Czech press survey – January 7
Yulia Tymoshenko has been undoubtedly sentenced to prison in a politicised trial. However, does her husband rank among those who are endangered in their homeland? Petracek asks.
No one knows the answer to this question. In spite of this, the Interior Ministry has granted asylum to Oleksandr Tymoshenko on behalf of the Czech Republic, Petracek writes.
Can the position of Oleksandr Tymoshenko be compared to the Mann brothers, the German writers whom the then Czechoslovakia granted citizenship in the 1930s? Petracek asks.
While everybody knew who the Manns were and what threat they faced in Germany, information about International Industrial Projects, a Czech-based company co-owned by Oleksandr Tymoshenko, is even impossible to find on the Internet, Petracek points out.
There is no reason to play down serious shortcomings of Viktor Yanukovich´s Ukraine. However, do they automatically imply reasons for granting Czech asylum to Oleksandr Tymoshenko? Petracek asks in conclusion.
The Tymoshenko couple were tried in Ukraine on suspicion of financial crime 15 years ago and acquitted, and the reopening of the case is an evident continuation of the Ukrainian government´s revenge on the two, Jiri Hanak writes in Pravo.
In the past months, Prague faced a typical dilemma of whether to prefer morals, dictated by democratic rules, or pragmatism in relation to Ukraine. It chose observing morals by sharply condemning Kyiv´s retaliation on the Tymoshenkos and cooled relations with Ukraine though a bilateral association agreement was being worked on, Hanak writes.
In doing so, Prague definitely pushed Ukraine farther to Russia´s embrace. However, though it lost Ukraine [as an ally] for some time, it did not lose its own soul by pretending that developments abroad are not a business of the Czech Republic, Hanak writes.
Granting asylum to Mr.Tymoshenko was actually a duty of Prague, he adds.
Friday´s appointment of Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka as cardinal is no surprise, but it does reflect certain trends, Zbynek Petracek writes elsewhere in Lidove noviny.
Through Duka´s appointment, the circle of dignitaries close to the Pope has been joined by the first Czech Catholic primate who is also close to Czech President Vaclav Klaus.
However, Duka was also a fellow political prisoner of Vaclav Havel [the late former president and a critic of Klaus] under the communist regime. When speaking at Havel´s funeral on December 23, Duka mentioned his and Havel´s debates and chess games in a communist prison. His words must have embarrassed the present church dignitaries as the times when people were jailed over religion in Europe seems to be long gone, Petracek writes.
This does not apply for other regions than Europe, however. Also in this respect, Duka may stand closer to church dignitaries from countries such as Nigeria and Egypt, where sticking to Christianity means running a risk, rather than European progressists, Petracek writes.
To an extent, Duka will be “Klaus´s cardinal” who will definitively attract Klaus from the [protestant] Hussite Church to the “genuine and also national faith.” Nevertheless, owing to his life experience, Duka is closer to Havel´s ideas than he may seem to be, Petracek says.
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