Final Word from Wednesday, December 4, 2002
During and after the Nato summit, according to Týden, George W. Bush gave gifts to a few favored politicians: Václav Havel, Vladimír Špida, Cyril Svoboda, Vladimír Mlynář, Ivan Pilip, Hana Marvanová, Pavel Bém and Petra Buzková. Conspicuously missing were Václav Klaus, Stanislav Gross and Jaroslav Tvrdík. Analysts at the CIA apparently didn't tell Bush that either Klaus or Gross could be the next premier. Some people say Gross is using his presidential candidate, Jaroslav Bureš, to help Miloš Zeman defeat Otakar Motejl in the Castle race. Gross' reward could be the ČSSD chairmanship and the premiership. He's clearly someone foreign governments should want to cultivate. But according to Týden, Bush caused unease by ignoring Gross and Tvrdík (who jointly oversaw security for the summit) and by singling out their party colleague Buzková.