Final Word from Monday, August 11, 2008
Czechs tended to side with Georgia in its conflict with Russia even before Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili compared the situation to the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in Aug. 1968. If the CR hadn't taken the side of the Albanian majority in the matter of Kosovo's independence, it would be better placed now to turn against the Russian majority in South Ossetia. Many objective observers will conclude that the CR is mirroring the U.S.'s double standard. One observer, German-based economist F. William Engdahl, argues that the U.S. provoked the conflict in Georgia in order to hasten the entry of Georgia into Nato. He told Russian state TV that Georgia, like the CR and its radar, plays a key role in the U.S.'s plan for securing nuclear primacy over Russia. Washington wants to build a Nato ring around Russia, he said, allowing the U.S. to gain control of Eurasia. If so, the Czechs will need to decide to what extent they want to participate in this.[Czech Republic North Atlantic Treaty Organization]
Glossary of difficult words
to mirror - to reflect as in a mirror;
double standard - a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups;
to hasten - to cause something to happen sooner than it otherwise would;
nuclear primacy - nuclear predominance, understood to mean the ability to destroy the long-range nuclear arsenals of the opposing side in a first strike.
Eurasia - the combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia.