Yegor Gaidar´s Award Speech

English Pages, 20. 11. 2014

Many thanks for conferring on me the Yegor Gaidar´s award. I am really honoured by it. Thank you for doing it to now, in this very complicated moment of modern history. We live in a very strange moment – we celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the fall of communism and we suddenly appeared in a situation which reminds us of the atmosphere we experienced more than 25 years ago. This is a rather unexpected coincidence of events. I will return to it later. Let me, first, say a few words about how I see the person whose name is connected with the award I just got.

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Comments on the occasion of the Launching of the Eurasian Council of Foreign Affairs

English Pages, 12. 11. 2014

1. Let me say a few words. I – and I suppose all of us – listened very carefully to Minister Idrissov´s sophisticated and thoughtful speech and let me say that we all welcome – at least I hope we all welcome – the launching of the Eurasian Council of Foreign Affairs. We would like to thank you, Mr. Minister, for inviting us to be part of it, and for organizing this gathering.

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Notes for House of Lords Hearing about Ukraine

English Pages, 11. 11. 2014

1. I don´t pretend to be a specialist on Ukraine. I am also no aprioristic advocate or defender of Russia or Mr. Putin, but due to my life in communism I have been always opposing lies and manipulative propaganda. In this respect the life in communism made us very cautious and not to be easily persuaded and misled.

2. I see the current Ukrainian crisis as a domestic Ukrainian problem later heavily influenced, if not mostly masterminded from abroad.

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The Growing Ambitions of the Ideology of Universalism and Their Destructive Consequences

English Pages, 3. 11. 2014

Many thanks for the invitation, many thanks for giving me such a prestigious role at this important gathering. I still have to figure out whether and why I eventually deserve it.

One possible explanation for it could be the specific, in many respects unique perspective from which I look at the current world and at the topic of this conference, which I hope can be summarized and simplified as “Communication Problems between the East and the West”.

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New book: Václav Klaus - The Never-Ending Struggle for Free Society

English Pages, 10. 10. 2014

The Václav Klaus Institute (VKI) is publishing new book of the President Václav Klaus “The Never-Ending Struggle for Free Society” which is the first English publication outlining the topics and ideas which stand behind the aims and activities of the VKI. This collection of speeches, essays and articles (originally written in English) is a summary of the texts created by Václav Klaus in the last year and half in his capacity as the President of the Czech Republic and the first year and half his post-Presidential life.

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Václav Klaus: the EU is at war with liberty

English Pages, 25. 9. 2014

An interview with the former Czech president, possibly the West’s last truly outspoken leader
.

Václav Klaus has made a habit of saying things others shy away from saying, but it doesn’t seem to have done him much harm in the popularity stakes. Quite the opposite: the 73-year-old ardently Eurosceptic free-marketeer has legitimate claims to be regarded as the most successful ‘true blue’ conservative politician in Europe over the past 25 years. He was, after all, prime minister of the Czech Republic from 1992 to 1998 and then his country’s president for a further ten years, from 2003 to 2013.

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The Great War and Its Continuing Impact: The View from the Czech Republic

English Pages, 17. 9. 2014

Many thanks for inviting me to attend this very topical conference organized on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the First World War. The topic is very motivating and not about history only. In addition to it, the invitation gives me a pleasant opportunity to visit Serbia, a country where the war started, a country I – and Czechs traditionally – like, a country where I have good friends. Last time I was here in January 2011 which is – in the currently fast-going era – already a relatively long time ago.

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Careless Opening Up of Countries (without Keeping the Anchor of the Nation-State) Leads either to Anarchy or to Global Governance: Lessons of the European Experience

English Pages, 3. 9. 2014

Twenty four years ago, a few months after the fall of communism, I attended my first MPS General Meeting. As some of you may remember, it was held in Munich. It gave me the enormously valuable opportunity to see and meet the famous names of the MPS – Friedman, Stigler, Becker and many others (but these three were the most visible ones when looked at it from behind the Iron Curtain).

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Václav Klaus sent a letter of congratulation to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

English Pages, 12. 8. 2014

Dear Mr. President,

Let me congratulate you on your election as President of the Republic of Turkey.

In the past, I had several opportunities to meet you and learn you were a man with clear vision who strives to turn Turkey into a strong, self-confident, economically successful and culturally diverse country; a man with an interest in the stability of the whole Middle East.

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Polish Transformation as Seen by a Friendly Neighbour

English Pages, 22. 7. 2014

I don’t pretend to be an expert on Polish transformation and on Polish history. I have only been an unsystematic foreign observer of Polish developments both in the communist era and in the last quarter of a century, a relatively frequent visitor to Poland (in the last years mostly on short official visits), a personal friend of late president Kaczyński (and of several Polish reformers).

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