Final Word from Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Jindřich Forejt's biggest faux pas as chief of protocol at Prague Castle were his phone calls to Jiří (George) Brady regarding a medal of honor that was subsequently retracted after Daniel Herman met officially with the Dalai Lama. There were other diplomatic peccadillos by Forejt, but the connection to the one-China policy was the ultimate killer, at least until a drug-laced homoerotic video surfaced showing Forejt snorting a white powder. New Human Rights Minister Jan Chvojka told Czech Radio yesterday that the video was reason enough for Forejt to lose his job. This same Chvojka said a few moments later that it was appalling and a legal violation for someone to release the video. Is this the human-rights environment we now live in? The one whose rights are violated is the one punished? Another paradox of Forejt's departure is that his likely replacement, Miroslav Sklenář, will be even more open to the Chinese. He works for them now at CEFC. [Czech Republic Miloš Zeman]
Glossary of difficult words
Turning Chinese - an allusion to the song "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors;
faux pas (singular and plural) - a gaffe, blunder or mistake;
to retract - to withdraw or go back on;
peccadillo - a relatively minor fault or sin;
killer - an extremely difficult or unpleasant thing;
to lace - to add an ingredient, esp. alcohol, to (a drink or dish) to enhance its flavor or strength;
to snort - to inhale;
appalling - shocking; horrifying.