Democracy in Czech Republic

This article is a little old, and your correspondent has been thinking of how exactly to tackle it. It concerns the Czech supporters of the return of the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser to the Czech throne. At first, I was considering the idea of paraphrasing Walter Sobchak that "Whoa. I mean, say what you want about the Dělnická strana, [the Czech neo-Nazi party] or the KSČM, but at least those guys want a republic." Then I realized that the monarchists probably would prefer a benign form of constitutional monarchy, perhaps with greater power for the Kaiser than in the bicycle monarchies, but certainly not absolutist. And indeed, according to their website, that is indeed what they want, of the "current western European type."

In any democracy, there is a tension between the need for stability and the need to respond to public problems. We should perhaps not be surprised that a Czech population that continues to vote for "the good old days" before 1989 15% of the time still has a few who find the K. und K. a favorable, unifying figure. As Petr Placek, quoted in the Prague Monitor, notes, the king would be independent of lobbyists and pressure groups. In Czech Republic, voter disillusionment and apathy is significant enough that we should not be surprised at this sort of response, impractical as it may be. The monarch would be able to take a long-term perspective on things, he would have a political, linguistic, diplomatic and military education, and would be a morally upstanding character, the living flag of the land.

There would be some difficulty in implementing this strategy, as the current Habsburg Crown Prince, Otto, is (I have heard) not allowed to set foot in the Czech lands, though he has citizenship in the republics of Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Croatia. He is also 98 years old, and would likely have to come out of retirement.

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Biden and Haiti

According to this article from Der Speigel, FEMA and the US military are having some degree of difficulty getting supplies to Haiti. Not because they aren't ready, but because of an abject lack of coordination on the part of aid workers, US leadership, and international and multinational partners.

"Every second counts," according to one of the FEMA personnel sitting at Homestead AFB in Florida. The problem is that his C-17, fully loaded, has been grounded for two days, simply because there is nowhere in Haiti to land the plane. Apparently the situation in Haiti is compounded by the dozens of nations, aid organizations, and UN agencies that all want to arrive, but due to the lack of usable runways, all are being bogged down. The lack of logistical coordination is profound. According to the article, French teams are among the dozens of teams trying to get into Haiti, but no one is certain which priorities (food? medical supplies? drinking water?) are in any given convoy.

To make matters worse, the C-17 crew had to wait for an additional two hours for Joe Biden to show up to take a picture with the plane. Later on, Biden visited Little Haiti, a neighborhood in Miami, where he gave a speech. However, he ignored the Haitian American Professionals Coalition when they asked him if they need additional doctors and nurses (who, helpfully, speak French, understand the culture and landscape, and probably as capable of responding to this as effectively as any organization.) Biden pointed out that "our hearts ache with you.... [the relief effort] is like squeezing a bowling ball through a straw." Then he rejoined his motorcade.

I don't want to make too many political points here, except that 1. What would the reaction be if Cheney had said this? and 2. I thought Bill Clinton was the Special Envoy to Haiti, rather than the Special Envoy to Coakleyville. Someone in the US leadership should step up, and the press should hold their feet to the fire.