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Water is a strategic raw material and therefore a good business. Various multinationals knew this when they came up with an irresistible offer 15 years ago: They promised town halls that they would pay them millions of crowns for operating water and sewage systems. The manipulated and often deceived municipal leaders, overwhelmed by the immediate return, did not hesitate to hand over the water monopoly to the conceners under strange conditions. Yet the millions paid out do not even come close to outweighing the value of what they lose. Who is in control of the water business, the price and cash flows and profits from water in the Czech Republic? The struggle for water in the Czech Republic has already started, and it started after 2000, but people are unaware of it. The consequences ARE affecting the citizens of the Czech Republic FIRST, BUT NOT ONLY, IN THE EXPENSIVE PRICE OF WATER.
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On 31.10.2023, I attended the launch of the book "NO, Mister Minister" by the long-time diplomat Ondrej Kashina in the café Božská hlavice in Prague. It was packed. I can only recommend the audio recordingof the whole event - it's hard for words to penetrate the (in)dependent media. The discussion was also attended by František Koukolík (Czech neuropathologist, columnist and recipient of the Knight of the Czech Medical State award) and Jiří Balvín, former Director General of CT. The book is a novel with changed names. It was clear to those present what it was about. I have made several interventions in the debate and raised other important issues. The book also writes in detail about corrupt visa deals in Vietnam. Similarly, visas for the Schengen area were traded in Morocco.
I also contacted the Director of the MFA Department, who was asked to help me get a carg after the sudden recall of the Consul from Morocco, Dr. Jana Chaloupkova. It had been blocked for 10 months in Morocco by Ambassador V. Lorenc. She could have approached the Moroccan Embassy in Prague to help with the transport without the need for help from the Czech Embassy, which did not want to communicate with the carrier. The director acknowledged that it was an incredibly long time, but then she inquired somewhere and everything was different. The reason why the MFA could not help was supposed to be the proximity of Lorence and President Zeman.
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Hunting Paul or hunting Paul? - Quote: Financier Jan Sýkora gave Peter Paul half a million for his campaign. They organized a 700,000 hunt for him in Lány. It was only after Seznam Zpravodaj started asking questions about the event that the Castle drew up and published the contracts. An administrative error, they claim. So that's exactly what I calculated above. The discount for shooting the fallow deer is equivalent to the sponsorship donation! It's unfortunate that Paul, in his few months as president, has shown himself to be "the man for the job." Could this be "another deep disillusionment of the Czech public"? I did not expect anything from Pavel and it seems that Pavel's upbringing and drill is an iron shirt. What he is showing is of the same kind as Zeman and co.
Is President Petr Pavel introducing StB (communist state security) manners, or is he already controlled by them? He had to obey most of his life and habit, as we know, is an "iron shirt". The descendants of totalitarianism will never allow the election of a president they do not control. JŠ
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Miloš Zeman: "Small people do not like big projects" - J.A.Bata: "These are not bricks, these are human thoughts" - "We cannot let any hands be idle" - "Thank you, my friends, thank you for your work, for your loyalty, for your trust."
The J.A. Bata podcast this time on a very important topic, with a very important guest! In 2019, former President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman awarded the highest state decoration - the Order of the White Lion - to Jan Antonin Bata in memoriam. And it was with the former president that I talked not only about the reasons for the awarding of this order, who nominated him, where Miloš Zeman still sees the supporting ideas of the Bata company, which are, however, almost a hundred years old, but also about whether there are companies and people today that he perceives with the legacy of Bata. Who would he nominate for the Order of the White Lion this year? How does he perceive the contemporary world and its themes? And what would he say to students and what is his wish for our country? Find out all this in today's exclusive podcast, a pleasant listening wishes Petr Kopčil. For more information, visit www.janantoninbata.cz and www.nfjab.cz
From the interview: while Tomáš Bata is rightly adored, Jan Antonín Bata lacks this adoration and has even been wronged in his own way. By the way, it was also wronged by some members of the Bata family, so the idea was to correct a historical injustice.
Instead of an employee, a collaborator is a symbolic expression of the entrepreneur's attitude towards the people who not only report to him, but who share his work. It is one thing to have a theoretical idea and another to put it into practice. Poland has built a motorway network, the Czech Republic has talked about it rather than built it. That is the lack of visionaries, not fantasists.
Jan Werich: "We have few clowns, but we have many jesters."
We have few visionaries, but we have a lot of clowns who hate the very word vision, and unfortunately we have a lot of them in important positions. The outstanding economic figures today are more in the USA than in Europe. If a country is led by top businessmen, it can prosper.
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Prof. Pavko: "Those who want to go forward must also look backwards,
to find the way."
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He complied with the "social order" and did not appreciate the actions and members of the Resistance Group of the Mašín brothers. He does not have the moral strength of TGM, to stand up, if necessary, against everyone. He also succumbed in not appreciating Emil Kolben, where the "social order" undoubtedly was. Emil Kolben was born on November 1, just like President Pavel and singer Marta Kubišová (she supported the proposal to honour our great businessman and human being with her signature). It could have been a great "moral triad" connecting generations and centuries. President Pavel did not use it and confirmed that he is not worthy of both personalities. Another great shame and disgrace of the Czech Republic by the country's highest representative in front of the whole world ... Let's hope that the film "BROTHERS" will receive the prestigious OSCAR award!
To quote from Wikipedia, the significant events in Kolben's life were the celebrations of his 70th and 75th birthdays. On the latter occasion, among other things, he said:
"Armed with extensive knowledge and experience in all branches of power electrical engineering, and keeping abreast of the then most modern advances in the manufacture of electrical machinery and equipment, I thought in August 1896 of putting my wealth of knowledge and experience at the service of my Czech homeland. There were only a few small electrical factories in Austria at that time, and then only in the early stages of development. It seemed best to me to set up a modern electrical factory myself in the centre of a large industrial area, in the traditional seat of highly developed engineering: in Prague. This is how the factory was founded, which became the basis of today's largest Czechoslovak electrical engineering enterprise."
On 6 June 1943, at the age of 80, Emil Kolben, his son Hanuš and grandson Jindřich were deported to the Terezín concentration camp. The Protectorate government requested an exception for him, but it was not granted. He died on 3 July 1943 at the age of 80 in Podmokelské barracks. According to the testimony of his grandson, Jindřich, he had with him, apart from a few personal belongings, a briefcase with 180 shares of ČKD stock.
In his speech, the president also talked about the importance of the business sector, but he honoured only one entrepreneur...
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