Final Word from Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Perhaps it was over the top for us to compare the Topolánek government's handling of the Kroll report to the shenanigans of the Cheney White House. But perhaps it wasn't. Karel Schwarzenberg received the Kroll report on Jiří Čunek's finances two weeks ago, yet the "final" version he posted yesterday on his web page was created and saved by Kroll yesterday. (To see for yourself, download it here and check the Document Properties in Adobe Acrobat.) The five-page summary was created on July 10. These cannot be the same versions that Schwarzenberg received two weeks ago. Were substantial changes made to them in the meantime? Was a political deal made with Mirek Topolánek and Martin Bursík that called for bowdlerizing the text? Or were some harmless changes made merely to avoid violating the confidentiality promise that Kroll made to witnesses (see Page 3 of the report). Jiří Čunek isn't the only one who still has some questions to answer.[Czech Republic Richard Dick United States]
Glossary of difficult words
Kroll 2.0 - version 2 of the report;
over the top - so as to go beyond reasonable or acceptable limits;
shenanigans - secret or dishonest activity;
to bowdlerize - to sanitize a text to make it more acceptable.