Final Word from Monday, August 15, 2005
Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber got into deep sauerkraut when he said the frustrated of Eastern Germany can't be allowed to determine the country's future. He said later that he had Oskar Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi of the Democratic Left in mind. Lafontaine could be the spoiler in the Sept. elections who forces CDU/CSU into a grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD). In the CR, the spoiler who forces ODS and ČSSD into a grand coalition could be Vladimír Železný of the Ind. Democrats. He's frustrated (his call for visas on Americans looks like a vendetta against Ron Lauder), he's populist (he's stoking the masses with his opposition to the Islamization of Europe), and he's got the eye of the media (like Lafontaine, he's good at stealing the show). In Germany, Lafontaine has zero coalition potential. ODS and ČSSD will have to decide whether to give Železný the same treatment.[Czech Republic Christian Democratic Union Democrats Independent Democrats Ronald CME Central European Media Enterprises CETV]