Final Word from Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Taking sides in the Georgian conflict is about like taking sides in the blood sport of dog fighting. In both cases, the fighting is immoral (if you believe in this antiquated concept), so it's really more a secondary question of whether it's unfair for one side to release the beast or launch the first rocket sooner than the other. In his initial reaction to the Georgian war, Václav Klaus pretty much said as much. He put the blame on both sides and stressed the human-tragedy aspect of the conflict. Later, in MFD, he put more of the blame on the Georgians. Czech ministers were outwardly appalled that Klaus should (again) countervail their own position, but he's actually doing them a service. Thanks to him, the Czechs are maintaining their Švejk-like approach to foreign policy. When the Russians decide to punish the Czechs for the U.S. radar, perhaps they'll go easy on them in respect for Klaus's anticonformism.[Czech Republic president anti-conformism conformity Clausewitz MF Dnes ]
Glossary of difficult words
Klaus on war - an allusion to Clausewitz On War;
blood sport - a sport involving the shedding of blood, esp. the hunting or killing of animals;
antiquated - old-fashioned or outdated;
to be appalled - to be dismayed or horrified;
to countervail - to counterbalance, to offset the effect of something by countering it with something of equal force;
to go easy on someone - to be sparing or cautious in dealing with someone;
anticonformism - the rejection of conformism; a philosophy that holds that conformity is responsible for many of the world's ills.