paper suggests the Social Democrats could drop their own candidate in favour of Christian Democrat choice Petr Pithart, but only in a situation where it gave Pithart a deciding edge over right-of-centre rival Civic Democrat Vaclav Klaus. That, however, is pure speculation: there is nothing to be done but wait and see how the election develops in the first round.
Thursday's PRAVO continues to cover events surrounding controversial senator and TV magnate Vladimir Zelezny. Wednesday Mr Zelezny lost a lawsuit against former employee Jan Vavra, as well as the daily LIDOVE NOVINY, which published an article by Mr Vavra claiming Mr Zelezny was loyal to the former communist regime. In the article Jan Vavra contended that Zelezny "was a loyal reporter for the foreign desk of Czechoslovak television" citing examples that "he worked on programmes celebrating the Communist takeover of 1948".
For those and other remarks, PRAVO writes, Mr Zelezny tried to sue both Mr Vavra and LIDOVE NOVINY for an apology and 100,000 crowns from each, but the court ruled against him. Mr Zelezny has said he will appeal the decision: in a statement released through his spokesman he described the decision as "absurd", and pointed out that under communism he was unable to even publish under his own name. He also reminded the public he was thrown out of Czechoslovak TV after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
In about a month's time the legal case against publisher Michal Zitko should resume writes LIDOVE NOVINY: since publishing Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf three years ago Mr Zitko has been embroiled in a legal battle that saw him sentenced for supporting fascism. Initially he received a five year suspended sentence and a 2 million crown fine, a ruling that was later overturned at the supreme court which found the case had been decided on inconclusive evidence. The case was reopened to put together further expert analysis, which has now been compiled, the paper notes.
This time around LIDOVE NOVINY says there is enough evidence, based on research by political analyst Zdenek Zboril, that there are neo-fascist groups operating in the Czech Republic which continue to use Mein Kampf as their bible. LIDOVE NOVINY features an overview of some of them taken from the internet including a site in the Czech Republic called the National Socialist training centre.
Featured on some of these sites: the Czech lion holding a wreathed swastika in its paws. The question now is whether intent can be proven on the part of Mein Kampf's Czech publisher to actively promote fascist views, since as a professional his primary objective is to publish books that sell. Meanwhile, Mr Zitko cites one example of his innocence: the fact that he met with a lawyer before putting out the book, in an attempt to determine whether or not publishing Mein Kampf would in fact transgress Czech law.
