Final Word from Friday, October 23, 2009

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A recent documentary film on n-tv news channel of Germany gave a contrarian view of the meaning of JFK's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. To Berliners, according to the documentary, it was confirmation by the U.S. that the Wall was permanent. The U.S. would not intervene to stop the division of the city by the Russians. To Americans, of course, the speech was heroic and was understood to mean that they were forever with the people of West Berlin. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Prague yesterday to a similar level of misunderstanding. Many Czechs took the cancellation of the radar as abandonment by the U.S. to the Russians, but Biden will give a sort of "I am a Praguer" promise in assuring Czechs that the U.S. has never made decisions behind their backs and never will. Like in 1963, though, what ultimately matters more might be the way the Russians understand the flowery language.[Czech Republic United States of America Soviet Union John F. Kennedy]