Back in the USSR

The Economist said that with Russia growing ever stronger and Central Europe failing politically, there's increased vulnerability to Russian influence-peddling. The CR might be farther along than it seems. It's already dependent on Russia for oil and natural gas, and hardly anyone batted an eye when ČEZ handed a nuclear-fuel contract to a supplier owned and subsidized by the Russian government. There are unconfirmed rumors in Prague that Russians are secretly funding Czech political parties, which could help explain the lack of objection to ČEZ's move. The CR's geopolitical importance is underestimated, as ex- Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec suggested in HN yesterday. Increasing the CR's ties with Russia is inevitable and isn't a bad thing, but it should be a managed process. Czechs might otherwise wake up one day to find themselves in the Kremlin's sphere of influence again. [Czech Republic U.S.S.R. Soviet Unioin TVEL nuclear power energy hospodářské noviny]