While I do not often write about particular political statements,  I am drawn to comment on today’s response by Robert Fico to Mikulas Dzurinda’s accusations that the government has failed to tap Eurofunds.  I translate Fico’s statement as follows (and would appreciate any better translation): My political conscience cannot be a person like Mikulas Dzurinda, [...]

I was intrigued to see stories about a recent Fico appearance, particularly one in HNOnline entitled, “Fico: There is an artificially created impression that every politician is a thief.” How did that impression get created?  I have a partial theory: The points Fico raises in the article are not at all inappropriate:  Politics is hard [...]

(or why Dr. Sean hits the nail on the head) Kudos to Sean Hanley for his recent post, Do Slovak and Czech Christian Democrats have a prayer? Dr. Hanley, whose blog (Dr. Sean’s Diary, http://drseansdiary.blogspot.com/) has long been my model for public, academc discourse on postcommunist Europe, yet again calls attention to precisely the questions [...]