Word: czech
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Prague Spring" in 1968, a short period of relative freedom which was abruptly ended by the Soviet invasion, set Havel's political career in motion. The significance of this period in recent Czech history is equalled only by the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989, during which Havel himself assumed the presidency. Kriseova explains how the oppressiveness of the 1950s had suffocated the peoples' voices of opposition. "After a shock, society comes to its senses slowly, one person at a time." Havel entered into an arena which would become increasingly political and further from the artistic circles where he had previously been...
...would not be counter to Russian interests." That was taken as a green light for drawing much of the old East bloc into the alliance, and Western policy planners immediately went to work on mechanisms for membership. First to join would be the so-called Visegrad countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary -- probably by the end of the '90s. Then might come the Baltic states -- Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- and in the more distant future the others, possibly including parts of the former Soviet Union, including Russia itself. German Defense Minister Volker Ruhe enthusiastically lobbied the rest...
...support Boris Yeltsin at all costs, which has so far meant ignoring his authoritarian impulses. Russia is a special case, of course, but other states of the former Soviet empire eager for democracy and free markets are also eager for security from Russia. Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic view membership in an expanded NATO as the way to achieve it. Against the wishes of his army, Yeltsin seemed to agree last August. Now, however, the Russian President has changed course, apparently as part of a deal with the military, without whose support Yeltsin would have been deposed last week...
...after Short was defeated by fellow Briton Jonathan Speelman in a preliminary round of the world championship, his ranking plunged to 18th, but he picked himself up, hired Czech grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek as his coach and rebuilt his career. Patiently he battled his way through the grueling qualifying rounds of the current championship, polishing off Speelman, Karpov and Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman...
...this week, the late Lenny's 75th is being observed with both a solemnity and a sense of kitsch -- a mixture of concerts and coffee mugs -- that devotees of the King would appreciate. There are performances to his memory in places as disparate as Argentina, the Czech Republic -- Slovakia, India, Britain, Japan and the U.S. -- so many that the Leonard Bernstein Society has issued a calendar of events to keep fans abreast of all the action. In anticipation of the festivities, Sony Classical has been releasing over the past year what it modestly bills as the Royal Edition of Bernstein...