Final Word from Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Ah, how quickly the world forgets. The Wall Street Journal referred to the CR's former prime minister as "Zeeman." Czech newspapers spell his name correctly, of course, but there's increased speculation about just what Miloš Zeman is up to. Právo has suggested repeatedly that he's a spiteful egomaniac who doesn't want his party to win the elections. He might be the architect of Jiří Paroubek's successful campaign against ODS, but Paroubek could just as easily dump Zeman after the elections if a deal with ODS and Václav Klaus were what it took to keep him in power. The best solution for Zeman might be a narrow ODS victory that weakens Paroubek and that sets up someone like Zdeněk Škromach to become the premier of a minority ČSSD cabinet. This would allow Zeman to displace Klaus as president, get rid of the "traitors" within ČSSD, and force the Wall Street Journal to learn to spell his name again.[Czech Republic ]