Word: havelent
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...Obama’s speech quickly converted thousands in the crowd, and presumably thousands of others who watched or listened to broadcasts, into his latest believers. He has become a global force, reassuring for the future while skillfully appealing to the past. Famed former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who met with Obama afterward, warned him of the risks of becoming so popular as to create impossible expectations. Yet, for now, Obama has exceeded the expectations of yet another foreign nation, leaving even President Vaclav Klaus somewhat overwhelmed in his wake. Klaus told the media the speech...
...more realistic about the impact of the Obama visit on their own political class. The U.S. President's "goal is to address Europeans in the country [currently] presiding over the European Union and to have a picture taken with [former Czech president and anti-Communist resistance icon] Vaclav Havel," says political scientist Jiri Pehe, a former Havel adviser who heads Prague's branch of New York University. "I don't want to be cruel, but present-day Czech politicians do not interest...
...Among other things, the flap underscores the difficulty of gleaning the truth from communist- era archives. Police files similar to the one in which this document was found exist in most post-communist countries in eastern Europe. And such celebrated opponents of communism as former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Polish dissident journalist Adam Michnik have argued strenuously against their contents being divulged to the public, for fear that the information will be misinterpreted, used for political gain, or to carry out personal vendettas. Skeptics also point out that the communist-era police frequently forged documents to embarrass state enemies...
...Havel's memoir and the documentary on his tenure offer a similarly nuanced view of fledgling democracies, capturing the boyish excitement of a new world together with its absurdities...
...Havel is famous in the Czech Republic for his understatement. But his friends and colleagues know him more as a behind-the-scenes master of ceremonies. In Leaving, for example, he includes himself in the play not as a character but as a kind of chorus. Interlaced throughout the script are comments about the creative process which director David Radok has Havel himself voice as the actors freeze on stage. The effect is odd, at first but, in the end adds a fitting layer of ironic detachment. Characteristically, Havel's main stage direction during the play is to tell...