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Forty years on, Czechs and Slovaks unite to remember Soviet invasion

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Published Date: 22 August 2008
By Ondrej Hejma
CZECHS and Slovaks held ceremonies yesterday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed the liberal reforms of Alexander Dubcek and ended an era known as the "Prague Spring".
Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, travelled to Bratislava, the Slovak capital, while Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, joined his Czech counterpart, Mirek Topolanek, in Prague for commemoration ceremonies.

Symbols of that era were on display in Prague's Wenceslas Square, the main location of clashes between Soviet troops and Prague citizens.

"Communism is beyond reform. Every attempt to liberalise it leads to its destruction," Mr Topolanek wrote in yesterday's Lidove Noviny daily. "The only defence against Moscow's imperialism is an alliance with the West. That is the main lesson of August 1968."

The Soviet-led invasion in the early hours of 21 August, 1968, involved armies from five Warsaw Pact countries and 500 planes.

It did not take long for them to force the Czechoslovak army to surrender, ending the attempt by Mr Dubcek, the Communist Party leader and reformer, to give his Moscow-imposed regime a "human face".

Several hundred people died in the conflict, which ended a few months of press freedom, political reforms and unrestricted travel.



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  • Last Updated: 21 August 2008 10:35 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Kipling,

22/08/2008 02:13:42
And don't forget Oldrich Cerník, Josef Smrkovský, Josef Špacek, Bohumil Šimon and particularly František Kriegel, all of whom with Dubcek were abducted to the Soviet Union. It was due to the intercession of President Ludvík Svoboda, which involved the signing of the hated Moskevský protokol with the Soviets, that released these politicians rather than have them disappear forever. Dubcek died in a car crash and there are those who suspect that this was not quite the genuine accident it was purported to be.

Just a Putin looks like Vladek Sheybal, Dubcek has an uncommon resemblance to the wonderful British actor Eric Blore. Just thought you'd all like to know.
2

cramond1,

22/08/2008 05:24:50
"Communism is beyond reform. Every attempt to liberalise it leads to its destruction," Mr Topolanek wrote yesterday.
I agree that communism is beyond reform, which is exactly what Dubcek "the COMMUNIST Party leader and REFORMER" attempted as the above article makes clear. Communists enjoyed persecuting each other for any reason. Wonderful foreign worshippers of the Soviet Union were imprisoned and shot there in their tens of thousands. Thank God it's over, at least for now in Europe.
But don't get too simplistic or nationalistic, please. Many of the Soviet leaders were not Russian, including the Ossete Stalin, Trotsky the Ukrainian, Yagoda the Pole, Dzerzhinsky the Pole, Beria the Georgian, Zinoviev the Ukrainian. OK, Kirov and Lenin were Russian. Why, now that the deadly Soviet Empire is dead and the Russian leader Putin is a Christian and admirer more of the Tsar than of the hideous Stalin, should the Czechs and Slovaks look to the USA for protection? Why prop up the revolting, violent, REFORMED-COMMUNIST-Neocon-inspired, American regime which bombs tens of thousands of civilians and ill-equipped peasants from the air, and tortures and imprisons innocents with zero compassion? The Slavs should be working together for peace, and so should the Orthodox church. Please don't let the greed of your nouveau-riche politicians destroy you. Neither should Western Europe, as the old Pope reminded us tirelessly, give way to greed and hatred. Maybe none of us need the arms-buyer NATO in Europe at all.
3

Itchy,

22/08/2008 06:40:49
#2 "Why, now that the deadly Soviet Empire is dead and the Russian leader Putin is a Christian and admirer more of the Tsar than of the hideous Stalin, should the Czechs and Slovaks look to the USA for protection? "

Because Vladimir Putin is a belligerent tyrant and, let us not forget, a former KGB Colonel who has not forgotten his training.
4

57Nomad,

california 22/08/2008 06:49:29
#2 cemoond

cremond said:

"Why, now that the deadly Soviet Empire is dead and the Russian leader Putin is a Christian and admirer more of the Tsar than of the hideous Stalin, should the Czechs and Slovaks look to the USA for protection?"

Crammond, you're in Europe aren't you? Instead of asking posters, just drive to the Czech Republic or Slovakia and ask around. Be sure to tell them how stupid they are to look to America to protect them, instead of, lets say, Germany, France, or the UK.

Those not old enough to remember the administration of Ronald Reagan should understand that the insults, lies, and ridicule heaped on George Bush are nothing, and I mean nothing compared to the way that President Reagan was reviled in Europe. The Czechs know that through those dark years, their only friends in the world were the American people, while the Europeans collaborated with the Russians in their enslavement. Czechs laugh at the notion of being protected by Britain and France because they remember that those two countries knifed them in the back.

They, and the rest of the newly liberated Central European countries look to the US because the US championed the cause of their liberty for the fifty years they suffered under the communist yoke while Europe turned their backs on them and valued their own selfish comforts more than they desired their brothers and sisters behind the iron curtain to be free.

They look to the US, my dear tampon, because they know one thing as sure as they know the sun will rise in the morning. If it wasn't for the American people not abandoning them, the way their European 'neighbors' did, they would still be slaves to the filthy communists.
5

Mashimaro,

China 22/08/2008 10:01:17
wow, all this nostalgia just in time for the "invasion" of Georgia - you'd think some one planned
6

James Donald,

Newbridge 22/08/2008 10:21:20
#6 Mashimaro,Red China - Czechoslovakia. That'll be one of the countries where the people DIDN'T choose Communism and where the few who did want Communism ensured that it was maintained with brutal force. The component parts of the Czech Republic and Slovakia have managed to drag themselves out of poverty (the poverty caused largely by Communist dictatorship) without the benefit of the Communist Party.
Try going to Prague and preaching to them about the benefits of the wonders of Communism. You will last about 10 minutes before they drop kick you off the Charles Bridge into the Vltava (now there is a pleasing mental picture).
7

Mashimaro,

China 22/08/2008 11:32:03
Jimmy Dee, wipe the spit from your chin, dude. This has nothing to do with communism. easy boy... back away... you can do it.
8

,

22/08/2008 11:58:57
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
9

,

22/08/2008 13:37:01
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
10

McGinty,

22/08/2008 14:12:16
Unfortunately, in this day and age, and in the current political climate, our leaders are under more scrutiny than ever, and often with good cause. Due to this and other reasons Blair and some of his cronies have suitably been unceremoniously pilloried and publicly lambasted. Bush is going the same way, and perhaps also a certain target in Russia, who has all these credentials and a few more - so if apologists come on these sites using the West's pariahs to use as justification, to argue that black is white, and to defend the indefensible using the hypocrisy argument, when the crimes and hypocrisy are already well documented, they are manipulative and mistaken.

What would be more credible and realistic is if posters that bring criticism would at the same time look at themselves and pass judgement on their own regimes, in fact if they had been doing this all along, Russia might not currently be in this fix. As a Russian sympathiser and an acquaintance of certain Russian commentators, I'm aware that the kind of nonsense spouting from Russia is far from a unanimous point of view, although Russia like certain other places has more than its fair share of English speaking loudmouth thugs.
11

James Donald,

Newbridge 22/08/2008 14:45:49
#8 Mashimaro,Red China - Didn't like my post #10 revealing the Chinese habit of gobbing in the street? Indicates a surplus of spit at your end.
"This has nothing to do with communism" - This would be the minority view since it was the Communist Soviet Union that initiated the invasion.
If you have no time to go to Prague, you can take the virtual tour of the Museum of Communism:
http://www.muzeumkomunismu.cz/virtualtour/tour.php?lang=en
12

Mashimaro,

China 23/08/2008 01:59:49
Jimmy - saying this ahas something to do with communism is like saying Hitler has something to do with democracy.
13

James Donald,

Newbridge 23/08/2008 07:07:41
#13 Mashimaro,Red China - Don't think so Zippy. If you are still confused as to what happened in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and who was responsible, I've already given you the link to the Museum of Communism (that's all the clues I'm going to give you).

 

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