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"Democracy corrupts morals greatly. It habituates the public to blabbering,
namely, to boastfulness and slander."
Jean Dutourd
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Two or three years ago, I was firmly convinced that this time the Czech nation, for the first time in modern history, would cross its shadow and be able to maintain one and the same regime for more than twenty to twenty-five years, a feat that has not been accomplished even once since the founding of Czechoslovakia.
After the media hysteria surrounding the arrest of David Rath, I am no longer sure.
Democracy, at least on paper, has the capacity for self-cleaning: like any other system of government, it is prone to crises, but it can resolve them through its own internal strength, through its own regulatory mechanisms. Corrupt and weak politicians are removed by the people in elections and replaced by other, decent ones, and the political parties themselves can clean themselves up. Which is a significant advantage over a dictatorship, because it is entirely dependent on the quality of the dictator, and it crumbles under a bad dictator.
But self-cleaning mechanisms have certain preconditions and limits, and I am beginning to feel that the Czech ones are no longer capable of preventing change that will be systemic, revolutionary, populist and potentially violent. That is to say, the stain on the reputation of the political representation of this country can no longer be cleaned without violating the substance.
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Quote from my article - Pavel Tigrid died 20 years ago, the media is silent...
ČRoPlus (31.8.2023, 15:50 - from 15:48:25 ) devoted 4 minutes to Pavel Tigrid, but Tigrid is not mentioned in the content of the news block: 15:10 - Listen to these 4 minutes - the testimonies and testimonies of Pavel Tigrid' s children, they tell everything and are worth dozens of articles! I wonder what the name of that StB agent working in a French bank is? He was not ashamed to come, half a year after Tigrid's death, to the Czech embassy in Paris for a memorial service! Who invited him? Pavel Tigrid's son asked him to leave, the agent took offence and threatened to file a complaint. Where did this fool work then, or is he still working today? Probably in the diplomatic service, where such "diplomats" were and still are welcome. Will the ABS release his bundle to me, or will GDPR "work" again and his name remain hidden from the public? Pavel Tigrid died 20 years ago, the media is silent...
Thank you ABS for releasing the entire volume on the StB agent in France. Senator Pavel Fischer, then ambassador to Paris at the time of the trial, did not respond to my inquiry. He could not have known the name of the agent (now chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security). His name was Lubomír Chladil. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic wrote back to me that he had never been their employee. Given his participation in the 2003 trial, he must have had a certain status if he dared to come. Today he would be, or is, 75 years old. So he could have retired in 2014. Where did he work for those 11 years after the Trial and what is or was his pension?
Below are a few excerpts from the extensive ABS archive of this unprincipled man who may well live among us today as a "venerable man". JŠ
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I attended the final performance of the XVII. It was sold out (I was saved by a lady whose friends did not come, she sold it for the original price of 400 kč). I am attaching a PHOTOGALLERY of the songs and a PHOTOGALLERY of the exhibition about the history of the Sokol Slet on the Square of Peace in Prague. It also reminded me of my participation in the All Sokol Sets in Zurich, Toronto, Paris and Prague.
As always, they were great men. For me, the most powerful moment of the falconers' performance was when the falcon idea rang out most eloquently with the final falcon circling, great music and amazing reaction from the audience. A recording of the whole performance in iBroadcast CT. The singing of "Who are God's warriors", plebeically followed by Karel Gott and his "Time of roses". Flight of the falcon, I also did not find in the recording of the live broadcast of CT? I'll ask CT for an explanation. I hope I was wrong.
There were no flagpoles, the mayor of Sokol wore a civilian suit, 12 songs were played as if at a disco, with no introduction or introduction of the songs, the chiefs did not speak, the politicians got the floor, the president did not come, no classical, Sokol marching music was played...
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Below I am attaching the videos of the sermon by Cardinal Dominik Duka, the speech by the representative of the Czech Army, the farewell to the public in front of the Cathedral of St. Vitus (mostly tourists), the departure for the last journey to his hometown Mšeno, the audio recording of the whole funeral mass and the PHOTOGALLERY.
From the opening words of Cardinal Dominik Duka: "Dear present, dear family, son Tomáš, representatives of the army, representatives of public institutions, associations, friends of the tormentors, men and women who shared the fate with the late General. We are at the time of holidays and vacations and yet we did not hesitate. That is why we said goodbye to him in the Cathedral. He showed by his life that he truly loved this country. He loved himself in different ways, but what is decisive is when I can stand my ground - and say NO! And so at the beginning of this service we want to give thanks for his strength, his courage, his friendliness. We also want to thank his wife Libuše, his family, his late son, but also you who have come so that we can give thanks to God. We realize that there is a time in each of our lives when we fail to live up to that high standard of truth, love and justice..."
It was an honour to have my voice heard clearly and forcefully in the precincts of St. Vitus Cathedral - in the name of all the victims of the criminal communist regime and those of today as a result of not dealing with our own past.
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Karl Jaspers: "The Question of Guilt": "Moral transgressions are the basis of the conditions out of which political guilt and crime grow. To commit innumerable small acts of carelessness, of convenient accommodation, of cheap justification of injustice, of unobserved encouragement of injustice, to participate in the creation of a public atmosphere which spreads obscurity and as such only makes evil possible, all have consequences which in part also condition political guilt in conditions and events."
H. de Balzac: "Lack of trust in the judiciary is the beginning of the end of society."
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The Czech Republic, a country of unprosecutable judges and prosecutors, writes Jan Urban. Unfortunately, he states the familiar. He does not offer ways to start solving the problem effectively, given the state of society.
Yesterday was the last farewell to Brig. Gen. Zbyněk Čeřovský at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. He stood up to the invaders in 1968. Cardinal Dominic Duka gave an excellent speech. More foreigners than Czechs said goodbye to him, the Commander-in-Chief of the Czech Army, President Gen. Petr Pavel was not present... It was an honour to have my voice heard in the Cathedral (detailed coverage to follow).
Reason is determined by concepts and values, which have been in chaos for centuries
Sustained by the constant chatter of "everyone about everything". That is why history repeats itself and the same problems. Can we finally define concepts clearly, maintain and enforce them so that common sense is restored and history stops repeating itself?
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After six months, the curtain of silence has parted and the debate on the police intervention against the mass murderer at the Faculty of Arts in Prague has begun. This cacophony of often contradictory opinions began in June, the month in which we commemorate the centenary of the death of the cartographer of absurdity, the great Prague citizen Franz Kafka. His image is an icon. Everything about it is extreme: the thinness, the sharpness of the features, the shape of the ears attributed to demons and the huge dark eyes under the plebeian low forehead. A shy man, attracted by the authority of the office. Shy people tend to avoid them. What better way to celebrate his memory than with an adequate story?
The central character is a student named K. He came, reported horrific acts and disappeared again. The curtain of silence wrapped around him. The journalism faculty voted for a policy of silence, the major media followed suit. He left behind a letter, something of a legacy. None of us can see it, probably like the original Book of Mormon.
The story hinted at so far would be a mere triviality of pure evil clashing with pure good, and would contribute nothing to Kafka's anniversary. The authorities took care of that. On the scene come two figures preordained to a tragicomic role, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan and Prague police chief Petr Matějček. The Office presents. Their role is to explain the inexplicable and defend the indefensible. The Kafka-esque story is multifaceted, composed of details. Here's one of them: did the police ask for CCTV footage at the gatehouse? If they didn't ask, why did the authorities say they did? If they had asked, what would have followed, since it later turned out that Student K. was unrecognizable on the footage?
The story does not end there. New and new players enter the story. Some recommend silence to prevent the Herostratus effect, others urge a society-wide catharsis. An inevitable part of the Kafkaesque story is the emergence of the commission, a tool to gain light through darkness.
In it, large dark eyes glitter set in a thin face.
Full story: Lidove noviny, Last word 1.7.2024
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Prague,1 July 2024 - The Solomon Society today drew attention to the scandalous procedure of Judge Mgr. Iva Říhová, who is forcing the defendant to attend the main trial despite his serious health condition. The prison doctor has confirmed that the defendant is only able to attend the main trial lying on his bed.
The audio recording of the hearing provides a horrifying picture of Judge Říhová's sheer atrocity, with the defendant vainly requesting that the trial be held without his presence. This procedure is contrary to Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which prohibits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The Solomon Society also recalls that in 2008, when Mgr. Iva Říhová was appointed as a judge, there were serious doubts about her competence. Unfortunately, these concerns were ignored.
"We cannot remember such an excess since the 1950s," said John Bok, honorary president of the association. "This is a frightening testimony to the state of the Czech justice system." For more information and the original audio recording of the hearing, visit here.
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On Sunday, June 23, I visited the General at UVN in Prague, when I was alerted to his health condition by his son Thomas from the USA. It was not certain whether he would catch his father alive (he came 5 min. after I entered the room). Just before my arrival, Sister Dominika from the Prague Archbishopric left. I took perhaps the last photograph of the General, just like the last photograph of Milan Paumer, a member of the resistance group of the Mašín brothers.. .The events of June 25th - among 33 news items - did not find a place...
Detailed biography from which I quote: In 1966 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force and appointed Chief of Staff of the Fighter Bomber Aviation Regiment in Pardubice and in the autumn of 1967 he was transferred to the position of Deputy Commander of the Hradec Králové Airport. There he was also caught up in the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968, where he committed a heroic act and gave the command to block the Polish Air Force landing at Hradec Kralove airport. On the approach, the Polish pilots threatened to let the planes crash into the city, so Commander Cerovsky gave permission to land at the airport at the cost of being captured by the Czech command and being shot. After a short time the Russian command cancelled this threat.
The education of children is failing, they are bombarded, like adults, with "fairy tales and goodness" almost daily on CT. They have no idea about real heroes, they lack motivating examples. A country that encourages this and does not address it will not have a "fighting" generation, but an obedient one with appropriate consequences for the life of society and its future. It all starts with upbringing, education and personal example. I recommend J. A. Bata' s speech EDUCATION FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP, delivered to the Congress of Czechoslovak Teachers in Zlín on August 5, 1938. Let us not remove all obstacles for the children; they must also learn to remove them themselves. Only in this way will they grow into full-fledged citizens for the benefit of themselves and their country. The purpose of education is not to fill the mind, but to open it!
It was an honour for me in 2017, during the commemoration of the Battle of Zborov, to conduct the launch of the new book of Col. let. Ing. Zbyněk Čeřovský "Disasters of the Czechoslovak Military Air Force 1918 - 1990 Volume One", together with Col. Dr. Jaroslav Sýkora. Honour his memory and legacy! JŠ
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The film ends with the assassination of US Vice President Dick Cheney - Paul the modeler could not find the strength to detonate the explosive. He was subsequently brutally shot by the police.
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The story of two friends who run a thriving drone rental business is set in contemporary Prague. The owner of the business, nicknamed Plech (Jiri Mádl), a rapper in his spare time, dreams of big money and unwavering security. Pavel (Kryštof Hádek), a chemist and excellent air navigator who has just returned from abroad, dreams of justice and personal involvement in repairing the world. For his former high school classmates, drones are a pass into many areas of human endeavour they would not otherwise have looked into. Their clients include a presidential candidate and artists hosting happenings. Drones monitor power plants in movies, carry luxury handbags in a fashion show instead of models, or spray the Petrin Tower from the air. But when one of the heroes decides to use the drone for something completely different, the situation in the company gets complicated.
A story of strong personality and character that exposes the weakness and helplessness of society. He pays for his efforts to make amends with his life. It is also about us and Czech society. The courage to act is more valuable than the outcome, as is the path to the truth than the achievement of it. I attach a short audio recording that speaks for itself. The film can no longer be played on iBroadcast CT (I caught it at the last minute). Filmed in 2020 in co-production Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia. A similar film could be made about Russia - without the contrived script. Evil must be confronted. In war, you cannot ask whether you are aiming at a decent person if you want to win. The quality of leadership is always determined by the maturity of the society. JŠ
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"If they killed me, I'd have a beautiful funeral on the state's dime and all that would be left is a plaque on the wall with my name on it somewhere near the toilets," says former elite police officer Michal sadly. He is currently in hiding abroad because he fears for his life in the democratic Czech Republic, twenty years after the November coup. Two cases he investigated in 2007 took him out of his normal routine. When he discovered that the death of an Armenian citizen and the murder of the Sazka driver had a common denominator, he began to unravel the structures of the criminal underworld. The head of the Russian-language mafia (Andranik Soghoyan), the so-called "raft in the law", became his adversary. The policeman convicted his adversary. But when the Czech court acquitted the mafia boss, Michal suddenly felt the hot ground under his feet... The documentary is not available on iBroadcast for licensing reasons...
The public broadcaster CT holds a licence for the communication of the work in question (the document was produced by CT Ostrava). CT does not hold a licence for broadcasting the work and making it available to the public as part of the broadcaster's supplementary online service, because the document includes archive materials from the NFA? Therefore, the document was never available on iBroadcast. It was broadcast in the premiere on 10 March 2011 at 20:20 hours, repeated on 7 February 2013 at 04:25 hours and on 17 April 2014 at 02:25 hours on CT2. How many people probably watch TV at night and in the morning? Isn't the permanent accessibility of such a documentary in the public interest? The "raft in the law" would surely welcome and welcome it.
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