An interview with the Czech ex-president was recorded past times PragueTV less than 2 weeks agone together with I institute it interesting plenty to interpret those 23 minutes for you.
See the original "Prague Café" interview, a video inward Czech.Moderator, Petr Žantovský:
Via klaus.cz
Welcome to the Prague Café. Today, nosotros own got moved the computer programme to slightly atypical spaces, namely those of the Institute of Václav Klaus. The argue is simple. Our invitee today is the quondam president Václav Klaus. Good afternoon.
Klaus:
Good afternoon. Well, I only promise that y'all haven't brought the spirit of the Prague Café [=PC intellectual elites of Prague] into these sacred spaces of our institute.
Moderator:
Well, nosotros certainly did. And the argue is that nosotros are reviving together with rehabilitating the spirit of the Prague Café that has been, thus to say, hijacked past times someone who likes to telephone telephone himself the Prague Café. But when we're already inward this informal setup, permit me offering y'all a pocket-size personal memory.
In 1997, shortly after the [second] Sarajevo assassination [a betrayal of PM Klaus during his see to Sarajevo past times some coalition politicians inward Prague that led to Klaus' resignation], nosotros began to co-write your together with then firstly mass of interviews, "That's What Václav Klaus Stated". And because almost twenty years separates us from those times, permit me enquire y'all the same inquiry that I did enquire y'all then. Do y'all know the divergence betwixt a left-winger together with a right-winger hither today?
Klaus:
I don't know. And did I give y'all an intelligent respond then?
Moderator:
You gave exactly the same respond every bit now: I don't know. And I told you: Both of them own got studied Marxism-Leninism but the rightwinger has understood it.
Klaus:
Well, it's a possible pocket-size joke.
Moderator:
Your reaction is exactly the same every bit it was then.
Klaus:
You know, I am already a rigid, fossilized man. No i should hold off anything novel from me anymore.
Moderator:
But yes, he should. One may hold off a review of those twenty years. What has changed nigh the pregnant of the Left together with the Right every bit understood together with then together with now, assuming that the concepts withal be at all?
Klaus:
Before the word of the words, I would insert i thing that has absolutely changed: the mood inward the society. This seems to hold out the fundamental change. In the 1990s, people similar me had the feeling that nosotros were going upwards or forward. But inward the belatedly 1990s together with early on 2000s, it started to supply back. And nosotros own got the feeling that we're going backwards. And that's a fatal, fundamental transformation. And the concepts of the Left together with Right are victims of this confrontation.
I think that these 2 words may hold out defined only similar they could own got been twenty years agone but they gradually lost their importance because the old left-right contest that was primarily a socio-economic i has faded away. It got diluted together with became uninteresting, partially because the Left has achieved the ultimate victory – that's i thing. But this is no longer a defining inquiry of our age. The arguments are nigh something completely different today which agency that the old left-right schemes locomote largely inapplicable.
Moderator:
You own got used the word that I didn't hold off from y'all together with believe me, I don't similar hearing it, together with that's "ultimate". The Left has won definitively. But y'all were never a fan of these definitive visions. What's your argue to think that it's definitive?
Klaus:
Well, when I say "ultimate", I am thinking nigh some imaginable future, non necessary the whole eternity. I wouldn't dare to locomote this far now. But if I speak nigh something that seems similar an interesting, foreseeable future, together with then I think that the touchstone Left-Right conflict has been lost definitively past times us. And I don't fifty-fifty regard anyone who would locomote along to play this conflict inward some important way – neither inward our country, nor inward the world.
Moderator:
This may Pb us to a inquiry at a to a greater extent than full general level: What has actually happened to the role of politics? Politics every bit the help nigh the matters of the community has seemingly disappeared. And mayhap because of the trivializing statements such every bit "politics is similar an Ltd company, nosotros own got to hold out expert managers" – those aren't inventions of our electrical flow finance government minister [populist billionaire Babiš] but a much older one. But it's non the alone invention. What are the others?
Klaus:
First, at that topographic point can't hold out whatsoever doubts nigh the declaration that assorted leftists own got been announcing the halt of the Left-Right political conflict for a real long fourth dimension together with nosotros own got moved on. And nosotros became rational, they said, together with it's meaningless to insist on those old words. Well, the leftists own got been maxim it for one-half a century...
Moderator:
[simultaneously] ... some 50 years...
Klaus:
Already inward the 1950s. So this sure thing is i aspect. But Blue Planet discourse has moved to completely different topics. These days, y'all regard that the basic discourse is nigh other things. About the political correctness, multiculturalism, migration, nigh the taboo condition of i thing or another, nigh the laid on on the family, the nation, together with all these things. The old left-right themes aren't relevant inward these discussions at all.
In fact, I would say that the the fans of the old left-and-right schemes are almost standing together on i side of the barricade against all the supporters of the quasi-progressivism together with quasi-modernism.
Moderator:
You began to speak nigh NGOism already some 10 years ago. If I recollect well, y'all were withal the chairman of the Parliament when I brought y'all a mass titled Ecofascism together with maybe y'all began to job that term (NGOism) because of this gift of mine. It was quite a prophetic achievement of yours because it seems to me that this prophesy is only existence fulfilled nowadays.
Klaus:
That's absolutely wonderful. And give thank y'all you real much because i is producing tons of speeches together with articles. Just yesterday, I was writing the text of my German spoken communication to hold out delivered inward Berlin inward exactly vii days together with I was enumerating all of these favorite -isms of mine which I often operate with. And I must confess that I own got forgotten the NGOism. So I made a notation inward this notebook to add together the word to my Berlin spoken communication immediately.
But what I think is truthful that fifty-fifty after those 10-15 years when nosotros were using this term, it's withal truthful that real many people hold on misunderstanding it.
[Klaus later on wrote a report nigh his see to Berlin inward Czech. He isn't a fan of the city, it's likewise post-modern, likewise Cosmopolitan, likewise total of bicycles instead of cars, mothers with three kids arranged on her bike, tourist bags, Russians, Russian texts. The venue for his verbalise was terrorized past times the left-wing activists i time over again thus the organizers rented a fancy ship, The Comtess of the Spree, together with the upshot took house spell sailing.]
Moderator:
Even though they are already victims of this novel scheme of governance? NGOism is a novel scheme of governance, isn't it?
Klaus:
Of course of study it is. It is an choice scheme of governance. And I experience that people are withal non perceiving it. If I supply to my spoken communication inward Deutschland – sad that I hold on returning to that verbalise – I am going to say that the people who are sitting either inward the Bavarian Bierstube [pubs] or lazily lying on the Castilian beaches [those are of a fleck higher quality] – thus these people are withal uninterested inward all these concepts, they withal neglect to perceive them. And unfortunately, these uninterested people are withal a majority.
Moderator:
Isn't it because our business office of Europe is withal living inward some luxury etc.? If y'all locomote to Warsaw, Poland, Hungary, permit lone the to a greater extent than Eastern ex-Soviet satellites, Czechia is improve off, I feel.
Klaus:
That's sure the case. But when I was giving my verdicts, I wasn't thinking of Czechia or Bohemia. I meant Western Europe together with Germans inward particular. Those are withal misunderstanding this word of mine completely.
Moderator:
On the other hand, Bavaria turned out to hold out the High German province that has displayed some survival instinct – I hateful inward the context of the migration crisis. The Seehofer-Merkel declaration may hold out only an internal telephone commutation within a political party together with maybe only i earlier the elections. But it must hold out placed inward some context, right?
Klaus:
It's sure an argument. But it's withal truthful that inward Germany, including Bavaria, y'all would withal hold out unable to lay out paper articles that are commonly published inward the Czech media. In this sense, give thank y'all God, the Western Europe is much to a greater extent than tightly laced upwards together with controlled past times the dictate than nosotros are. Thankfully, after all, all of us own got learned some lessons from the communism. And yes, I experience that fifty-fifty those whom I consider to stand upwards on the contrary side of the political discourse than my place, own got also learned this lesson together with bear differently than the Germans do.
This Merkelism, if y'all wish, is remaining almost non-existent inward Czechia.
Moderator:
You are speaking nigh Merkelism. But anti-Merkelism also exists inward Germany. We may supply to it soon...
Klaus:
H5N1 real weak one...
Moderator:
But create y'all experience that Deutschland is get-go to transform nether the influence of the migration wave? Does it start to think nigh itself together with give the limits of the traditional politically right thinking that depends on the collective feeling of guilt – guilt for the Holocaust etc.?
Klaus:
This is a touchstone inquiry together with my touchstone respond is: Hopefully. More precisely, it seems similar a Wunschdänken, a wishful thinking, rather than reality.
It's self-evident that Deutschland is moving somewhere. But when I am attention diverse events of AfD, the Alternative for Germany, I regard something to a greater extent than disappointing. I was only writing a written report nigh my see to Schwerin where they own got elections this weekend.
Over there, I lamented: In a hall with only some 250 people who own got been selected because they gathered from a large territory to regard my speech, I – an oldish pol – withal halt upwards existence the most [youthfully] radical of all the people inward the hall.
So I wouldn't trust inward overly optimistic ideas nigh the ongoing transformation. In fact, the moderator – a fellow member of AfD inward Schwerin – was a polite professor didactics at a local high school. He was yell for questions to me together with I couldn't believe my ears. It seemed to me that I had to struggle inward a similar way every bit I would own got to struggle on Radio Plus or the Czech Public TV [PC media inward Czechia].
He was telling me: But you, inward the Czech Republic, seem to own got i of the lowest population increment rates inward the footing according to some sources I own got read. You volition patently demand those workers, won't you?
So firstly I yelled at him together with urged him non to tell us whether nosotros demand some workers or not. But when I am getting such a inquiry from AfD, i may straight off regard that it's utterly absurd.
Moderator:
Let me plough it around. When Chancellor Merkel is currently on a tour around the cardinal European countries, the Visegrád fellow member states etc., together with on behalf of the EU, she is trying to lay something inward their heads, namely the thought of the quotas together with similar matters, she is behaving every bit a representative of the EU. And quite frequently, people are lightly yell for whether we're non seeing the nascence of the Fourth Reich of some kind. What create y'all think nigh it?
Klaus:
First, these analogies. Well, yes, but create I own got to telephone telephone it the Fourth Reich? It may hold out a squeamish hyperbolic witticism. Well, Ms Merkel does brand it hither every bit a representative of the European Union. The fact that the assorted footmen, lackeys, together with chichmoondahs such every bit Mr Tusk together with Mr Schulz are absolutely irrelevant – together with exactly Ms Merkel is who matters – is thus self-evident that everyone sees it.
Ms Merkel has no nominal European Union title. But she is a top representative of the contemporary European Union. We mightiness react jokingly together with demand Ms Merkel to demonstrate us some official European Union authorization. But the serious truth is that she is the actual representative of the European Union – fifty-fifty though someone else should hold out the official representative instead.
But the thought that someone such every bit Comrade Mogherini or what's her yell – an Italian adult woman – is a master copy of the European Union is at most a joke. Yes, I don't fifty-fifty know her name. And I am a politician. I am convinced that some 99% of the citizens of the Czechia – but non alone the Czech Republic, fifty-fifty Italia together with Deutschland – don't know the yell of this lady. So to criticize Ms Merkel that she is non a representative of the European Union seems similar an uninteresting legalistic nitpicking to me.
Moderator:
Let me create on your previous words. You said that the old-style leftwingers together with rightwingers are existence pushed together every bit natural allies inward a conflict with a novel foe, the NGOism together with other ideologies inward the wave. Isn't it funny when diverse NGOs such every bit The European Values selection y'all together with Mr Hájek together with others – who were ever viewed every bit conservative advocates of the Western values – together with throw y'all inward a purse together with pigment y'all every bit the ultimate pro-Kremlin folks. It almost looks similar y'all own got been given the same chapeau for heretics, i with a caricature of a petty devil, that Master John Huss had inward 1415. And they are urging the people to give the sack y'all at stake. In the bag, y'all uncovering yourself along with the electrical flow president together with real many other people.
Klaus:
Let me postpone the word nigh the Kremlin. First, yes, I create experience some shared identity with the traditional left-wing parties. Earlier inward the summer, I attended a traditional agricultural festival The Land The Feeder inward Czech Budweis, which I consider to hold out a squeamish positive event, despite the Prague Café's efforts to mock it every bit a relic of the past times which is silly. And at the beginning, at that topographic point was a coming together inward the foyer. Accidentally, I was sitting unopen to President Zeman together with the South Bohemian governor Mr Zimola, a social democrat.
There weren't sufficiently many bottles of beer over there. So I poured i into my drinking glass together with real visibly, I also used my bottle to pour the beer to governor Zimola's pint every bit well. And I loudly said: "Do y'all see? This is the appear of my friendly mental attitude to the social democracy." Everyone exploded inward laughter. Yes. But the men from the social democracy, Zimolas or Mr Jandák who was at that topographic point [a social democratic ex-actor] are actually closer to me than Pirates or Citizens for something, Citizens against something, ANOs, TOPs, non to yell the Greens. Yes, nosotros demand to say this.
Moderator:
What's the human relationship of this with the Kremlin?
Klaus:
It's y'all who incorporated it into this word [so y'all should know].
Moderator:
Well, my impression is that from the Prague Café together with similar folks' viewpoint, y'all are existence labeled inward this way because you're together together with non on their frequency every bit they are.
Klaus:
We are labeled inward this way because nosotros don't desire the NGOism, multiculturalism, mistaken together with lying Western European together with American political correctness, greenish stupidities nigh the global warming, together with thus on, together with thus on. We don't desire interventions into the internal affairs of private countries, permanent exports of the revolutions together with the devastation of states hither together with there.
And that's why nosotros are labeled every bit pro-Kremlin pundits. It's childish, silly, together with I don't know what to add.
Moderator:
So y'all got a similar label every bit the "traitors" [a soft communist propaganda word for a traitor paid past times unusual interests is existence used]. But isn't it also because y'all don't desire sanctions against Russia? Because y'all dislike the plans to perturb the equilibrium alongside geopolitical forces inward Central Europe together with elsewhere?
Klaus:
No dubiousness nigh it. These manipulations that sure people inward Western Europe together with particularly inward the the U.S. are doing with the footing these days are vintage examples of a total irresponsibility, failure to regard one's ain nose. Also, it's a sign of their despair, their feeling that they're losing. And that's why they are trying to create desperate acts. People who experience hopelessness are ever inclined to bear desperately.
So again, it began with Yugoslavia together with its devastation which was unnecessary. The Yugoslav folks themselves would own got sure never disintegrated Yugoslavia inward the way inward which it ultimately was disintegrated inward the 1990s. It continued with the Iraqs together with the Near together with Middle East. [moderator says: Kosovo] Well, Kosovo is something I count every bit a business office of the Yugoslav matters.
It continued together with it late moved to Ukraine. If the disagreements were kept every bit a Ukrainian-Ukrainian question, it would in all probability stay peaceful together with it could own got been basically solved past times now. But the numerous players of the mistaken Prague Café create desire some extra layer of problems. The confrontation inward Ukraine is their confrontation. That's why they were going to all those Maidans.
Moderator:
It's their business, isn't it?
Klaus:
It's their job, an occupation.
Moderator:
The the U.S. presidential elections are non far away. Do y'all believe that either Clinton's or Trump's victory volition alter something nigh the mental attitude of the the U.S. towards Russian Federation or Europe?
Klaus:
It's real interesting because our institute is publishing a newsletter together with nosotros unremarkably enquire a "Question of the Month". We invite 5-10 people to answer. The inquiry for the September newsletter is exactly i y'all gave me. Will the Trump or Clinton victory alter the world?
Well, I don't know. There's no dubiousness that the continuation of the electrical flow American government which is expected after a Clinton victory is something immensely negative for us, for the world, together with I think that for America, too.
Indeed, Trump is a graphic symbol but he is withal speaking on behalf of sane Americans together with the normal America. I own got never met or talked to Trump – dissimilar Hillary Clinton whom I met many times. I don't actually know what is within Trump's head. But I create believe that he is existence interpreted hither completely incorrectly.
I don't think that Trump is every bit stupid every bit some people pigment him. He is only a player, a naturally political animal, that plays different roles. Just similar a bang-up histrion inward the National Theater sometimes stars every bit a gentle lover together with sometimes every bit a villain, Trump is only starring inward the role of the leader of the election campaign. He should hold out expected to switch into a completely different role with a real distinct arrangement, the role of a responsible leader, on the next day. That's my supposition together with I believe that people are incorrectly assuming that he volition hold out doing everything he has said during the campaign. That's non what I expect.
Moderator:
I persuasion your words every bit optimistic ones. Thank y'all for those words together with for the see hither inward your Institute of Václav Klaus, inward our Prague Café.
And honey viewers together with TRF readers, regard y'all adjacent time.
Related: The thought that the Czechout is "looming" is greatly exaggerated. But otherwise I uncovering the Aljazeera written report inward a higher house – which reasonably suggests that the Czech spirit of independence is analogous to the British i – much to a greater extent than impartial together with informative than what I would hold off from such a left-wing station.
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