After 1989, it has become obvious that the so-called ‘West’, or Europe in general, have had a far greater chance of winning the Cold War. But this prospect was not even properly discussed, let alone expected or predicted by scholars, politicians, and defense strategists on either side of the Iron Curtain.
Human-centric cities are much more pleasant than the centrally planned monstrosities during communism, but it is not only people but the flora and fauna that can also be thankful for free markets and democracy. One of my favorite books as a little child was a story of Krtek, the beloved mole from the cartoons of Czech artist Zdeněk Miler. The story, written during communism, depicts how the little mole with his critter friends find themselves in the middle of a city development project.
EU citizens are collecting signatures for a petition demanding a universal, unconditional income for everyone. What does this mean? Everyone will have a living wage, regardless of what type of work they do or what contribution they make to the society.
There are two camps of the former Soviets: one of the happy people because they are now free, and the second one of the unhappy, who still think everything back then was basically okay. I belong to the former and I am proud that I also took part in all possible types of anti-Soviet/communist activities.
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.
Throughout our history, autarky has been an attractive idea for many, and while today’s public debate rarely includes a call to shut down the country and build a self-sufficient utopia, we may occasionally come across attempts to set up parts of the economy independent of external partners.
The tragedy of the commons describes the opposite situation – the property belongs to everyone, but at thesame time to nobody, although they all think that a) the property belongs to nobody, and b) they have full rights to the benefits from the property.
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.
It was a long yearning of mine to write a short piece about political caricature in 19th century France. I will not. Not because I wouldn’t want to, or I wouldn’t think it’s interesting, but because you wouldn’t. I know this, because upon getting inspired to the brink of writing, I asked 4Liberty’s excellent editor, Olga Łabendowicz, to furnish me with data as to what articles perform the best on the website. And because I…
The COVID-19 crisis was used quickly and efficiently – now that there was no need for protests, he was disposed of: General Konev, Marshal of the Soviet Union. Not himself, of course, but his monument in the Prague district Bubeneč.
