For the first time since 1945: Europe's first "alternative government" emerges in the Czech Republic
Four days before the “official” start of the riots in the then German Protectorate “Bohemia und Moravia”, better known here and in the world under the name “Prague Uprising of 1945”, for the first time a group of citizens of this same protectorate gathered in Prague - representatives of some semi-legal Czech opposition to the existing German and pro-German authorities of this piece of torn apart former Czechoslovakia. This community called itself "Czech People's Rada". “Rada” in the Russian version sounds like “advice”, the rest, in my opinion, does not need to be translated - after all, it is a close Slavic language.
It happened on April 30, 1945, and armed clashes in the Czech capital began on the 4th of May 1945. I think our readers do not need to separately explain what and how was happening at that time on the fronts of the Second World War, in what position was the Czech protectorate and itself his patron is the German Third Reich. Although, in fact, several such groups were created right in Prague at that time, from military and civilians, members of trade unions, etc., during, and most importantly after the end of all events, it was the role of the ChNR that was recognized as leading. The composition of this council was extremely diverse - people were representatives political movements of almost the entire spectrum, from something like the then right-wing liberals to the communists. There was no coherence in their actions and programs, just as the programs themselves did not actually exist.
The relations of the members within the “rada” itself were also quite strained. And, as mentioned above, having really gathered for the first time on April 30, 1945, they could hardly have had any serious influence on the organization and preparation of the future uprising. Speaking as simply as possible, it was clear to everyone that the Reich was over, in the old way (by the way, even in those circumstances the Czechs existed quite comfortably) it would no longer be possible to live on and that it was necessary to somehow decide what to do next, and most importantly, how - to distribute future roles and “government seats”, which some external force had to somehow and for some reason precisely these citizens (from their point of view) and ensure in the new post-war state. Nevertheless, by chance and the people who subsequently wrote the history, it was the Czech People's Rada that was assigned the "leading role in the uprising" - it is this phrase that we will read today in almost all publications and textbooks related to the topic. In my personal opinion, it is absolutely undeserved, but ... so much has happened in history.
It should be noted that of all the major European uprisings during the end of the Second World War, it was the Prague one that turned out to be the most successful from all points of view. Although this happened mainly not even through the efforts and successes of the local rebels themselves, and certainly not due to the “leading role of the ChNR”, but rather due to some fateful combination of circumstances, in which certain forces converged at the right moment in a certain place, where they acted in a certain way, and each of these forces is exclusively in its own interests.
For those who are especially interested, I analyzed this whole topic in detail by day and by real facts in the book “The Last Battle - Who Liberated Prague?” published a couple of years ago. I think it turned out quite interesting and impartial.
Why am I remembering this right now? The fact is that on November 4, 2022, and again in Prague, the first press conference of a certain new "Czech People's Rada" was held. Only now this organization, if I may say so, has the name "People's Rada of Renovation." Translation seems redundant to me - and so everything is clear. And the situation is not entirely, but still similar: the Czech Republic today is a purely foreign protectorate; the war in Europe is going on, although not yet on the Czech territory itself, but the country is participating in it in approximately the same way as in the Second World War; the rhetoric of the authorities of the new Bohemia and Moravia protectorate is almost identical to that which was in the forties of the twentieth century, when in the middle of the name instead of “end” there was “und” (comparing the then local press with the modern one, one simply marvels at how similar it is!); and again, it becomes clear to everyone who has brains that it will obviously not work out like this anymore. Plus, as then, neither the newly formed Rada itself, nor the majority of the people clearly still understand in which direction someone from outside will again determine them in the near future, and they are trying to somehow decide for themselves. (Let me remind you that in May 1945 the Czechs themselves were not sure whether they would eventually fall into the zone of influence of which side - the USSR or the USA). That is why, when I heard about the creation of a new "Rada", I could not get rid of the parallels in history.
Now back to the present day. Unlike the ChPR of 1945, the members of the new Rada are not politicians, but high-class specialists, each in their own field. In the opening speech and in the answers to questions, each of them stated his own quite adequate point of view on the current situation, as well as some preliminary plan for getting out of it. Which is already positive. I will be happy to return to some specific statements of the representatives a little later, but now, I think it makes sense to present the organization in its entirety, since it seems to me that we will hear more about these people in the near future. And looking at the fact that the modern Czech Republic is such an economic and political model of the whole of Europe of the XNUMXst century in miniature, with all the “pluses” and “minuses”, but at the same time without any excesses in both, I think the processes taking place in the country are very indicative and important for building Russia's future relations with the EU in general. Whether we like it or not, we are neighbors, and we have a common continent - we will have to live somehow further together.
So, the composition of the new council: energy experts Volodymyr Shtepan and Ivan Noweski, Piotr Bogousz - media, Zdeněk Jandejsek - specialist in agriculture and food security, Martin Koller - military analyst, Jan Skalitsky - specialist in the field of transport, water resources and regional development , Jiri Havel - group coordinator, entrepreneur, marketer, composer, responsible for media relations.
It makes no sense to describe the biography of these people in more detail, but all of them, I repeat, are highly qualified specialists in their fields, well-known in the Czech Republic. And the very selection of members shows us exactly where the Czechs themselves see at the moment problems that need to be urgently addressed - almost everywhere. Also, the coordinator Jiri Havel said at the first press conference that the composition of the board is not finite, and new specialists from other areas will be involved. In short, in Europe, despite the peppy statements of the majority of current politicians, everything is really crumbling. Of course, we often hear this in various Russian media, but here I would like to quote specific statements by specific European experts already at a more or less official level. Moreover, as mentioned above, thanks to the “model” role of the Czech Republic, these data can be generally projected both on the entire European Union as a whole and on its other individual members - the situation is generally similar, the differences are only in specific details of the geographical location and economies of individual states.
Next, I will make a selection of individual statements by specific specialists, but, unlike the Western media, here link to the recording of the press conference in its entirety, in order to exclude accusations of one-sided interpretations, taking it out of context, etc. Those who are interested can read it on their own or with the help of a translator. I will add and repeat - the following text is practically a direct speech of the Europeans themselves, from their place, from their view of things in the situation that has developed for them and from their point of view, focused on their own public. This is not the view or interpretation of the author and/or other Russian experts, which we most often encounter in the media field, and not interviews of Western experts for the Russian media. Specific words of specific people will be transmitted as accurately as possible, as far as translation from one language into another allows. In no other EU country, as far as I know, such a body has yet been created, which makes the opinion of the Czechs quite interesting and revealing. So, the word to the members of the Czech People's Council of the "new convocation":
Jiri Havel, coordinator, opening remarks:
... we are sure that the Czech Republic will fall into a deep recession already in 2023 with the largest decline in GDP in Europe ... we all remember the crisis of 2009, when the decline was 7%, now the decline is expected in tens of percent. This situation will lead to the liquidation of many enterprises, most of which will never resume production. That's why (expected by the government - ed.) reducing gas consumption by 30% will not be a victory, but a big defeat. Thanks to this situation, the standard of living of our citizens can return to the state of almost fifty years ago, and the ecological situation will dramatically worsen ...
Vladimir Shtepan, energy:
... what will be the foundation of the new "green deal" that says "let's move on to update sources"? The foundation will be biomass, and biomass is 40% efficient when burned, while home fireplaces have an efficiency of 80%, and the EU wants to ban them. And if we look at liquefied gas, high-emission, it has higher emissions than coal, if you calculate everything. Only the extraction of this gas is harmful to the environment. In Europe, this is prohibited, in America it is produced, and all this liquefied gas that comes to us is high-emissive. If it goes through the process of liquefaction, then it is transported by ship, there are losses of 20-30%, then it will still evaporate, then it will be delivered somewhere by a gas pipeline, there will be losses of tens of percent. While pipeline gas has losses of up to 10%, you have a loss of 1000% per 5 km. Maybe 6 for pipeline transport.
... the forecast for an increase in electricity prices from January is 60%, and for gas by 68%...
... the exchange is manipulated, gas or electricity are no longer sold there, financial derivatives are sold there, and the meaning is bilateral transactions: I bro, bro me, the exchange is only an intermediary in this, then throw a couple of cubes of gas there, and then there with the price of gas do what you want... and funds and banks speculate with it, as well as with emission quotas...
Ivan Noveski, energy:
...the cause of all this was originally the Green Deal, and the main purpose of the Green Deal was to increase the price of energy. It just happened. It should be noted that the EU has succeeded in raising energy prices and unleashing economic a crisis. The truth is that the conflict in Ukraine did not help much, because the sanctions that the EU issued in this regard are measured mainly against the Eastern and Central European states, and not against Russia, because Russia, like America , just like India, just like China, they only earn money on these sanctions, while we, like Europe, are bleeding because of this ...
... What we have managed to achieve here in Europe, as well as here in the Czech Republic, that we said that we do not want sources of fossil fuel from Russia, we do not want sources that work, without having at least some replacement of these sources, or another pipeline gas, or another liquefied gas at a reasonable price, now this is happening with oil ...
... with regard to gas, the situation is worse there... ... deliveries to Germany were interrupted by the fact that some of the terrorist states violated, that is, sabotaged these gas pipelines to Germany, be it SP-1 or SP-2. ..
An interesting enough wording, given that this person probably knows what kind of “terrorist states” he is talking about.
And one more thing:
... ... ( (necessary - ed.) to buy back and include storage facilities in the state reserve so that we can work not only with supplies, but also with the price of the supplied gas ...
... these storages are needed. What is the use of the fact that there is gas in German storage facilities on our territory if we do not know to whom this gas will go? And only under martial law does the Czech government have the right to nationalize or confiscate this gas, or simply use it for the benefit of Czech consumers.
Apparently, the introduction, for some reason, of martial law, if not in all of Europe, then at least in a single country, can help this country in some way ...
Zdeněk Jandijsek, agriculture:
...the government has no least interest in making things work. They need to get money out of people. ... people need to suck everything out so that people are obedient. I think that people should not have been obedient, but should speak out clearly about this.
What to do? – We need to stop this senseless "green deal"... they say we will produce less, but it will be of higher quality... ...I have nothing against organic agriculture, but, for your information, in the Czech Republic 17,6, 1% of the land is in ecological mode, and the products, all that is, 17%. From 1% of the land, XNUMX% is sold.
Our economic and economic policy is poorly organized.
If we would manage agriculture the way it should be managed, as reasonable states manage in other places in the world, not in Europe, because in Europe we have other interests than raising the standard of living, then there would be plenty of food.
Jiri Havel, presenter, passing the floor to the defense expert:
... we are living the escalation of tension between us and the Russian Federation, thanks to the way our government representatives behave, and not looking at how other states behave like Austria, Hungary or Switzerland, for example, which are neutral.
Martin Koller, military expert:
... in principle, the situation is such that I could start my speech in silence, because we have a fundamental question - if we have any kind of army at all and who controls this army? ... our army is in the same position as it was in the days of Austria-Hungary. This means that our soldiers are hanging around the world and fighting in foreign colonial wars for foreign interests, but it's all paid for with our money. And we see the results of this over 30 years - we have lost everywhere. Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, now Mali, where it continues most shamefully. The end result is that in countries where we had good relations, today we are considered enemies. Added to this, of course, is this illegal immigration, one might say, without much exaggeration, the Afro-Islamic invasion of Europe. This is the result of the use of the armed forces, the soldiers of the European Union, where they have nothing to do - in colonial wars. It is also interesting that our country, which has freed itself from three hundred years of Austrian occupation, then from six years of German occupation, is engaged in fighting in colonial wars. This in itself is already a negation of Czech democracy, starting from President Masaryk (Tomas-Garik Masaryk was the first president of Czechoslovakia after gaining independence in 1918 - ed.). He would definitely be surprised that someone sent a tank to the fascist regime in Ukraine, which was named after him Tomas. Here a person would definitely be surprised and I would like to see what the liberator-president would say to this and what his attitude towards fascism would be. Fortunately, he did not live to see him - if he lived, he would most likely be sent to a concentration camp. Where, by the way, there were more Ukrainian guards in some camps than members of the SS-Totenkopf (part of the SS armed formations, created specifically for the protection of concentration camps - ed.) ...Let's look at the objective reality. As already mentioned, our country, in principle, is in the position of a colony ... The colony in relation to the mother country must be subordinated, and based on this, it is not necessary that it be combat-ready and well-armed in order to be able to defend its interests. We see this always and everywhere, after all, colonies already existed in antiquity. The sad thing is that we ended up in the position of a colony not as a result of the war, but thanks to the actions of our politicians. And this is not only in the military field, but also in energy, food products, and so on ... If there were twice as many of us here, and we would come further, for example, to culture, it would be all the same .. .
I personally see the main threat to our country in American imperialism, which is dragging us into wars that we don't want and that endanger us. Next - German revanchism from which pulls Nazism from afar. And even if the Germans pretend to be democrats, they support fascism wherever you look. We can start in Yugoslavia, we can continue in the Baltics, we can continue in Ukraine. It's unbelievable, but what do we see in our media? - attempts to rehabilitate fascism. We are told that people like Heydrich were not so bad at all, and Emanuel Moravec (famous Czech collaborator - ed.) was generally a cool guy, so, a little lost ... They forget about the hundreds of thousands of those killed, about the people tortured in concentration camps, where again I remember those Ukrainian guards. These were the first two threats. The third is Ukrainian fascism, which is quite new to us, and I hope that this will not continue forever. The fourth is Islamic Jihad. We slightly forgot about it in this smoke of the war in Ukraine, but it still continues.
Now more illegal migrants come to our country than when this problem first arose. And who is the representative of Islamic Jihad? There is no need to build any illusions for yourself - the NATO state is Turkey. Turkey's whole policy is nothing more than an Islamic jihad directed against Europe, as well as directed back to Asia, with an effort to take the position of Genghis Khan. What is the reaction of the EU states to this? How are we protected from these threats? But no way! Protecting us from senseless wars? From Islamic Jihad? Protect from fascism? I don't see anything like that! Why do we need membership in the NATO pact if this pact does not bring us anything? And the same applies to the EU, which is, in principle, a subordinate part of it. These two organizations are bound by eight basic and many other agreements, so that they are inseparable from themselves, and at the same time they cannot be reformed. If someone tells you that NATO or the EU can be reformed, then this is either a fool or a liar. Because the foundation of politics is never ideas - that's stupidity. The foundation of politics is always interests. And the interests of the United States or Germany are definitely not that we feel good, but that we, our soldiers, fight for their interests and we pay for it. Perhaps they would have made sacrifices. We finally see this in Ukraine as well. It amazes me that our government is going to a country where there is a statue of Bandera, who was a war criminal, where they glorify Shukhevych, who was an accomplice in the Holocaust. And people go there who talk about the fight against fascism and forbid to slander! It seems they should have made it here as a must! Well, whose then is our army? Not ours! It is enough to look at the unique act of the minister (defense - ed.) Stropnitsky, an actor by profession, who transferred our Fourth Rapid Response Brigade to the command of the First Panzer Division of the Bundeswehr. I think this would make President Masaryk faint - part of our army is part of the Bundeswehr! So in a bad scenario, our soldiers will fight somewhere in Poland, defending the German borders, and here we will sharpen our pitchforks ... We can start with the concept of the army. It is absolutely not finished.
Several "White Books" have been written, one more stupid than the other, I'm sorry. On one, by the way, our glorious presidential candidate Petr Pavel was a co-author (at the beginning of next year, presidential elections will be held in the Czech Republic - ed.) who, through his membership in the Aspen Institute, has risen to the rank of General of the Army, despite never having commanded more soldiers than a battalion, and his specialty is perhaps shooting, climbing trees, and controlling soldiers' socks, if clean ... But this is surprisingly not important at all - a well-trimmed beard and an elegantly tailored uniform win here. Here we see on the basis of what people judge presidential candidates - in no case by the content of the brain, but only by appearance. We have come a long way in 30 years...
I personally see the main threat to our country in American imperialism, which is dragging us into wars that we don't want and that endanger us. Next - German revanchism from which pulls Nazism from afar. And even if the Germans pretend to be democrats, they support fascism wherever you look. We can start in Yugoslavia, we can continue in the Baltics, we can continue in Ukraine. It's unbelievable, but what do we see in our media? - attempts to rehabilitate fascism. We are told that people like Heydrich were not so bad at all, and Emanuel Moravec (famous Czech collaborator - ed.) was generally a cool guy, so, a little lost ... They forget about the hundreds of thousands of those killed, about the people tortured in concentration camps, where again I remember those Ukrainian guards. These were the first two threats. The third is Ukrainian fascism, which is quite new to us, and I hope that this will not continue forever. The fourth is Islamic Jihad. We slightly forgot about it in this smoke of the war in Ukraine, but it still continues.
Now more illegal migrants come to our country than when this problem first arose. And who is the representative of Islamic Jihad? There is no need to build any illusions for yourself - the NATO state is Turkey. Turkey's whole policy is nothing more than an Islamic jihad directed against Europe, as well as directed back to Asia, with an effort to take the position of Genghis Khan. What is the reaction of the EU states to this? How are we protected from these threats? But no way! Protecting us from senseless wars? From Islamic Jihad? Protect from fascism? I don't see anything like that! Why do we need membership in the NATO pact if this pact does not bring us anything? And the same applies to the EU, which is, in principle, a subordinate part of it. These two organizations are bound by eight basic and many other agreements, so that they are inseparable from themselves, and at the same time they cannot be reformed. If someone tells you that NATO or the EU can be reformed, then this is either a fool or a liar. Because the foundation of politics is never ideas - that's stupidity. The foundation of politics is always interests. And the interests of the United States or Germany are definitely not that we feel good, but that we, our soldiers, fight for their interests and we pay for it. Perhaps they would have made sacrifices. We finally see this in Ukraine as well. It amazes me that our government is going to a country where there is a statue of Bandera, who was a war criminal, where they glorify Shukhevych, who was an accomplice in the Holocaust. And people go there who talk about the fight against fascism and forbid to slander! It seems they should have made it here as a must! Well, whose then is our army? Not ours! It is enough to look at the unique act of the minister (defense - ed.) Stropnitsky, an actor by profession, who transferred our Fourth Rapid Response Brigade to the command of the First Panzer Division of the Bundeswehr. I think this would make President Masaryk faint - part of our army is part of the Bundeswehr! So in a bad scenario, our soldiers will fight somewhere in Poland, defending the German borders, and here we will sharpen our pitchforks ... We can start with the concept of the army. It is absolutely not finished.
Several "White Books" have been written, one more stupid than the other, I'm sorry. On one, by the way, our glorious presidential candidate Petr Pavel was a co-author (at the beginning of next year, presidential elections will be held in the Czech Republic - ed.) who, through his membership in the Aspen Institute, has risen to the rank of General of the Army, despite never having commanded more soldiers than a battalion, and his specialty is perhaps shooting, climbing trees, and controlling soldiers' socks, if clean ... But this is surprisingly not important at all - a well-trimmed beard and an elegantly tailored uniform win here. Here we see on the basis of what people judge presidential candidates - in no case by the content of the brain, but only by appearance. We have come a long way in 30 years...
Then there is the issue of intelligence agencies. So I could also keep silent about them, because we don’t have any. All these are branches of foreign interests stuffed with foreign agents, by the way, like the ministry (defense - author's note.). I was expelled from the ministry after I reported that the entire ministry was larged with foreign spies, including Russians...
... and another question of funding. We are here, as it were, supporting some mystical figure that NATO prescribed - 2% (spending on the army from GDP - ed.) Can we afford it, when we listened to how we are doing in the economy, how people live? Can not!...
Finally, something about combat training. The training has reached the point where today's professional is often worse than the conscripts under the previous regime... ...and now imagine that this wretched army, with a couple of thousand combat-ready soldiers and herds of highly paid officials, will have to protect something . In my opinion, this army will be able to defend one edge (element of internal regional division in the Czech Republic - author's note.) two weeks, then we just run out of ammunition ...
And Martin Koller about Ukraine:
... fascism is organized crime!...
... Ukraine is a criminal state. If you come there, you will pay for everything and pay for the fact that someone will not break your car. This happened to me too. I was there and we were horrified by the conditions there. And my friends, including the military, say that they were there - this is an absolutely unreal state that resembles Africa! This is European Africa - total corruption, total crime!... Almost everyone robs everyone there!... By the way, the Ukrainian border is also worth it - natural Africa!
... Fiala (Prime Minister of the Czech Republic - ed.) seems to have promised to accept half a million Ukrainians! Dear, Brno has somewhere a little over three hundred thousand inhabitants, if I'm not mistaken, and Pilsen has one hundred and sixty thousand. We will have to build a new Brno and a new Pilsen so that we can settle them in general! And where can we get food for them that we import ourselves, electricity that we don’t have, gas that we cut off ourselves, drinking water, and so on?...
Jiri Havel, presenter:
... we convened this conference today precisely so that these professional opinions of people with many years of experience and practice in their fields can be heard ... ... many will agree with me that we are experiencing some kind of medial lack of freedom. Many professionals do not have the opportunity to speak in public and certainly not in private mainstream media channels. How can their voices be heard? And also why isn't there a healthy discussion going on? Why can't professionals who have their own views enter into a discussion with those who represent the views of the government? And this is a fundamental topic - the topic of media, the topic of freedom of speech and the opportunity to express views that are on the other side of this coin.
Petr Bogoush, media expert:
... as one of the main problems I see that the government and the national establishment, all those who represent the administrative structure of our society, they are precisely and clearly, optically and physically trying NOT to communicate. This is the problem. And this must end immediately! We must enter into discussion immediately, no matter what our views are.
What supports one-sided views is, of course, the mainstream media. What's up with that? It's hard to reform mainstream media in the process. At the moment, restructure, for example, the editorial office and talk with these people about some kind of journalistic ethics, about a code, etc., about some basic duties that are absolutely, absolutely violated. Take the basic rules of working in journalism and you will see that the mainstream media do almost nothing. This is just propaganda, censorship and journalistic activism.
Jan Skalitzky, regional development:
... I must say why we are here at all: the People's Rada of Renovation logically arises and was organized by specialists who love their areas of activity and have been engaged in them for a long time. The Rada emerged with a specific purpose, and the purpose is to help the people of our country, the Czech Republic. This is the main thing and it should sound...
...something else can be saved!...
This is serious.
I have given the words of some participants here in a larger volume, some in a smaller one, trying to choose what, in my opinion, can create a certain picture for our public. Of course, some options for solving the emerging crisis situations that absolutely all of Europe is now suffering from were proposed there. But this is already a purely local, Czech level. This, by the way, is one of the main problems of these respected citizens - this crisis was not created by the Czechs themselves (Germans, Dutch, Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks, etc.), they were literally dragged into it by force. Therefore, it is unlikely that it will be possible to solve the problems that have arisen in individual and especially small states on their own inside. The crisis came to them from outside, and its end must also come from outside. But by their actions they can still help this, as well as help their own and not only peoples to survive everything that happens with the minimum possible losses. From this point of view, the initiative of the new Czech People's Rada is more than worthy of praise.
I also want to add: despite the statements that seem to be quite consonant with the opinions in the Russian Federation, all these people are by no means some kind of pro-Russian figures, by no means. Rather, the opposite is true. They are Czech. Ask for your own, which is what the European elites are lacking now. The reader may ask: what is it to us? And we, as has been said many times already, need to communicate with those people who want to hear us there, in the West. They definitely want it. Moreover, they want to proceed not from ours, but solely from their own interests, like the same Erdogan. So why don't Russian representatives get in touch with them? Why do we instead constantly and persistently try to communicate with those who do not want to hear us and are not going to listen?
The new Czech People's Rada of Renovation convenes a mass rally in Prague on November 26th. In this sense, I do not want to draw any parallels with 1945 - the situation is not the same, and the members of the new Rada clearly do not have the same goals. And of course, I don’t want any violent actions to be provoked in this country, God forbid, an armed uprising, etc. Nevertheless, I would very much like that at least our valiant diplomatic representatives in the Czech Republic turn their attention to this event and its organizers. Then, at the beginning of May XNUMX, the ChPR met precisely because it became clear that the days of the existing government were numbered, and a new one was urgently needed. The Czechs have always had a good "chuyka" - it is not for nothing that they survived both world wars that took place right on their territory with the minimum possible damage. It looks like something similar is coming. And then, if the USSR had not shown both military and diplomatic activity, the situation in Czechoslovakia could have unfolded quite differently than we know from the history books today. I think it is high time to start showing some kind of similar activity - Europe is our neighbor and natural economic and cultural partner, and we will not get away from this, but we need to get along with our neighbors. Otherwise, a peaceful life is not to be seen.
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