Final Word from Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Anyone who followed the Czech news yesterday knows that President Miloš Zeman wants to send Czech soldiers to the Golan Heights as part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission there. Only a fraction of the people who heard this are aware of a much more important statement by Zeman on Sunday. Asked by Jan Pokorný of Czech Radio if it is time to intervene from abroad in the Syrian conflict, he said that his answer is "No." The battle there is not one between good and evil, he said, but rather one between a secular dictator and groups of religious fundamentalists, with al-Qaeda at the helm. The most reasonable strategy in his view, he said, is not to take the side of either. Some critics will no doubt say that this is a subtle paean to Putin's Syria policy and that it fits into Zeman's broader pivot toward the East, and it might indeed be true. But it's also one of the wisest things Zeman has said so far as president. [Czech Republic United Nations war United Nations European Union Vladimir Russia Rohovor z Lán Lány interview chemical weapons]
Glossary of difficult words
secular - denoting attitudes, activities or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis; nonreligious;
at the helm - in the lead, in charge;
Czech Radio - Zeman's comment comes in the last five minutes of the radio interview;
paean - a song of praise;
pivot - shift (usually used politically in the context of the U.S. "pivot" toward Asia).