Final Word from Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Václav Klaus has never had much patience for "experts" who parachute into the CR for a few days and profess to know all the answers. In an interview on BBC World's HardTalk yesterday, he let his emotions get of control when one such expert - who was visiting the country for the first time since 1978 - asked leading questions about EU accession, Gypsies, Sudeten Germans and Czech arms sales. Klaus did quite a good job of defending the CR against stereotypical allegations but failed to realize that he was being baited. Instead of toying with the TV host and turning the host's ignorance of the Czech situation to his own advantage, Klaus took it all a little too seriously. To be a real player on the world stage, a politician has to know how to speak to his audience and pick his battles carefully. This is an area where Klaus still has something to learn from Václav Havel. Gyspy Tim Sebastian