Power and greed on the Vltava

The post-election talks, nearing their second long month, are like a Wagnerian opera. As Rossini said, "Wagner has beautiful moments but awful quarter-hours." There among the highlights of the Prague Ring are Alberich Paroubek, the unloved dwarf who steals the gold from the Vltava and forges the ring that confers unlimited power. There's Wotan Klaus, the flawed god who covets the ring's power and yearns to remain at Valhalla Castle. There's Siegmund Bém, who has Wotan's blessing but must be sacrificed. And there's Siegfried Topolánek, the central hero over whom Wotan has no power and who seizes the ring, but who meets an untimely death because he's fake and vacuous. All that's missing is Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie heroine who immolates herself along with Siegfried and wins redemption through love and the return of the gold to its rightful owners. [Czech Republic Richard Wagner Ring des Nibelungen Jiří Pavel Václav Mirek president Gioacchino]