Final Word from Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Suppose they gave a demonstration in support of Bohuslav Sobotka on Sat. and nobody came? Or, what if only a horde of movie extras paid for by a certain PR agency attended? Or, even worse, what if the event were taken over by supporters of Miloš Zeman posing as Sobotka's supporters, and they started singing Karel Kryl's "Democracy is Flourishing" (translation here) and hoisted signs saying such things as: "We support Sobotka's privatization of OKD," "Slávek, give the toll contract to Kellner," "A billion more for Škoda Transportation," or "Radek Pokorný for ČSSD vice chair"? You get the picture? Much has changed since hundreds of people allowed themselves to be manipulated by Sobotka's PR machine into protesting against the "Lány putsch" of Oct. 2013. If made to choose between Sobotka and Zeman, a sizeable number of people would still favor Sobotka, but this doesn't mean they all actively support his style of godfather politics. [Czech Republic love Petr SkyToll arbitration]