PinnedMoscow, August 1991Here are some pictures I took during the failed coup in Moscow in August 1991. I found some of the locations on Street View to offer a then-and-now contrast. You can also listen to me describing the events here: https://coldwarconversations.com/episode81/Ussr August Coup8 min readUssr August Coup8 min read
Aug 31, 2022The liberalizer’s sad smileMikhail Gorbachev’s death will be met with an outpouring of tributes — outside Russia. Within Russia, I would guess, it will be much more guarded. For years, opinion polls have shown Gorbachev to be among the most disliked figures in modern Russian history; a Levada survey in 2017 found that…Gorbachev4 min readGorbachev4 min read
Jun 18, 2022The Czech legislature’s secret session on the breakup of CzechoslovakiaIn May 1991, the Czech National Council went into closed session to hear a report from the prime minister on contingency planning for the end of federation with Slovakia. After thirty years, the record of that report and the ensuing discussion has been made available. Few matters of state that…Czechoslovakia10 min readCzechoslovakia10 min read
Feb 19, 2021First impressions and mixed feelings about Pl. ÚS 44/17Judicial review of the electoral process is always a fraught thing. Depending on the outcome of a case, it will be welcomed by some as blessed relief from unfair legislation, denounced by others as activist overreach. And then there are cases that can just be surprising and, frankly, baffling. Such…Czech Republic9 min readCzech Republic9 min read
Dec 18, 2020Václav Havel’s “Letters to Olga” as a covid companionWhy prison letters from 40 years ago are timely now. In the course of this year I have read a lot about covid-19, its effects on the human body, and what we might do to treat or halt it. I don’t yet feel ready to read about its other effects…Vaclav Havel9 min readVaclav Havel9 min read
Apr 16, 2020Václav Havel on resisting necropoliticsThis April marks the forty-fifth anniversary of a letter. Not just any letter, but an open letter written by Václav Havel in 1975, at the very midpoint of his eventful life. …3 min read3 min read
Apr 28, 2019Member-onlyMy Sweet Little Village ElectionAt what point might the publicity that comes with holding office amount to undue influence at the next election? Strakonice, a Czech town of around 23,000 people set in the lovely south Bohemian landscape, was known in the past for making fezes, firearms and motorcycles, and more recently its Dudák…Elections12 min readElections12 min read
Dec 26, 2017Czech gun rights, the EU, and the spectre of a year ending in eightIn 2017, gun rights became a hot-button issue in Czech politics. It did so in response to moves by the European Union, but it was also an expression of an older anxiety that will accompany 2018’s bevy of historical anniversaries. One of the legislative highlights of 2017 in the Czech…Gun Rights15 min readGun Rights15 min read
Dec 7, 2017Václav Havel’s “Leaving” and the Toxic Aging Narcissist in a Baseball HatTen years ago, Václav Havel published his final play, Odcházení (“Leaving” or “Exiting”). When I first read it, I was disappointed. I came to it expecting the equivalent of one of his seminal political-philosophical essays from the 1970s and 1980s, a stage version of “Letter to Dr Husák” or “Politics…Narcissism9 min readNarcissism9 min read
Jun 3, 2017Václav Havel’s Word to the Class of 2017Hillary Clinton quoted the Czech writer and statesman Václav Havel in her commencement speech at Wellesley on May 26. But if he were alive today and giving speeches, would he quote her? Havel and Hillary Clinton were well acquainted. They met many times in the 1990s, while Bill Clinton was…Hillary Clinton13 min readHillary Clinton13 min read
