Final Word from Tuesday, April 8, 2025
PM Petr Fiala's only viable path to victory in this year's parliamentary elections is no ceasefire or peace in Ukraine, fear among voters of a Russian invasion of the Czech Republic and a forceful campaign that puts the opposition on the "wrong side" of global events. Apparently with this in mind, Fiala has stepped up his promotion of defense spending with the use of higher government debt and of the Czech arms industry. He has fully adopted the arguments of his former vice chairman in ODS, Pres. Zdeněk Zajíček of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, who talks about tremendous multipliers for the economy, when in fact the main benefit so far of the incipient war economy is fatter profits for the arm dealers and their lobbyists. Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned about the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. In Fiala's case, it's also a complex in the psychological sense of the word, because without the arms buildup, he has little chance of clinging to power. [ Czech Republic president Economic United States ]
Glossary of difficult words
viable - capable of working successfully; feasible;
multiplier - the factor by which the return deriving from an expenditure exceeds the expenditure itself;
incipient - beginning to happen or develop;
unwarranted - not justified or authorized;
to cling - to hold on tightly to.