Things fall apart, the center cannot hold

Let no man deceive you with vain words.

           Flooding in the Czech Republic

By Ross Hedvicek

They had horrible flooding in Czech Republic a few days back. Fortunately not many lives were lost, but material damage was vast. There is a need to help them. Don't get me wrong, I am as sympathetic to human misery as the next guy, but something in this case made me pause. I just learned that Czech president Vaclav Havel, who likes to pass himself as a humanist and philosopher, will be in Miami at the end of September, where, among the other useless activities he usually does, he will be lobbying for more money allegedly for the victims of the recent catastrophic floods.

If the word "allegedly" caught your attention - let me give you some background information. According to Corruption Index by Transparency International at http://www.gwdg.de/~uwvw/rank-97.htm the Czech Republic is at a very low 27th place with a score of 5.20 (0 = absolutely clean, 10 = absolutely corrupt) - therefore the corruption there has reached a Middle Eastern level, where bakshish is the norm. The wannabe philosopher Havel himself is a barracuda in that pond. He became president in 1989 when he negotiated a smooth transfer of power from hard-line communists to his own hands by promising them that none of them will ever be punished. He kept his word and Czechoslovakia (later Czech Republic) became a Kafkaesque caricature of democracy, where there is "lots of crime but no punishment" - which brings us to another master of mental depression - Dostoyevsky.

Havel started this national tragedy (and bears the ultimate responsibility for it) by guaranteeing no punishment for commie crimes (the old communist elite miraculously morphed into a business elite within a few months, they were commies before, now they are "businesmen"); his old protege and first Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus (self-styled "economist") in turn developed the widespread fraud and theft into a national pastime called "privatization". Yes, you could steal whatever you wanted, no problem, you could borrow millions from the bank with full intention of never being able to repay it - no problem, no fear of punishment - we have Havel as president and Klaus as Prime Minister. Charlatans, scoundrels and scam artists are still running the country - just like in Somalia or Ethiopia. In the process of their rampant thievery, these two crooks chaired and presided over cheating numerous Western investors out of their money, chased USAID out of town, after USAID's technical and economic assistance programs to Prague have provided some $170 million in grants and loans between 1990-1997 and refused to return properties confiscated by the preceding communist regime to Czech emigres and exiles. And as if that was not enough, Vaclav Klaus organized so-called "coupon privatization" in which scheme a large portion of the ordinary population lost their last savings.

In a very short version: Similarly like in Russia, where after the fall of the Soviet Union the so-called "Russian Mafia" became de facto operational front organization of old KGB, in the same fashion in the Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic the whole class of old communists (in 1989 the membership roster of the Czech Communist Part was 1.5 million people, which is 10% of the population, a ratio even higher than in the USSR) became a "business class" with only one thing in mind - to steal and defraud. All this under the blessings and protective hands of Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus.

There was a similar natural disaster in the Czech Republic in the recent past already - in July1997 in eastern part of Czech Republic - Moravia, see http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/1997/07/F.RU.970718152238.html  Donations and financial help from abroad (only the numbers published in various publications) exceeded U.S. $50 million. The major part of this money - given with an open heart - was stolen by the Czech government and various officials and the actual victims of flooding saw none of it. I know firsthand from the people of the village Troubky, which was leveled with the ground by the tidal wave which opened the flood, that they have received no money whatsoever. The current Czech government is willing to steal even from the most needy and the victims of natural disasters.

So what am I recommending? You probably remember famine and disasters in Ethiopia and Somalia, with their own corrupt governments. We both agree that giving donation to Somali warlord Aidid would not feed any hungry Somali children, yes? This all is just the eastern European variant of the situation - nothing else - so behave accordingly.

Do not send any donations to relief funds organized by the government of the Czech Republic - the money will never reach their target, it will be stolen, misappropriated, and will vanish. Send donations only directly - that is if you personally know somebody in the Czech Republic, or send it via your usual charitable organizations - but definitely not through bank accounts set up by Czech embassies or their front organizations (various "friends of the Czech Republic and Vaclav Havel personally").

Yes, it is important to help - but use you head! I can cite at least one important Czech exile organization (All Things Czech, headed by Ms. Jirina Fuchs of Los Angeles, CA) which refused to participate in fundraising efforts benefiting the Czech government, reasoning that during 1997 floodings in Czech Republic their organisation oversaw sending at least 100 thousands dollars to the Czech Republic, but till this day they have not received neither a word of thanks, confirmation of receipt nor the information how the funds were used if ever.

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