Final Word from Monday, December 6, 2010
Czech politicians and commentators are rather nonchalant about the WikiLeaks revelations. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said he isn't attributing much importance to them, because we all speak differently with friends from the way we do publicly. Including this time, presumably. If he isn't taking the matter seriously, he should be, because of the potential for real embarrassment. The U.S.'s latest country report on human rights mentions corruption more than 30 times and criticizes the interior ministry for "whitewashing wrongdoing" or prematurely ending investigations. It would be a miracle if some of the 1,270 remaining cables from Prague didn't provide greater detail. Of particular interest could be a meeting at the U.S. embassy between Martin Barták and the head of General Dynamics, which everyone in the defense community already knows about but which hasn't made it into the news. Czech politicians and byznysmeni should be praying to the god they don't believe in that the rest of the leaks will be squelched.[Czech Republic United States of America soil]
Glossary of difficult words
wicked - (in this context) intended or capable of harming someone; extremely unpleasant;
cable - literally, a telegraph message sent by cable; a diplomatic email message;
nonchalant - (of a person or manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest or enthusiasm;
to whitewash - to try to clear someone by deliberately concealing his or her mistakes;
to squelch - to forcefully silence or suppress.