politics

Surreal presidential elections for the Czechs / Podivne presidentske volby v Cechach

Vladimir Franz / http://designyoutrust.com/2012/09/vladimir-franz-completely-tattooed-czech-presidential-candidate/

These days have been quite eventful for the Czech Republic. Not only did  - now the former president – Vaclav Klaus declare  unexpected (and quite unwelcomed) amnesty during his last New Year’s speech but the citizens are in the process of electing a new Czech president.

It is not just an ordinary elections, however. For the last twenty years the presidents were chosen by the country’s parliament but this year the citizens will be voting directly.

There are 9 presidential candidates and cover a broad spectrum of political ideas as well as appearances. Perhaps the most radical of all is Vladimir Franz, a university teacher, a painter and a composer, who is covered with blue tattoos literarily from head to toe (see image above). I mean, I am speechless; only in the Czech Republic, right? [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: politics, Vaclav Klaus

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What? A direct presidential elections in Czech?? / Coze? Samotni obcane budou volit ceskeho presidenta??

 

You all have probably already heard, but if you didn’t here is the news: the formal indirect presidential elections have been changed to popular directions, meaning that the general public will vote for the next Czech president.

The the majority of the Czech senate agreed to this new law just this past Wednesday and already there are many well-respected politicians that are voicing their strong disagreements. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: politics, Vaclav Klaus

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1/3 of Czechs embraces conspiracy theories / Tretina Cechu veri spikleneckym teoriim

Do you believe in (Verite v nasledujci):

  • Area 51?
  • 9/11 terrorist attack was an ‘inside job’?
  • 1969 Moon landing was fake?

Then you are not alone. One third of Czechs would agree with you on those (and other) issues.

‘The idea that the world’s largest public powers have reason to purposefully mislead and manipulate  societal opinion had strong support, with 39.1 percent saying “yes” and 34.8 saying “rather yes,” totaling 73.9 percent.‘

The whole article can be found at Czechposition.com.


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Tagged as: politics, weird stuff

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Benjamin Kuras:Events that made Czechs who they are now: Prague defenestration (part 1) / Benjamin Kuras: Udalosti, ktere Cechy udelaly: Prazska defenestrace (1. cast)

I have just finished reading a REALLY good book which I would highly recommend to anyone (both Czech and English translations are available). It’s called ‘Czechs and Balances – a Nation’s survival kit‘, written by Benjamin Kuras, a Czech-born British author and journalist. The book depicts a historical overview of the Czech lands, from the very beginning up until  20 years after the Velvet Revolution. Although I have had a Czech history lessons at school for years no one really managed to connect all of the historical events until now. And on top of that Kuras manages to do it with humor too! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: books, history, politics

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Vaclav Havel like you have never seen him before! /Takoveho Havla jste jeste nevideli!

I came across these cool photos of Vaclav Havel – the former Czech president. It kind of gives an overview of his fruitful life, ever since he was just a ‘nobody’ until his post-president era when he had a chance to meet with Mr. Obama (or rather, Obama had a chance to meet with Havel??) Take a look (click here)!
CZ: Ani nevim, co jsem na internete hledala, ale skoncila jsem na strankach Oldricha Skaly – znameho fotografa, zachycujiciho zivot Vaclava Havla. Fotky nam priblizuji Vaska jiz od utleho mladi, kdyz byl jeste ‘obycejny’ chlapek, az po dobu, kdy si ho pozval na obed samotny Obama (nebo Obama pozval na obed samotneho Havla??).
Fotky muzete shlednout zde (klinete zde).

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Tagged as: art, celebrities, cool stuff, politics

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Obama signs new arms control treaty in Prague / Obama podepsal novou odzbrojovaci smlouvu s Ruskem

Obama and Medvedev in Prague/ lidovky.cz imageToday was a big day for the Czech Republic. Prague was chosen to be the place where the US president Barack Obama and  the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed the so-called New START treaty. The treaty is supposed to reduce the 2 countries’ nuclear weapons by about 30% more than the previous deal.

The signing of the treaty was held in the historic Spanish Hall at the Prague Castle, only one year after Obama had his important speech on nuclear disarmament in Prague.

While the relationship between the US and former Russia seems to be improving some critics say the treaty itself is kind of impractical since the biggest nuclear threats are currently Iran and Northern Korea (not Russia).
[click to continue…]

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Tagged as: politics, Prague

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ObamaHealth(s)-care reform? / Obamova sporna zdravotni reformace

health care reform google imageAll Czechs and Slovaks are acquainted with socialized health care from their birth country. Obama’s bill wants just that, except it is extremely divisive. Strong majority of Americans want health care reform, they want cheaper insurance policies, lower co pays and deductibles. But the majority of them do not want Obama’s reform. It will put this country billions of dollars in debt and it also happens to be unconstitutional.

What do you think?

CZ: Vsichni mame z nasi rodne zeme zkusenosti ze socialnim zravotnim pojistenim. Obama se snazi udelat neco podobneho, akorat ze jeho zakony zadluzi Ameriku nekolika desitkami bilionu dolaru a to, ze bude vlada nutit Americany, aby si poridili zdravotni pojisteni je protikonstitucni.

Co si o tom myslite vy?


What do you think of Obama's health care bill?

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Tagged as: health, politics

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Irony of Irony of Ironies / Ironie ironii

Save Little Jesus image/ www.ceskenoviny.cz image “Save little Jesus!” , the signs declare. A bunch of demonstrators, dressed up as snowmen, were expressing their opinion toward the increasing intrusion of the big-bellied Santa and his reindeer – the all-American images of Christmas. Slogans such as “We survived Grandpa Frost (=Deda Mraz; the former USSR image of Christmas), we are going to survive Santa Claus!” or “The end of big-eyed reindeer in Czech!” made me think of couple of ironies however:

  • Irony 1: The Czechs are fighting off Santa Claus as an American spirit of Christmas, meanwhile the image of Santa  in America is becoming politically incorrect. Both of them are connected with the word ‘Christmas’ which has become a forbidden and offensive ‘C’ word within the last few years. So while the Czech Republic is trying to save the their image of Christmas, the Americans are fighting to save Christmas itself. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Christmas, politics, religion

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Prague is not so green after all…../ Praha neni to nejzelenejsi mesto….

2802730821_5432d206851Prague is not a very ecology-friendly city. That is what came out of a recent British study which worked out the so-called Green City Index. Among the 30 participating metropolises Copenhagen (Denmark) came out as the most ecological city in Europe. Second place was won by Stockholm and third place belongs to Oslo. Prague, on the other hand, ‘won’ th 24th place (the whole list can be found below).

The cities were rated on 30 various indicators such as the energy consumption, CO2 emissions, trash handling, public transportation usage and the government’s attitude toward the environment. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: ecology, EU, politics

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Are Czechs proud of their nationality? / Jsou Cesi hrdi na svou narodnost?

proud Czechs image/ www.ceske noviny imageWith the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution the local research agency conducted a poll on Czech pride. The results are quite uplifting:

  • 78% of Czechs are proud of their nationality
  • 17% of Czechs are not too proud of their nationality
  • 5% of Czechs are not proud of their nationality at all

(Total of 1,270 voters)

More such prideful Czechs can be found among the student population and among the elders. The least prideful Czechs are among the those people who belong to the communist party (KSCM) and among those who did not vote and do not associate themselves with any kind of political party at all.

The STEM research agency have been conducting the same poll ever since the 1990′s.

CZ: Pri prilezitosti 20ti leteho vyroci sametove revoluce se pruzkumni agentura STEM zeptala 1 270 Cechu, jestli jsou hrdi na to, ze jsou Cesi. Vysledy jsou velmi optimisticke:

  • 78% dotazanych tuto hrdost pocituje
  • 17% spise na sve obcanstvi hrdi nejsou
  • 5% na sve obcanstvi hrdi nejsou vubec

[click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, politics, polls

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