Russia. The word still evokes images of conspiracy behind gray concrete blocks, while a strong military marches through the streets in a tour de force of the iron hand that rules the harsh country. The Kremlin was working hard to ensure that this stereotype, of influential and ruthless Soviet toughness, is exaggerated. Disinformation, ostentatious secret service operations and bellicose rhetoric all served this illusion.
Every Soviet citizen was dreaming about buying a car. There were obvious problems: cars were in deficit in the Soviet Union (SU) and the salaries of the workers were hardly enough to buy such basics as food and clothing.
First of all, it was an overstatement to call the apartment yours. There was no private ownership of apartments in the Soviet Union. There existed only personal possession of small land parcels with small (or not, depending on the size of a bribe) houses.
President Vladimir Putin is proposing to renew cooperation with Europe, which is to be welcomed because Russia is an important country. I believe, however, that in taking this step we should remember the history. We understand the pain of the former members of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, President Putin should equally understand the pain of those nations that suffered great injustices from the Soviet Union.
July 1, 2021 is a special day for the former member states of the Warsaw Pact – the day marks the 30th anniversary of the disintegration of the military alliance. At Vaclav Havel’s invitation, Czechoslovak President, the official document heralding the end of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact was signed in the Černín Palace in Prague on July 1, 1991. This closed a historic chapter for the eight member states of the Eastern alliance.
The stereotype that Jewish people are rich and greedy, and that they corrupt non-Jewish people, is an important factor of far-left antisemitism. The Soviet Union had a long history of antisemitism, often masked as anti-Zionism or anti-cosmopolitanism.
Many of the projects and ideas presented by the Georgian government are good examples of wishful thinking. However, when the ruling party is called Georgian Dream, a pursuit of wishes and dreams should not surprise anyone.
The Czech parliament has approved the establishment of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on hybrid threats. This expert platform will be dedicated to monitoring influence operations and issuing recommendations to Parliament.
The decision to remove an old statue of Soviet Marshall Koněv from a square in Prague has led to a chain of very unlikely international incidents, culminating in direct intimidation of political representatives of a member of both the EU and NATO.
30 years ago the Velvet Revolution began with a demonstration in Prague. It started all of a sudden. Then, it all happened very quickly. The communist regime, which had remained in power by force since 1948, had become hollow and rotten in Czechoslovakia.
