Sharp exchange between former PM and president

A war of words has broken out between Social Democrat leader and former prime minister Jiři Paroubek and ex-president Václav Havel. Mr Paroubek started the row in a newspaper article by listing the former dissident and architect of the Velvet Revolution as among a series of leaders harking back to the Iron Curtain era. Havel responded by describing Mr Paroubek’s comments as lies. On Monday, the Social Democrat leader shot back in a letter in the daily Pravo sticking to his ground and saying Havel was one of those who was trying to block cooperation between the US, NATO and Russia. He said this was now being pushed by Washington.