Provocateurs

Of Czech politicians, Václav Klaus gets most of the attention internationally, but he's not the only one who goes around pounding his chest and provoking fights. Mirek Topolánek, who is just a month away from becoming head of the EU, met with the Dalai Lama on Sun. This can be seen as another of his famous finger greetings, this time toward China, which had canceled an EU-China meeting just days before because Nicolas Sarkozy had met with the Tibetan leader. The CR also tried its brand of defiant big-power politics in the case of Georgia. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told Nato that it had to act, because Europe was already in a new Cold War. He declared as recently as Oct. 13 in MFD that Russia can't be treated normally if it doesn't correct its behavior in Georgia. By mid- Nov., though, the EU had reestablished partnership talks with Russia, and the CR's ultimatum about Georgia has been forgotten. The EU presidency will be a test of diplomacy for all of the CR's provocateurs, Klaus included. [Czech Republic European Union MF Dnes France]