Final Word from Wednesday, April 29, 2015
A Predator drone works by incinerating or burning people alive. It's not a pretty death, and it's been used by the U.S. on an estimated 3,850 people, including 475 civilians (and seven Americans) who became collateral damage. Drones are Miloš Zeman's preferred way of fighting terrorism. He could be paraphrased by saying, "We don't negotiate with terrorists; we burn them alive." Of course he's never put it quite this way. He did say yesterday, though, that Energy Envoy Václav Bartuška uttered a Fascist remark by seemingly approving of the burning alive of Russian separatists in Odessa. May we remind Mr. Zeman that Kiev considers these separatists to be terrorists? Would he prefer that drones be used on them? Was Zeman demonstrating a newfound humanity, or was he directly supporting Russia in Ukraine? The answer is that he, too, was first and foremost condemning Bartuška for opposing Russian participation in Temelín II. [Czech Republic Rosatom Dukovany United States New York Times nuclear power]
Glossary of difficult words
to incinerate - to destroy something by burning;
collateral damage - used euphemistically to refer to casualties among civilians and destruction in civilian areas in the course of military operations;
to utter - to say something aloud;
newfound - recently found or discovered.