Final Word from Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Czechs tend to forget or ignore the historical fact that their government, on Sept. 21, 1938, accepted the Anglo-French plan that became the basis for the Munich Agreement eight days later. Accepting the plan led to mass protests and to the fall of the government, but the Czech envoy to London, Jan Masaryk, informed British Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax on Sept. 27 that although the decision was made under extreme duress, the new ministers under Gen. Jan Syrový "accept full responsibility for their predecessor's decision to accept stern terms of the so-called Anglo-French plan." The annexation of the Sudetenland was approved by the Czechs, albeit under "extreme duress." When Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček compares Donald Trump's Peace to Prosperity plan for Israel and Palestine to the Nazi annexation of the Czech lands in 1938 and 1939, he would be more historically accurate to refer only to 1939. Unless he expects the Palestinians to agree under extreme duress. [ Czech Republic English prime minister Benajmin Natanyahu Germany ]