Final Word from Wednesday, October 10, 2012
There are just 23 arrest days between now and the ODS party
congress on Nov. 2-4, or just three if you only count Mondays.
David Rath, Vladimír Šiška, Milan Hojer and Marek Dalík were all
arrested on Mondays (or late Sunday night), allowing the police
to take maximum advantage of the weekly news cycle. One of
the big questions now is whether Petr Nečas can parlay these
heavily publicized arrests into a deal with the ODS rebels and
President Václav Klaus that saves his rear end at the ODS
congress. Nečas clearly senses that his chances are improving,
otherwise he wouldn't have moved up the ODS event (which had
been widely expected in Dec.). Klaus has been weakened by
plastic pellets, and the rebels are looking more and more like
self-serving saboteurs. Anything can happen, but we now give
Nečas a 60% chance of pacifying the rebels and remaining in
office longer than Klaus does.[Czech Republic fall collapse government]
Glossary of difficult words
arrest days - the number of days left for making an arrest (our term, modeled after the idea of the number of shopping days left before Christmas);
news cycle - the amount of time that lapses before the media move on to another major story;
to parlay something into something else - to transform something into something greater or of more value;
saboteur - a person who deliberately destroys something, esp. for political or military advantage;
to pacify - to quell the anger, agitation or excitement of;
Klaus - his terms in office expires in early March.