Final Word from Thursday, December 7, 2017

Pres. Miloš Zeman appointed Andrej Babiš as Czech PM yesterday and in doing so widened the political and societal trenches. Not only did he set up a confrontation between the self-anointed "democratic" parties and the rest, but he also warned Babiš against the media and their commentators who kick successful people in the shin. The media he had in mind are basically the ones that support either Jiří Drahoš or Mirek Topolánek for president and provide one-sided criticism of Babiš. Whatever Zeman says, though, there is far more to it than merely trying to bring down successful people. Huge commercial interests are at stake, and some of them involve people at the Castle. Martin Nejedlý's interests are apparently so intricate that they require him to be on both sides of the trenches. He works for Zeman but also supports Milan Chovanec and others who want to disrupt the "Zeman-Babiš project." How Babiš deals with this will be one of his biggest tests as PM. [Czech Republic prime minister ČSSD interior minister]