The danger for which they arm themselves does not exist. There are other threats we have experience with since 1938!

At the outset, let me ask you about something that was not covered by the media much - as a security expert: wasn't the SdL congress in Brno a security risk and should the government have banned it for that reason?

Safety risk is not a legal reason for a ban. It's good to realize how tempted a government would be to label something a security risk and then ban it. Security risk is not legally defined, so basically anything could fit under this term. Remember how many times someone has been flagged or something has been flagged as a security risk!

The gathering of the Sudetenians in Brno would rather be punishable by the disputed section 318a of the Criminal Code, according to which anyone who, with the intention of endangering or damaging the constitutional establishment, sovereignty, territorial integrity, defense or security of the Czech Republic... carries out activities for a foreign power on the territory of the Czech Republic, will be punished.

A foreign power supports the activities of the SdL, which is linked on its websiteDeclaration of Principles of the Sudeten German Associationa brochure translated into Czech with the title »Fundamental declaration of the Sudeton German expatriate association«, where on page 16 it is stated:»The Sudeten German expatriate association strives for the Czech Republic to cancel the still effective decrees, laws and regulations issued in 1945/1946 by the president of the republic, the government or the parliament of the then Czechoslovakia, which ordered, or legalized the de facto state of lawlessness – collective disenfranchisement, expropriation, forced labour, expulsion and murder. For this purpose, he demands direct talks between representatives of the Czech nation and representatives of the Sudeten German national group, the aim of which is to find a solution that both parties can agree to from a free decision of their will. In doing so, he expects support from German politics.«

The cancellation of these decrees would therefore also have property consequences. SdL representatives hypocritically claimed that there was no talk of decrees - of course, they were playing saints in Brno. But on their website they have the quoted »fundamental declaration« which was agreed on February 28, 2015 at the Sudeten German House in Munich and is still valid today.

It can therefore be summarized that the organizers of the Brno event are suspected of having committed a criminal offense according to § 318a tr. Act, because their activity was (co-)financed from abroad and its consequences could threaten or damage the interests of the Czech Republic.

How do you view the media-discussed dispute between the government and President Petr Pavlo regarding participation in the NATO summit in Turkey? Is it really as important a topic as the mainstream serves it up to us?

President Petr Pavel refers to the Constitution, where it is written in Article 63 that he "represents the state externally" - but the activities carried out according to this article require the co-signature of the Prime Minister or a member of the government authorized by him, and the government is responsible for this (not the president - he is not responsible for the performance of his function!). Therefore, these activities performed by the president are of a purely ceremonial nature.

In addition, the president himself created a precedent when he did not appoint a member of the government proposed by the prime minister, so he loosened the interpretation of the constitutional term »appoints« (Art. 62) to the position that sometimes he appoints, sometimes not. Another constitutional term »represents« (Art. 63) must be interpreted in the same way, i.e. sometimes it represents, sometimes it does not.

Since the president is not responsible for the performance of his office, but the government is, it will be necessary to ensure that in cases where the president will "represent the state externally", he will do so in accordance with the government, which - unlike him - is responsible for foreign policy making. In practice, it could be that the president would give the government his upcoming speeches for approval first. If the president deviated from the government's foreign policy line, it would mean that he would discredit himself and would no longer be qualified to represent the state externally.

You are right, however, that an unnecessary amount of words are devoted here to a constitutional but realistically insignificant politician. This is probably the main point of the president's dispute with the government, because he can't attract decent attention with anything else.

The government claims that there is a need to field a common candidate against Petar Pavlov. Do you see one like this? Am I personally thinking in vain?

I think that there are candidates, and they are not few. The problem is only their low popularity, because many citizens vote according to how they "perceive" the candidates, without seriously thinking about how they deserve. This leads to the great superficiality of a direct presidential election.

For example, we have many experienced diplomats. I would favor Eva Filipi. She would have given it to me if I said it out loud, but since it will be in written form with you, I didn't actually say it out loud(smile).Or Rudolf Jindrák, who spoke so brilliantly in the Slovak House about Václav Havel's performance in 1990 - to tell the truth, I didn't hear it very well, I was so surprised. Or Hynek Kmoníček, who would bring humor and the joy of thinking into the gloomy castle atmosphere!

It is certainly possible to consider Alena Schillerová (I think that a woman - not a "man"! - in this post could be a welcome change, cultivating the whole function). Or Radek Vondráček - he is well-known, smiling and non-confrontational, even though he is a lawyer. After all, even Libor Vondráček - he still has a lot of time! – could be time on the »castle trajectory«. And how about Marek Vasut?

We have the Hockey World Cup behind us and the Soccer World Cup ahead - both without the Russians participating. Why are athletes from the Russian Federation and the USA measured by a different yardstick? Isn't it the same as when the US invaded Iran?

The world is desperately biased, but people - it seems - don't mind much. They still seem to hope that they will be on the better side. They don't care about fair play - until they start pulling the short end of the stick. But that's screaming!

I see it critically on our government – ​​they speak up when a drone flies somewhere, and it is not even known if it was Russian at all. But the brutal murder of dozens of young girls in an old white dormitory - that was not worth a shout to anyone from the government. Even at the convention of the Sudeten German Landsmanschaft, they were deaf and blind. They are also silent on the obvious glorification of Nazi collaborators in Ukraine, even though many Czechs were among their victims. However, only the Poles show what it looks like when someone has honor and backbone.

Israel must also be approached »fairly«, and not fought over. This is a position that - and I know for sure - the Israelis officially appreciate it, but in essence they despise it, they don't trust it. There was once almost a scandal when Karel Schwarzenberg criticized the ongoing construction of settlements on the West Bank. How will it be viewed in Israel if we dare to criticize them? In truth, the devout fearmongers gained no respect in Israel, but Schwarzenberg was respected in Israel because he spoke the truth.

In your opinion, what is the development perspective of both conflicts? They say that every war will end in peace - but when will it be?

Russia needs to eliminate the danger from the little-mentioned but important Donetsk fortress (Fortress Belt). It's a vast underground military fortification, including launch sites (a missile would fly to Moscow in about 6 minutes from here). The Ukrainians have been building this fortification since 2014 and it represents a huge danger for Russia. Conquering urban agglomerations is extremely difficult militarily, but conquering underground military installations is horrendously difficult. That's why it's taking the Russians so long.

Besides, it's obvious to everyone that unlike the Americans, who go somewhere, kill whoever they want, and then retreat to the other side of the world, the Russians try to be gentle with the civilian population, because they know that after the war they will be neighbors and will have to get along somehow.

Ending the Middle East conflict may not be so easy because there are many distractions at play. The experienced diplomat and reporter Miroslav Polreich had a paradoxical solution. He said he knew how to achieve peace in the Middle East: screw them! Don't interfere, don't add fuel to the fire, don't spread them - just let them be. They are used to living together and have always gotten along somehow - as long as someone from the outside didn't pit them against each other. It looks a bit like a joke, but I am convinced that Polreich hit the spot.

The destructive influence of American religious fanatics, the so-called evangelicals, or Christian Zionists, is greatly neglected. They don't care about the good of the Jews or Israel at all - they follow their deranged teaching about Armageddon and don't give a damn about everything else. And Trump is listening to them, because that's a large constituency, and Trump's popularity is going down, and there's an election in the fall…

There is still talk about the fact that the Czech Republic is not meeting NATO obligations in terms of defense spending. How do you see it also in connection with the huge deficit of the Czech state budget?

The whole thing is like a debate from the pavilion of some madhouse. There is no real danger for which they are so diligently arming themselves. But there are other threats - for example, two of our neighboring states, which are arming like mad because they want to have the largest armies in Europe, are eyeing nuclear weapons - and on top of that we had a very bad experience with them in 1938 in terms of territorial claims.

And then migration - not only from Africa and Asia, but especially from Ukraine: armed and war-numbed fighters who will care about almost everything.

These threats—and the risks they pose—should be diligently addressed by our entire intelligence, defense and security community. Headed by the »bison« Koudelka, or rather headed by someone other than this ideological mannequin.

Is there any chance that there will be no global conflicts? Everyone has a mouth full of peace, but the reality looks different. Who is behind it? Big arms companies?

General Petr Pelz once formulated five "industrial" complexes: military, pharmaceutical, energy, banking and media. And they take turns in leadership and efforts to squeeze the common people. People know this, but they don't know the way out of this vicious circle.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton got it right when he once wrote that»tyranny always enters through an unguarded gate. A bully is always careful and tries his best not to touch anyone. A bully is always treacherous. It always comes under the pretense of protecting something that people really want to be protected—religion, public justice, or the glory of the country. … All tyrannies are always new tyrannies. There is simply no such thing as the old tyranny. … A single moral lesson emerges from these evident historical facts. If you're looking for tyrants, don't look for them among the seemingly obvious types of men who oppressed people in the past. … Whatever the new tyrant may be, he will never wear the same uniform as the old one.«

Allow me to ask a final question from another barrel: In August, you are holding a media literacy course in Havlíčková Brod. What role do you think the media plays today? Don't you think it's overrated?

As I heard from my colleague Hanka Lipovská, an expert on the word taken, the public media is receding from its glory. So the controversies about them - similar to the one about President Petr Pavel - are kind of pointless, and they will become more and more pointless.

The Summer Journalism School in Havlíčková Brod has been devoted to these failing media for many years (they invite various Moravians and Jourovs, etc. as lecturers).

In contrast to her, our association »Journalistic Praktikum« deals with more important and dignified matters. We are concerned with respect for the language, the nation - and therefore also self-respect. Karel Havlíček Borovský once wrote that in order to encourage patriotism, we forget about educating the nation.

After last year's »zero« year, which was called »Slovo do pranice«, this year we are organizing a three-day »media literacy course«. From the multitude of topics offered (we will keep many for next years), this year we will focus on stylistics, verification and editorial work with the text. Those interested can familiarize themselves with the program and possibly applyon our website.