The nightmares of small countries

Go take a look at the first two pictures accompanying this post--no, seriously, go look, I'll wait right here; there's one right at the top and a second half a screen below.

They're taken from the terrace of the Czech embassy ... yes, of course, in Paris. After World War I, the new Czechoslovak state obtained the building from a lady, a French aristocrat, a fact which the author submits as evidence of what good connections the founders of Czechoslovakia had with influential people among the citizenry of important Western countries. He's sees connections like these slipping away, and he's concerned about the consequences for the modern Czech state.

What follows are excerpts from that post. In a couple of spots I've included a summary of connecting material in square brackets, or explanatory comments in curly brackets.

~ Karl


The Czech Republic lacks strategic allies among the citizenry in the West

- Jan Čulík

In the long run, has the safe existence of a democratic Czech Republic been secured from a foreign-policy perspective. Can we safely foresee what the situation in Europe will be five or ten years from now? We all know that in our unstable times, the foreign-policy situation can change radically. In 2007, who would have suspected that a serious economic and financial crisis would occur and that even the future of the euro, the Eurozone, and the European Union would be called into question? In 1932, who could have predicted that in ten years, Jews in Europe would be murdered by the hundreds of thousands?

… Historically, the Czech lands have always been the victim of the great powers and their influence. They have had to march to the colonizer’s tune.