Posted on 01/31/2018 5:44:09 PM PST by marshmallow
Czech President Miloš Zeman has won a second five-year term in office, following a tight run-off vote against his rival Jiri Drahos.
According to the Czech Statistics Office, Zeman received 51.8% of the votes and his rival 48.2%.
Zeman is a strong opponent of immigration and said earlier that refugees don’t integrate, because their culture is incompatible with European culture. About Islam he said:
“I think we can coexist with Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Confucianism, but we cannot coexist with Islam. It has anchored in its sacred texts that it must rule the world and have unbelievers submit.”
In an interview earlier this month, he gave his opinion on the problems of a multicultural Europe:
(Excerpt) Read more at voiceofeurope.com ...
He only won by a few percent. How different were the policies of the other guy? If the other guy was an open borders/EU good/Muslims bring blessings type, it’s alarming that the vote was that close.
Yes alarming but he did win.
WINNING!
The guy who won, Milos Zeman is an ex-communist and caters to some of that communist nostalgia typical to segments of Eastern/Central European rural people...
He’s voiced interest in allying Czech interests more closely with China and with Russia - and indeed is buddy-buddy with some Russian oligarchs and Putin. (It’s unfortunate, the U.S. media has stirred up so much fake Trump collusion hype, that people with *actual* Russian ties aren’t fairly examined.)
Regardless, Zeman’s NOT a puppet, and is ultimately a Czech nationalist. And, from my understanding, even when he was communist, was not pro-USSR.
He helped bring his country into the E.U./NATO fold despite being more of a Eurosceptic in recent years and that carried over into his views about the U.S.
His role as president is largely ceremonial as most of the actual power is held by the Prime Minister. And now that Trump is president, he may become more pro-American. Who knows.
Drahos (the other guy) was in my view, like an Emmanuel Macron, but less politically skilled: pro NATO/pro EU with reforms, but NOT the migrant-amnesty, hyper-leftist the opposition paints him whatsoever.
Also, unlike Zeman, he was firmly in the anti-communist camp during crucial years in Czech history.
The eastern European countries that were once invaded and held captive by Russia seem to be the countries that recognize that the Muslim “refugees” are actually invaders.
Third World EU quisling countries are losing!!!!!
The flip side is, there are also segments of the rural population motivated by communist nostalgia and Milos Zeman is indeed a former communist. Of course, under the USSR there were no migrants among other things...but even before the refugee crisis, nostalgia was starting to take root.
I see tendency on these boards, like with liberal global media —> to equate American political landscape to Europe’s. Not every anti-migrant that uses saucy language is necessarily a Donald Trump, nor is the party system the same in these places.
Also, sometimes so-called “centrists” end up being surprising reformers, like Emmanuel Macron of France ,who Trump has invited to be the guest at the first official White House dinner he’s hosted.
(Marine Le Pen would have been a disaster by the way. She couldn’t hold her own party together. She was too secular meaning: not just anti-Islam, but not pro-Life either. Her niece on the other hand, was a genuine Catholic, talented, but too young and taking a break from politics. Her and her aunt did not always get along either.)
My point is just because someone comes out swinging as a “far right” person doesn’t mean they are indeed “right.”
Also for all the anti-Islam talk, anti-Semitism often accompanies the platforms of certain “Far Right” European parties. (And that was the case for Le Pen’s party France: it has a genuine legacy of Holocaust denialism.)
Czech press Milos Zeman though is pro-Israel and wants to support Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
To the EU and pro-immigration groups: “CZECHMATE”
Does the former communist today’s Czech president propose to bring communism back in Czech?
No.
So what’s your point?
Just like stupid British liberals claim Brexit is little Englanders’ nostalgia for Great Britain Victorian era.
Emmanuel Macron is a reformer? Yes, it’s about French economy. And he is not as repulsive as hard left frogs, so far.
But in general, he is still a key member of the anti-Trump club.
Thanks for the info on Zeman. It’s somewhat reassuring with respect to Czech sensibilities on immigration.
Communism isn’t just Marxist/Leninism, there’s a whole lot of evil baggage that goes with it as is seen in Putin’s nostalgia-ridden, Stalin-glorifying, Olympic-doping Russia.
Noatalgia for communism breeds hatred for freedom and for individual initiative and accountability. Too much power gets placed in authorities. Also it just makes people mean, lazy, and envious of people who think outside the box. Breeds mediocrity.
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