Final Word from Friday, June 4, 2010
As the nonpartisan, Green-sponsored foreign minister in the previous cabinet, Karel Schwarzenberg could shrug off allegations of official corruption, but as the chair of a coalition party, he'll be putting his reputation on the line if he maintains such an aloof attitude. If the "admiral" wants to fight off vultures and sharks, as demonstrated in his election video, he should fire his first anti-corruption cannon now and sink the efforts to "tunnel" the defense ministry. He should oppose the movement within TOP 09 to keep Martin Barták as the defense minister, and he should join Radek John of VV in calling for the repeal of Law No. 38/1994 on using middlemen (such as Barták's friend Michal Smrž of MPI) in all defense contracts. Schwarzenberg told Impuls that the defense budget needs to be increased; to do so without first sinking the pirates' ship would be an invitation for the raiders to steal even more of the gold[Czech Republic Věci veřejné]
Glossary of difficult words
admiral - in campaign ads, Schwarzenberg appeared as an admiral;
booty - valuable stolen goods;
to shrug something off - to disregard, take no notice of;
aloof - conspicuously uninvolved and uninterested;
repeal - the act of revoking or annulling a law.