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November 22nd, 2008
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October 8th, 2008 | Current Issue

Preventing panic
Health officials abate public fears of hepatitis A epidemic

Economy expected to ride out crisis
Gov't urges restraint and tells investors to remain confident

Bohemian center reopens in NYC
Gov't funds building of Czech expat hub

Social Democrats hike for votes
Opposition leaders bash government during pre-election climb up Říp

Czech Press Photo winners '08

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BRIEFS


John Foyston/The Oregonian
Karl Ockert of the BridgePort microbrewery in Portland, Oregon, gave the Czech president a sampling of the best local brews.
Presidential visit highlights


Detailing his skeptical views on global warming in Portland, Oregon, marked the beginning of President Václav Klaus' six-day adventure in the American West. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, Klaus leapfrogged between Oregon, Washington and Arizona to snag several right-wing awards and meet with conservative special-interest groups.
Along the way, the president and his entourage made several leisurely pit stops, including a Sept. 30 surprise visit to the BridgePort microbrewery in Portland. While throwing back choice pints with brewmaster Karl Ockert, Klaus reportedly reflected on the drinking habits of his global counterparts. "I think he might drink those, how do you say? Pina coladas," he said of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, according to The Oregonian, the state's daily newspaper.
He also visited the Columbia Gorge Falls, and voiced his disgust with the tourists' style of dress in a journal he later published on his Web site.
After a stopover in Seattle, Washington ? where he told the local World Affairs council not to expect anything from the upcoming Czech presidency of the European Union ? Klaus' journey terminated in Phoenix, Arizona, where enthusiasts were reportedly required to contribute $1,000 for a chance to meet him.
"It is 102 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix, an unbelievable 22-degree Celsius difference [from Seattle]," he wrote in his journal. "Still, I intend to survive this massive warming, even if some global warming alarmists view a 0.74 degree Celsius increase in global temperature in the past 100 years as a catastrophic event."

By Markéta Hulpachová

By James Pitkin
For the Post
When I took a job last year at a weekly paper in Portland, Oregon, I never expected my work to make waves in the Czech press. I also never expected to be called an asshole at a news conference. All it took to make both happen was a visit to Portland by President Václav Klaus.
Klaus arrived Sept. 29 on the first stop of a six-day U.S. tour that took him on to Seattle and Phoenix. A coalition of conservative groups had invited Klaus to give lectures and receive awards while he promoted his new book, Modrá, nikoli zelená planeta. Titled Blue Planet in Green Shackles in English, the book questions the science of global warming and warns that environmentalism is destroying our freedom.
That’s not a popular view in Portland, where hybrid cars and composting are as much a part of life as Škodas and dumpling-eating are in Prague. But I jumped at the chance to cover Klaus, who had loomed large over a time in my life I look back on with nostalgia. I moved to Prague in 1996 and eventually landed a job at The Prague Post, where I worked as an editor and reporter until I left the city in 2002.
I wasn’t sure what kind of turnout to expect when I arrived at the Portland Hilton for a Sept. 30 news conference with Klaus. His ideas were ones most Portlanders would dismiss as prehistoric, but he was, after all, a European head of state. I was completely unprepared to find myself one of only three reporters there, the others being from local TV and a community radio station.
We filed into a room where 20 or so of Klaus’ conservative hosts were already seated. Klaus seemed disappointed with the low turnout, but I saw it as a rare opportunity. I remembered how difficult it had been to gain access to Klaus as a reporter. In my years at the Post, he gave the paper just one interview.
I also recalled how dismissive Klaus could be toward journalists, which in my view had a chilling effect on Czech reporters, who rarely challenged him. Now that I had the chance, I was determined to ask Klaus at least one uncomfortable question.
As the old saw goes, a journalist’s job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I first asked him whether it was an ideal time to be preaching pure market capitalism to Americans, at the very moment our financial system was collapsing due to deregulation. Klaus called it an “incredible question” and said the real cause of the crisis was over-regulation of the market — a conclusion almost no one in this country has drawn.
It was my second and last question that got under Klaus’ skin. I said it was difficult to imagine former President Václav Havel speaking before such a tiny U.S. audience. Was Klaus, I asked, concerned that his country’s standing had diminished?
“I’m not sure how many journalists are in Portland,” Klaus responded with a smile.
“More than this,” I answered.
Klaus paused before purring coolly: “I’m sure my predecessor would be in favor of cap and trade,” a carbon-credit system currently under debate in Oregon.
Afterward, I was approached by Jody Clarke, one of Klaus’ hosts from the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute. “I can’t believe you asked such an arrogant question,” she fumed. “And you are an asshole.” It’s the only time I’ve been called that to my face as a reporter, and I wanted to ask Clarke why, but she stormed out.
I posted a story on our paper’s Web site, including background about Klaus’ famous arrogance and his rivalry with Havel. “While Klaus fancies himself the sharper mind and the true savior of the country,” I wrote, “it was Havel who was constantly lauded on the international stage.” Referring to Clarke calling me an asshole, I wrote that, based on my time in Prague, “I knew I wasn’t the only one in the room.”
The story of the news conference’s dismal turnout — and the fact that a former Prague Post reporter had written critically of the president — was quickly picked up by Czech news servers and wires, bringing what a Post news editor called an “unexpected 15 minutes of fame” for her paper.
I was happy to oblige, and even happier for the chance to finally interview Klaus — even if it was an awkward first meeting.
— James Pitkin is a reporter for Willamette Week, an alternative newsweekly in Portland, Oregon.
He worked at The Prague Post from 1999 to 2002.

GEORGIA Russian peacekeeping forces dismantled one checkpoint and were at work removing several others Oct. 5, five days before a deadline for Russian troops to withdraw from buffer zones outside the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, The New York Times reported. The activity came two days after an explosion in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, killed eight Russian soldiers and three Ossetian civilians.

NORWAY The scientists who discovered the HIV virus will share the Nobel Prize for Medicine with the expert who linked human papilloma virus (HPV) to cervical cancer, the BBC reported Oct 6. French team Francoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were recognized for their groundbreaking work in uncovering the virus responsible for AIDS, while Harald zur Hausen, from Germany, received the prize for making the link between HPV and cancer.
VATICAN Pope Benedict XVI told a meeting of bishops in Rome Oct. 6 that the global financial crisis is proof that the pursuit of money and success is pointless, the BBC reported. The pope criticized capitalist society, saying that those who seek success, career or money are building on sand. According to the pope, people should instead base their lives on God’s word.
EU The European Union opened its first immigration center outside Europe, in Mali’s capital, Bamako, Oct. 6, the BBC reported. So far, there are no jobs on offer and the office warns against the dangers of illegal immigration. Thousands of young West Africans try to make it to Europe illegally each year and many die on the way. The EU hopes that, in the future, the new center will help people find legal work in Europe.
AUSTRIA An Austrian man was arrested Oct. 4 on suspicion of burning his in-laws to death with a homemade flame-thrower, the BBC reported. Police said the 48-year-old used a propane gas container to torch the elderly couple as they lay in bed. The bedridden woman, who had lost both her legs to diabetes, died where she lay, but her husband, who tried to escape, was found in the garden. The suspect fled the scene but was found later, after stabbing himself in the stomach. He is in the hospital in an induced coma.

SECURITY Interior Minister Ivan Langer wants the government to finance several failing courses at Charles University, daily Právo reported Oct 7. He said that courses such as Persian, Arabic and Sinology are key for national security, because secret services often employ the graduates. If the plan is approved, Charles University would receive 10 million Kč ($560,000) a year for the next five years.

LAUNDERING The anti-corruption police are investigating alleged money laundering in the center of Prague, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported Oct 6. Policemen stormed an exchange office on Národní třída early Oct. 6 and spent the whole day questioning all employees and owners, who are suspected of having laundered at least 5.3 billion Kč from criminal activities and depositing it into foreign bank accounts.
ARMY Czech soldiers are unhappy with their armored personnel carriers in Afghanistan, daily Lidové noviny reported Oct 6. The paper claims that the Dingo APC has a weak engine, insufficient fire power and is sensitive to the type of fuel it uses. U.S. soldiers have allegedly refused to operate with their Czech colleagues as long as they use the Dingo. The Army has denied claims that the APC is endangering Czech troops but admitted that fuel quality in Afghanistan is low.
RETIRED Director of the National Anti-Drug Center Jiří Komorous will retire in February, ČTK reported Oct 7. He has headed the police unit fighting drug manufacturers and traffickers since 1993. Under his leadership, it became one of the top units in Europe never to be involved in information leaks or corruption scandals.
COURTS The state budget for next year does not include money for the creation of a complete network of regional courts, ČTK reported Oct 3. Almost all of the 1.5 billion Kč that the Justice Ministry has available for investments will be used to finance a new palace of justice in Brno, even though six out of 14 regions still do not have their own courts.
AFGHANISTAN The Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) called on its MPs to vote against sending another 250 soldiers to Afghanistan next year, daily Právo reported Oct 6. Until now, there has been an unwritten agreement between the Civic Democrats and the ČSSD on supporting such foreign missions. Since the communists also oppose the move, the resolution might not pass. Coalition representatives already said that such a failure would not be a reason for the coalition to collapse.

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