Final Word from Thursday, September 10, 2015

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In an interview with Právo last Sept., PM Bohuslav Sobotka said that the Ukraine crisis was caused by the effort to bring Ukraine into Nato and the EU without sufficient consultation with Russia. Yet whenever it has come to action and not just words, Sobotka has always toed the EU line on Ukraine. This same Sobotka said in Právo on Sat. that the foreign policy of many countries helped create the refugee situation in Europe. The CR will speak more openly about this, he said, because the experience it has with the destabilization of Libya and Syria is not positive. After meeting yesterday with Jens Stoltenberg of Nato, Sobotka said that ending the conflicts in these two countries should be the absolute priority of EU foreign policy. In one sense, this was one of the wisest foreign-policy positions Sobotka has taken. From a realistic standpoint, though, it was naive and unworkable, because the EU, USA and Nato no more plan to change their strategy in the Middle East than they do in Ukraine. Which means that Sobotka will continue speaking in one way and acting in another. [Czech Republic European Union U.S.]