From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 2743
Date: 2000-06-29
----- Original Message -----From: Mark OdegardSent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 10:44 AMSubject: [TIED] Czech Presidents.This is quite OT, but if you want my private opinion, I like Mrs Albright and appreciate her really intimate familiarity with Central-European affairs. As a scholar she specialised in the role of independent press under les ancients régimes in Czechoslovakia and Poland. She's visited Poland many times (that began before she embarked on a political career; and she was here literally the other day to receive a honorary doctorate at Gdansk University). Like Havel, she has many personal friends in Poland. I'm sure she would do her best to promote Central European solidarity and close cooperation within the region. How easily she could make it to Czech presidency is anybody's guess; she's vulnerable to accusations of divided loyalty, and I'm not sure how strong the undercurrent of anti-Jewish sentiments may be in the Czech Republic. I've no idea if she's interested in archaeology at all.Piotr
Mark asks "a very American question":What do the Slavs here think about US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright becoming the next Czech president, Vaclav Havel's successor?From what I've read, she's a shoe-in (but this is just what I've read). She is native-born-Czech, and speaks the langauge as a native, apparently right down to a perfect r-hacek.Prague Castle is a peculiar place, in literature, history, and in Czech mentality. All three defenestrations and all that, plus the novel. Can Mrs. Albright help us re-establish 'Mittleeuropa'?Mrs. Albright will bring many skills to Middle Europe. Some IE skills, skills that fund some archaeological excavations.