Four horsemen

It's become fashionable to hand out collective People of the Year awards, and our contribution to the fad is to propose the four horsemen of Czech politics to the position. Nothing good or bad has happened on the political scene this year without Mirek Topolánek, Václav Klaus, Jiří Paroubek and Miloš Zeman sticking their noses into it. The stalemate over the past seven months is the direct result of the endless attempts by these four to get the upper hand. So far, Topolánek has held his ground remarkably well; Klaus, seeing his chances diminish, has recently taken to panic; Paroubek overplayed his cards and is betting on new- found statesmanship to bring him back; Zeman is still scheming and waiting. Which of the four horsemen will represent final victory is still up in the air. Like it or not, this apocalyptic battle will define Czech politics well into 2007, and probably 2008. [Czech Republic apocalypse]