Final Word from Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Richard Pipes, a Harvard professor, said Russians view each other as enemies and see the West as one too. The feelings of hostility toward the other side that existed during the Cold War never left many Russians and are starting to return to some Westerners too. John McCain, a potential candidate for U.S. president, said Russia should never have been allowed to join the G8. Václav Havel and other Czechs criticized Vladimir Putin yesterday for his treatment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Petruška Šustrová wrote in LN that Czechs pay too little attention to what happens in Russia. Something flares up, she said, and then Russia is again forgotten. Václav Klaus and Jiří Paroubek famously competed for Putin's friendship when he was in Prague, but they sidestepped a lingering question. Is it possible for the CR to be friends with Russia if Russia sees it - and the rest of the West - as its enemy? [Czech Republic USSR Lidové noviny European Union Nato]