Final Word from Monday, March 26, 2018

Lubomír Zaorálek is one of the fiercest Czech critics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As speaker of the House that year, both he and Dep. PM Pavel Rychetský said the invasion was a violation of international law. A decade later as ČSSD's shadow foreign minister, Zaorálek warned against military action against Syria unless it could be proven who was responsible for the use of chemical weapons, because it had turned out later in Iraq that there was no WMD threat. As foreign minister in 2014, Zaorálek objected to using human rights as an excuse to invade Iraq and to achieve other less-lofty goals. Now as head of the foreign committee of Parliament, he says that a concerted action by EU states needs to be taken against Russia for a series of arrogant steps that defy the existing world order. Yet when asked if this should include expelling Russian diplomats, he says he doesn't have enough information. Zaorálek has been consistent in trying to avoid escalation in world affairs. [Czech Republic weapons of mass destruction Sergei Skripal European Union Czech TV]