The Exposure of the Republican PartyNovember 16, 2019Source: The Atlantic / www.theatlantic.com / By Peter Wehner / The GOP will not be a great or good party until those who lead it straighten their backbone. The first day of public hearings into the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump included an explosive revelation. William B. Taylor Jr., …
Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution – archive, November 1989November 16, 2019Source: The Guardian / www.theguardian.com/ By Michael Simmons / The brutal suppression of a student demonstration in Prague on 17 November 1989 sparked anti-government protests across Czechoslovakia which toppled the communist regime. See how the Guardian reported events. Czech riot police beat protesters: 50,000 call for freedom and end to …
The fragile lightness of freedom: the Berlin Wall, thirty years onNovember 14, 2019Source: open Democracy / www.opendemocracy.net / Alvaro Vasconcelos / What the fall of the Wall and the last thirty years should have taught us is that without freedom there is no equality, and without equality freedom is fragile and vulnerable. Thirty years after it disappeared, the memory of the Wall …
‘We Have Advanced to the Same Kind of Mess as Everybody Else’November 14, 2019Source: The New York Times / nytimes.com / By Alison Smale / Central and Eastern Europe’s transition to democracy has not been smooth. But there are grounds for hope. PRAGUE — Thirty autumns ago, across Central and Eastern Europe, everything fell in one great swoop. The foliage. The Berlin Wall. …
The politics of the 1930s are still playing out in Eastern EuropeNovember 14, 2019Source: The Washington Post / www.washingtonpost.com / By Jackson Diehl / On the night after the Berlin Wall fell, as I watched crowds of delirious East Germans surge down West Berlin’s broad Kurfürstendamm street, it didn’t occur to me that history was ending. On the contrary, it seemed that in …
World leaders mark fall of Berlin Wall with warning about democracy: ‘We must not succumb to the populists’November 12, 2019Source: Independent / www.independent.co.uk / By Borzou Daragahi / Mass protests had been erupting throughout eastern Europe for months. In Czechoslovakia, a poet named Vaclav Havel was leading the “velvet revolution”. Poland had already ripped off the yoke of single-party Communist rule. And protesters were out in the streets in …
To cope with China, don’t follow the money — follow the CzechsNovember 5, 2019Source: The Hill / www.thehill.com / By Joseph Bosco / Vaclav Havel, the brilliant playwright, heroic political dissident, and visionary first president of liberated Czechoslovakia, consistently emphasized the moral element in international relations. They were lessons he had learned from his country’s painful history of invasion and occupation first by …
‘Democracy is in Peril,’ warns influential Forum 2000 Conference in PragueOctober 26, 2019Source: Grit Daily / www.gritdaily.com / By Jackie Abramian / In 1989 the Soviet Bloc countries seized Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) policies to put an end to the Soviet Union, maiming its tentacles across the communist Eastern Europe. This resuscitated democracy hopes and promises of fair, free …
From imprisoned dissident to president: Vaclav Havel remembered at Frankfurt Book FairOctober 19, 2019Source: DW /www.dw.com / At the beginning of 1989, Czech dissident Vaclav Havel was in prison. By the end of that year, he became president of his country. The Peace Prize winner’s values and ideas are more relevant than ever. 1989 was a revolutionary year worldwide. But if one …
Atheist China has no say in the reincarnations system of Tibet: Tibetan PresidentOctober 19, 2019Source: The Tibet Post / www.thetibet post.com / By David Thomas / Prague —’Unlike the Vatican, Tibetans never agreed or accepted the Order no. 5 and strongly believe that the Chinese atheist government has no say in the reincarnations system of Tibetan Buddhism,’ President of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, Dr Lobsang Sangay …
Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute DeepensOctober 11, 2019Source: Bloomberg / www.bloomberg.com / By Lenka Ponikelska / China threatened the leadership of Prague, intensifying a dispute after the Czech capital withdrew from a sister-city partnership with Beijing. The conflict has been brewing since the upstart Pirate party took over the Prague mayor’s office and took issue with Beijing’s …
Morality and tribal politicsOctober 4, 2019Source: Barbados Today / www.barbadostoday.bb / By Ralph Jemmott / It would seem that in many Western democracies, politics is becoming increasingly tribal. Adherents to political parties are more intransigent in their commitment to and defence of their particular constituencies. In some cases, the tribalism reflects a genuine conflict of …
How South Africa’s Phoenix Farm served as a nursery for Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of SatyagrahaOctober 4, 2019Source: Times Now News / www.timesnownews.com / By Sidharth Shekhar / From Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha and non-violence continues to shape global opinions. New Delhi: As India gears up to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, it is important to understand …
Czech protesters are trying to defend democracy, 30 years after the Velvet Revolution. Can they succeed?July 22, 2019Source: The Washington Post / www.washingtonpost.com / By Michael Bernhard, Petra Guasti and Lenka Bustikova / Our research shows that, yes, demonstrations can prevent the erosion of democracy. Here’s what’s going on. Last month, on June 23, in Prague’s Letna Park, more than a quarter-million people assembled, this time calling …
FEATURE: Zdenek Hrib: The mayor who defies ChinaJuly 4, 2019Source: Taipei Times / www.taipeitimes.com / By The Guardian / Zdenek Hrib had been Prague’s mayor for little more than a month when he went face-to-face with the Czech capital’s complex entanglement with China. Hosting a meeting with foreign diplomats in the city, Hrib was asked by the Chinese ambassador …
The Exposure of the Republican Party November 16, 2019 Source: The Atlantic / www.theatlantic.com / By Peter Wehner / The GOP will not be a great or good party until those who lead it straighten their backbone. The first day of public hearings into the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump included an explosive revelation. William B. Taylor Jr., …
Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution – archive, November 1989 November 16, 2019 Source: The Guardian / www.theguardian.com/ By Michael Simmons / The brutal suppression of a student demonstration in Prague on 17 November 1989 sparked anti-government protests across Czechoslovakia which toppled the communist regime. See how the Guardian reported events. Czech riot police beat protesters: 50,000 call for freedom and end to …
The fragile lightness of freedom: the Berlin Wall, thirty years on November 14, 2019 Source: open Democracy / www.opendemocracy.net / Alvaro Vasconcelos / What the fall of the Wall and the last thirty years should have taught us is that without freedom there is no equality, and without equality freedom is fragile and vulnerable. Thirty years after it disappeared, the memory of the Wall …
‘We Have Advanced to the Same Kind of Mess as Everybody Else’ November 14, 2019 Source: The New York Times / nytimes.com / By Alison Smale / Central and Eastern Europe’s transition to democracy has not been smooth. But there are grounds for hope. PRAGUE — Thirty autumns ago, across Central and Eastern Europe, everything fell in one great swoop. The foliage. The Berlin Wall. …
The politics of the 1930s are still playing out in Eastern Europe November 14, 2019 Source: The Washington Post / www.washingtonpost.com / By Jackson Diehl / On the night after the Berlin Wall fell, as I watched crowds of delirious East Germans surge down West Berlin’s broad Kurfürstendamm street, it didn’t occur to me that history was ending. On the contrary, it seemed that in …
World leaders mark fall of Berlin Wall with warning about democracy: ‘We must not succumb to the populists’ November 12, 2019 Source: Independent / www.independent.co.uk / By Borzou Daragahi / Mass protests had been erupting throughout eastern Europe for months. In Czechoslovakia, a poet named Vaclav Havel was leading the “velvet revolution”. Poland had already ripped off the yoke of single-party Communist rule. And protesters were out in the streets in …
To cope with China, don’t follow the money — follow the Czechs November 5, 2019 Source: The Hill / www.thehill.com / By Joseph Bosco / Vaclav Havel, the brilliant playwright, heroic political dissident, and visionary first president of liberated Czechoslovakia, consistently emphasized the moral element in international relations. They were lessons he had learned from his country’s painful history of invasion and occupation first by …
‘Democracy is in Peril,’ warns influential Forum 2000 Conference in Prague October 26, 2019 Source: Grit Daily / www.gritdaily.com / By Jackie Abramian / In 1989 the Soviet Bloc countries seized Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) policies to put an end to the Soviet Union, maiming its tentacles across the communist Eastern Europe. This resuscitated democracy hopes and promises of fair, free …
From imprisoned dissident to president: Vaclav Havel remembered at Frankfurt Book Fair October 19, 2019 Source: DW /www.dw.com / At the beginning of 1989, Czech dissident Vaclav Havel was in prison. By the end of that year, he became president of his country. The Peace Prize winner’s values and ideas are more relevant than ever. 1989 was a revolutionary year worldwide. But if one …
Atheist China has no say in the reincarnations system of Tibet: Tibetan President October 19, 2019 Source: The Tibet Post / www.thetibet post.com / By David Thomas / Prague —’Unlike the Vatican, Tibetans never agreed or accepted the Order no. 5 and strongly believe that the Chinese atheist government has no say in the reincarnations system of Tibetan Buddhism,’ President of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, Dr Lobsang Sangay …
Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens October 11, 2019 Source: Bloomberg / www.bloomberg.com / By Lenka Ponikelska / China threatened the leadership of Prague, intensifying a dispute after the Czech capital withdrew from a sister-city partnership with Beijing. The conflict has been brewing since the upstart Pirate party took over the Prague mayor’s office and took issue with Beijing’s …
Morality and tribal politics October 4, 2019 Source: Barbados Today / www.barbadostoday.bb / By Ralph Jemmott / It would seem that in many Western democracies, politics is becoming increasingly tribal. Adherents to political parties are more intransigent in their commitment to and defence of their particular constituencies. In some cases, the tribalism reflects a genuine conflict of …
How South Africa’s Phoenix Farm served as a nursery for Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha October 4, 2019 Source: Times Now News / www.timesnownews.com / By Sidharth Shekhar / From Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha and non-violence continues to shape global opinions. New Delhi: As India gears up to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, it is important to understand …
Czech protesters are trying to defend democracy, 30 years after the Velvet Revolution. Can they succeed? July 22, 2019 Source: The Washington Post / www.washingtonpost.com / By Michael Bernhard, Petra Guasti and Lenka Bustikova / Our research shows that, yes, demonstrations can prevent the erosion of democracy. Here’s what’s going on. Last month, on June 23, in Prague’s Letna Park, more than a quarter-million people assembled, this time calling …
FEATURE: Zdenek Hrib: The mayor who defies China July 4, 2019 Source: Taipei Times / www.taipeitimes.com / By The Guardian / Zdenek Hrib had been Prague’s mayor for little more than a month when he went face-to-face with the Czech capital’s complex entanglement with China. Hosting a meeting with foreign diplomats in the city, Hrib was asked by the Chinese ambassador …