Free Republic

If Canada’s “green” media — especially in the Parliamentary Press Gallery — demanded the same standards of accountability of themselves as they do of politicians, they would be killing entire forests right now apologizing to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Why? Because in sidestepping the economically suicidal stampede onto the green energy bandwagon which they relentlessly shilled for, Harper was right and they — along with the Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens — were wrong. Today, so-called “green” energy is in retreat all over the developed world, as taxpayers and consumers in countries that blindly raced into it are in open...

BRUSSELS—A six-point plan drafted by France and Germany has suggested corporate tax "coordination," an EU financial transactions tax and the redeployment of EU funds in troubled countries as ways to spur growth and jobs. Following Standard & Poor's recent downgrade of nine euro-countries, including France, in which the ratings agency warned that austerity and budget cuts are not the way out of recession, Paris and Berlin have teamed up once more and drafted a six-page paper called "Ways out of the crisis—strengthen growth now!" The paper—seen by EUobserver—is supposed to be discussed at the EU summits on 30 January and...

Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic's first president after the Velvet Revolution against communist rule, has died at the age of 75. The former dissident playwright, who suffered from prolonged ill-health, died on Sunday morning, his secretary Sabina Tancecova said. As president, he presided over Czechoslovakia's transition to democracy and a free-market economy.

...Turkey has grown in influence and authority as a regional power in the Western Balkans, Central and South Asia and the Horn of Africa. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has been a key interlocutor, not least on Afghanistan where he made a huge personal contribution to last month's conference in Istanbul. With Turkey as host, for the first time, Afghanistan's neighbours have agreed to implement political and security measures to underpin the cause of reconciliation... Turkish economic growth has been exponential. Turkey is the 16th largest economy in the world and will assume the Presidency of the G20 in 2015....

Britain ranks below Peru in a new analysis by one of the world’s biggest fund managers of the risk to investors who buy government bonds. Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are the least risky bond issuers among 44 countries analysed in the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index. At the other end of the scale, also in descending order, Egypt, Portugal and Greece are reckoned to be the most risky. Britain falls near the middle of this new world order, ranking directly below Russia, China, Czech Republic, Israel and Peru. Some small comfort may be taken from the fact that gilts issued by...

The ruling euroskeptic ODS party in the Czech Republic wants to push for a referendum on the country's future eurozone accession, claiming that the rules have changed since 2003 when Czechs said yes to the EU and the euro. The recent agreement on another bailout for Greece and on boosting the eurozone's bailout fund is fuelling Czech calls for a referendum, said Czech MEP Jan Zahradil, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists. "We should allow non-eurozone members—such as my country, the Czech Republic—to decide again whether they wish to enter. We signed up to a monetary union, not a...

Czech fighter contract as Gripen deal runs down Fighter manufacturers are preparing to battle for the right to provide the planes that should protect Czech airspace after 2015 © ČESK� POZICE A fight between the Gripen JAS-39 and F-16 to patrol Czech airspace looks on the cards The clock is ticking down to the expiry of the 2015 contract under which JAS-39 Gripen supersonic jet fighters hired from the Swedish government to protect Czech skies. And while the date might still seem a long way off, speculation has been mounting about whether a deal for the Gripen planes will be...

PRAGUE (AP) -- They're the Czech Republic's fourth-largest political party, but the hardline Communists could soon be outlawed if the center-right government has its way. It's more than two decades since communism collapsed here, but the survivors and ideological heirs to the party that ruled from 1948 until the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989 are under increasing political pressure. Petr Necas' government has taken the first step toward a possible ban by asking the Interior Ministry to work on a legal complaint to make it happen. A study commissioned by a Senate committee compiled numerous complaints from lawmakers about their conduct....

A mysterious ice ball has appeared in Milovice forest in the Czech Republic, with some reports suggesting it could be an 'alien' object. The giant hailstone measures an impressive 2m in diameter, according to the Examiner, and a witness was able to take a video of the spectacle to pop up on YouTube. This supposed 'alien' ice block was discovered in the Czech Republic (YouTube) Judging by the shakiness of the film, the witness presumably believes it really could be some form of UFO, a view seemingly supported by the news provider, which received a tip-off about it from...

Iraq says ready to buy Czech-made combat jets Iraq is ready to buy light attack aircraft, offered for sale by the Czech republic earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said after talks with his Czech counterpart in Baghdad. The visit to Baghdad by Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas, which began on Monday, focused on bilateral economic and political cooperation. In mid-April, the Czech Republic announced its plans to offer Iraq 24 L-159 combat aircraft and help in modernizing the Iraqi helicopter fleet. The single-seat L-159 ALCA is a light multi-role combat aircraft designed for a variety of air-to-air,...

Czech Republic may sell combat jets to Iraq The Czech Republic is planning to offer Iraq a number of light attack aircraft and help Baghdad to modernize its helicopter fleet, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said. Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas will visit Iraq on May 23-24 to promote closer economic cooperation with Baghdad and sign an agreement on mutual protection of investments. "The Czech Republic will offer Iraq L-159 combat aircraft, and we are also ready to take part in the upgrading of Iraqi helicopters," Schwarzenberg said on Monday after a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in...

Did you know that the EU has ensured that there has been no war between its members for last 60 years?

Communist Czechoslovakia delivered 181 L-39 Albatros fighter planes to Libya in the 1980s that can still be used by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the current unrest there, daily Lidove Noviny (LN) writes Saturday. Albatros's predecessor L-29 Delfin ("Dolphin") proved an ideal weapon in the struggle against ground targets such as in the conflict in Nigeria in the late 1960s, LN writes. The history may repeat. Delfin helped massacre the rebels in the Nigerian province of Biafra in the late 1960s and then Gaddafi used the Albatrosses to put down a rebellion in Benghazi and other Libyan towns in 1979,...

Early in the morning of 6 May 1945, American soldiers from the 2d Cavalry Group, Third Army, under the command of General George S. Patton, reached south-western Bohemia and decisively helped in the liberation of the city of Pilsen in what is now the Czech Republic. It wasn't until the fall of Communism that the citizens of Pilsen finally learned who it was that liberated their city and so every year since 1990 the city has held a "Liberation Festival" to honor American soldiers. The festival has become a local tradition and many American and Allied veterans make it a...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children raised in homes heated by coal may suffer stunted growth from prolonged exposure to indoor air pollution, according to a study of families in the Czech Republic. By age 3, children who lived in households where coal was used for heat were about a half-inch shorter, on average, than those raised in homes that relied on other forms of heating fuel. The effect on growth was even greater for children exposed to both coal and cigarette smoke at home, according to the researchers, who report their findings in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent...

Czechs unwittingly marred U.S. secret arms purchase - press Prague - The Czech Foreign Ministry in 2005 unwittingly prevented a secret attempt of the United States at buying Russian air-to-surface missiles via Belarus, the daily Pravo writes today, referring to information that the Wikileaks server provided to the Belarusian Internet daily Naviny.by. According to the document of the U.S. Embassy in Prague, the U.S. Navy wanted to get 23 Kh-31 missiles, known in the anti-radiation and anti-shipping versions, among others. After Moscow blocked a direct attempt of Czech and Ukrainian mediators to buy the missiles, Washington decided to try it...

President Obama cancelled anti-missile shield plans in Poland and the Czech Republic to get Russia support for UN sanctions against Iran, documents made public by Wikileaks reveal. (snip) The whistle blowing web site, publishing diplomatic cables and other documents via The New York Times, the Guardian (UK) and other media outlets, show that George Bush’s anti-missile shield plan to station 10 interceptor rockets in Poland not far from the Kaliningrad (Russia) border and a radar system in the Czech Republic was seen as an obstacle by Washington in getting tougher sanctions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Guest post by John A. President Vaclav Klaus last nightLast night in London, I had the privilege to listen to and meet the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus at a meeting of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. (I even got to practice some of my few words of Czech, when he signed my copy of “Blue Planet in Green Shackles“)My impression is he was quite the opposite of a machine politician, and very much a formidable intellect. By trade, President Klaus is an economist of first rank, all too familiar with the limitations of mathematical modeling as well...

Today's Saint: St. Wenceslaus, Martyr    Today is the optional memorial of St. Wenceslaus, martyr.   St. Wenceslaus was born around 907 near Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). His father was killed in battle when he was 13 years old, leaving the kingdom to be ruled by his ambitious mother, the pagan. Drahomira, who encouraged an anti-Christian government. Wenceslaus was raised by his grandmother, St. Ludmilla, who saw to it that he was educated in the faith. Drahomira resented her mother-in-law Ludmilla's influence over her son Wenceslaus, and sent men to kill Ludmilla. Drahomira's rule was so cruel...

Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday criticized U.N. calls for increased "global governance" of the world's economy, saying the world body should leave that role to national governments. The solution to dealing with the global economic crisis, Klaus told the U.N. General Assembly, did not lie in "creating new governmental and supranational agencies, or in aiming at global governance of the world economy." "On the contrary, this is the time for international organizations, including the United Nations, to reduce their expenditures, make their administrations thinner, and leave the solutions to the governments of member states," he said.

In the final season of the TV show “24,” an idealistic president finds herself sacrificing her principles one by one in an attempt to preserve a “peace process.” She eventually manages to hammer out a flawed treaty, but can’t bring herself to sign it. In the real world, the Obama administration’s overly idealistic pursuit of a reduction in American and Russian stockpiles of nuclear arms has led it to actually sign a woefully flawed treaty. The goal may be worthy. The pact is not. The first major problem with the treaty: It would definitely reduce the number of American weapons,...

The Czech Republic is heading for a new centre-right coalition favouring tough austerity measures, following the country’s general election. The leader of the main leftist party has conceded that the vote was “certainly not a success” and that it was clear his opponents were going to form a government. With 99% of votes counted, the left wing Social Democrats have the most support (22.2%). It was thought they might share power with the Communists (12.16%). But the pro-business Civic Democrats are not far behind the Social Democrats, in second place with just over 20%. With their two potential allies, the...

SNIPPET: "Quebec provincial police have arrested four people in connection with an alleged fraud ring that appears to have international ties. Officers with la Sûreté du Québec carried out a handful of search warrants in and around Montreal Wednesday morning. Police said they have seized almost $50 million in assets. While no biker gang members were among those arrested, police alleged the fraud ring is tied to the Hells Angels." SNIPPET: "Police say Wednesday's arrests are also tied to a money-laundering plan. However, in this case, police allege the money being laundered was subsequently lent to companies and individuals based...

  Story by U.S. Army Pfc. Michael Sword Task Force Bayonet Public Affairs LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – International Security Assistance Force Commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal visited Forward Operating Base Shank to meet with members of the Logar Provincial Reconstruction Team from the Czech Republic, April 9. After arriving to FOB Shank, McChrystal greeted and gave coins to a group of 20 troops from the PRT, met with Afghan National Police trainees and watched a demonstration of the ANP training obstacle course before being taken to view some of the PRT’s ongoing projects in the province. The operation was...

Arms Deal: President Obama signs away U.S. nuclear security and gives the Russians a veto over whether we can defend ourselves. Our nuclear umbrella is in tatters as another piece of paper proclaims peace in our time. Completing a process of disarmament and appeasement that manifested itself in the dismantling and defunding of U.S. military power that began with his inauguration, President Obama signed a new strategic arms limitation treaty with a grinning and very happy Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday in the Czech capital. How fitting this document was signed in Prague, which isn't far from Munich where...

The contretemps between President Obama and Israel needs to be seen in a broader global context. The president who ran against "unilateralism" in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term. Israelis shouldn't feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking about the end of the "special relationship" with America and worrying that Obama has no great regard for the British, despite their ongoing sacrifices in Afghanistan. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has openly criticized Obama for months (and is finally being rewarded with a...

A high-level defense policy expert with ties to Washington, D.C. said the Czech Republic is in discussions with the Obama administration to host a command center for the United States' altered missile-defense plan. The official, who requested anonymity because discussions are ongoing, said, "The Czech Republic is not out of the picture." "There are strategic dialogues going on between the United States and the Czech Republic," said Jiří Beneš, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman. "No concrete proposal has been mentioned yet." In recent days, the Obama administration's altered missile-defense plans have begun to take shape as Romanian President Traian Basescu...

PRAGUE — For many Czechs, it is a historical reckoning that is 20 years too late. Two decades after the Velvet Revolution overthrew Communist rule here in 1989, a group of Czech senators is pressing to ban the Communist Party, the only surviving one in the former Soviet bloc in Europe and, to its many critics, a national embarrassment and aberration. “The Communists ruined this country and oppressed freedom and yet here they are 20 years later in our Parliament,” said David Cerny, the iconoclastic Czech artist, who in 1991 painted a Soviet tank pink, transforming a memorial to the...

Pro-Darwin consensus doesn't rule out intelligent design --snip-- (CNN) -- While we officially celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" on November 24, celebrations of Darwin's legacy have actually been building in intensity for several years. Darwin is not just an important 19th century scientific thinker. Increasingly, he is a cultural icon. Darwin is the subject of adulation that teeters on the edge of hero worship, expressed in everything from scholarly seminars and lecture series to best-selling new atheist tracts like those by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The atheists claim that...

Can you no longer remember what life was like under communism? A pub in Prague 3 offers the authentic experience – grubby walls, soiled tablecloths and rude waiters! And why do some Czech children not have a name day? Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.

Who killed Czech Clyde? Bonnie or did he shoot himself? Plzeň - The runaway prisoner that the police intercepted on Wednesday night was not killed by the police. Police spokesperson Martina Lídlová has confirmed the information. "The autopsy showed that it was a different gun that killed Tauchen. The Czech police don't use such a kind of gun," said the spokeswoman. There are two possible versions at the moment: either Pavel Tauchen shot himself in the head shortly before the police opened fire at him and his wife. The other option is that Dagmar Tauchenová shot her 42-year old husband...

Cold War: The White House has announced our absence at ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Meanwhile, Russia has been practicing a nuclear invasion of an abandoned Poland. The Berlin Wall has been a famous backdrop for American presidents sounding the battle cry of liberty in the struggle against tyranny. It was there that John F. Kennedy expressed our solidarity with the encircled residents of that outpost of freedom with his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner." And it was there that Ronald Reagan, with a defiant "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," voiced our...

The Czech Constitutional Court is hearing what could be the last legal challenge to the EU's Lisbon Treaty. It has begun considering a case brought by 17 Eurosceptic senators who say the treaty would create a superstate, and as such infringes Czech sovereignty. The treaty, which aims to streamline the way the EU is run, must be approved by all 27 member countries before it can become law. The Czech Republic is the only country which has yet to sign. The 15-member Czech Constitutional Court panel has convened in the city of Brno.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Even his best friend betrayed him. Stelian Tanase found out when he asked to see the thick file that Romania's communist-era secret police had kept on him. The revelation nearly knocked the wind out of him: His closest pal was an informer who regularly told agents what Tanase was up to. "In a way, I haven't even recovered today," said Tanase, a novelist who was placed under surveillance and had his home bugged during the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. "He was the one person on Earth I had the most faith in," he said. "And...

Thorbjorn Jagland: Obama’s Nobel ‘achievement’ was leaving Eastern Europe vulnerable to nuclear attack October 13th, 2009 Dan Calabrese And you thought President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize without having done anything to earn it. Shows what you know. Thorbjorn Jagland, long-time vice president of Socialist International and chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, came out in public today in an attempt to answer the question on everyone’s lips since Friday: “For what?” One of the things Jagland mentioned specifically was Obama’s decision to welch on President Bush’s commitment to install missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic...

The Czech Cabinet meets in emergency session today to consider how to persuade their stubborn President to sign the Lisbon treaty — under intense pressure from Paris and Berlin to complete the ratification as soon as possible. With President Klaus demanding a last-minute amendment as the price of his signature — the final approval required in the 27-nation European Union — the Government is locked in a trial of strength with its head of state and on the brink of a constitutional crisis. If it supports his demands the treaty might have to be reopened amid lengthy delays, possibly allowing...

“If the president is obstructing the democratic process and opposing the decision of parliament as well as the will of the people, he is moving beyond the law and will need to face the consequences,” a German diplomat told The Sunday Times. Jiri Oberfalzer, a member of the Czech senate and Klaus’s closest ally, said Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had already threatened the Czechs with expulsion from the EU. “Ideas of changing the constitution just to get rid of the president only shows how weak our young democracy is,” said Oberfalzer, a Eurosceptic. The political hot potato now lands...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljAANHPkrAE&NR=1

Lech Kaczynski, Poland’s president, has signed the Lisbon treaty, leaving the Czech Republic the only country yet to ratify the controversial European Union reform plan. Flanked by José Manuel Barroso, the head of the European commission, and the Polish president of the European parliament, Jerzy Buzek, Mr Kaczynski put his signature to the treaty in Warsaw. “The fact that the Irish people changed their minds meant the revival of the treaty, and there are no longer any obstacles to its ratification,” said Mr Kaczynski in a short speech, adding that it was a “historic” day for both Poland and the...

Pope Benedict XVI went to the Czech Republic — repeatedly de­scribed as a “ religious wasteland” in the European press — to remind Czechs and all Europeans of the continent’s Christian roots which, he said, must be remembered and nour­ished if Europe is to have a future. Reporters for the major Europe­an newspapers pointed out that the Pope went to the former Soviet sat­ellite to mark the 20th anniversary of the “Velvet Revolution,” which saw the overthrow of the Commu­nist government in November 1989, and to celebrate the September 28 feast day of St. Wenceslaus, the na­tion’s patron. The press...

The Irish Yes to the Lisbon Treaty has been greeted with whoops of joy by the European establishment from Cork to Cracow. But the long battle over Lisbon is not over. The spotlight now falls on the Czech Republic and its President, Vaclav Klaus. EU elites may have successfully defeated democracy for the fifth time – they overrode the Danish No to Maastricht in 1992, the Irish No to Nice in 2001, and the Dutch and French Nos to the European Constitution (the forerunner of Lisbon) in 2005. But the Lisbon Treaty still remains unratified in two Central European states...

On the Trip to the Czech Republic "A People and a Church With Profound Historical and Religious Roots" VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address during today's general audience held in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, As is the custom following international apostolic journeys, I shall take advantage of the general audience to speak about the pilgrimage I made these past days to the Czech Republic. I do this first of all as an act of thanksgiving to God, who enabled me to make this visit and who...

A note from a reader in the Czech Republic: I come from the Czech republic and I am quite frustrated that the pope`s visit gets such a negative response in the English blogs – or no response at all… In reality, it was fantastic! There was a lot of symbolism which foreigners do not understand. For example: The first place he went (at his own request), the church of Our Lady of Victory, it is THE church – the symbol of recatholisation of the country. In the year 1620 catholics defeated protestants and this particular church in Praha got...

Berlin, Sept 29 (CTK) - Pope Benedict XVI has won great respect in the atheist Czech Republic, the German daily Die Welt wrote Tuesday commenting on the Pope's visit to the country on September 26-28.Public Czech Television's (CT) cameras followed almost every move by Benedict XVI during his three-day visit to the Czech Republic, the daily says.The Pope managed to raise enthusiasm among young people and he even won respect of Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Die Welt wrote."Judging by the space provided by Czech Television to the coverage of Benedict XVI's visit it could seem that the Pope visited a...

Pope Benedict XVI leads an ecumenic meeting in Prague September 27, 2009 PRAGUE, Czech Republic, SEPT. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Gospel is not an ideology, but rather, illuminates the dignity of the human person generation after generation, says Benedict XVI.The Pope affirmed this today in an ecumenical meeting held in the context of his three-day apostolic journey to the Czech Republic. He returns to Rome on Monday.The Holy Father told the representatives of Christian religions that "as Europe listens to the story of Christianity, she hears her own.""Her notions of justice, freedom and social responsibility, together with the cultural and...

Thousands of believers flocked to the Czech Republic's second largest city Brno in south Moravia on Sunday to greet Pope Benedict XVI and attend a mass he celebrated out in the open. A region with the highest concentration of believers in the largely secular Czech Republic, Brno was a key stage on the pope's visit and pilgrims came from near and far to get a glimpse of him – some arriving well before daybreak to get a good vantage point. Jan Richter attended the mass in Brno and reported on the atmosphere there in the course of the morning. Pope...

Pope Benedict XVI sought to reach out to the heavily secular people of the Czech Republic on Saturday, decrying the "wounds" left by atheistic communism and urging them to rediscover their Christian roots. ...Benedict said Christianity has an "irreplaceable role" to play in their lives. The Czech Republic is one of the most secular countries in Europe, with nearly half the country professing to be non-believers.... Vatican organizers are hoping for a crowd of up to 200,000 people for the pope's Sunday Mass in Brno, in the Catholic heartland of the Czech Republic.... The [papal vespers] service was held in...

Spider Bugs the Pope in Prague [See URL Video] A spider appeared on Pope Benedict's robes as he addressed politicians and diplomats in Prague on Saturday, disappearing and appearing again.

In pictures: Pope's Czech visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8276373.stm

SEPTEMBER 26, 2009 Pope Faces Challenges in Czech Republic PRAGUE -- Pope Benedict XVI recalled the evils of the communist era Saturday as he began a three-day pilgrimage to the Czech Republic, and he urged the fiercely secular nation to rediscover its Christian roots. But while scores of pilgrims poured into Prague for the nation's first papal visit in a dozen years, most Czechs seemed to shrug it off as irrelevant -- and some were openly hostile. "It's just a waste of money," said Kveta Tomasovicova, 56, who works at Prague's National Library. "At a time of economic crisis, when...