Final Word from Thursday, August 4, 2016
Does the CR really need a foreign ministry and all those embassies and consulates across the globe? Couldn't it just have small offices in Foggy Bottom and Brussels and desks at US and EU embassies? And separate work stations in Beijing and Moscow, if Miloš Zeman really insisted? Can anyone identify current Czech foreign policy? North Korea is a no-brainer, but what is the Czech position on Market Economy Status for China? Is Andrej Babiš expressing official policy when he becomes the first sitting official of a Nato government to accuse Erdogan of staging the coup? Is Tomáš Prouza espousing official policy went he says that many banks operating in the UK will now lose their "passporting" access to the EU? Doesn't Czech foreign policy increasingly come down to whether ČSSD thinks it needs to side more on a given issue with the CIA or the BND? Those decisions can be made in a Prague law office somewhere. Who needs a ministry? [Czech Republic United States of American European Union Commission U.S.]
Glossary of difficult words
Foggy Bottom - the location in Washington, D.C., of the U.S. State Dept. and a nickname for that government body;
no-brainer - something that requires or involves little or no mental effort to understand or do;
to espouse - to adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way of life);
BND - the German federal intelligence service.