Final Word from Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Pres. Petr Pavel's policy of appeasement toward Russia conflicts with his outright confrontational approach to China. From his point of view, Russia and China are apparently in different phases of the Pavel Doctrine, which we formulated as: "Stand up to evil, but if evil proves too powerful, make a deal with it." Pavel is still standing up to evil in China's case, as witnessed by his "purely personal" visit to see the Dalai Lama, despite known opposition to it from Beijing. Defiance toward China might be in line with Pavel's goal of increasing national self-confidence, but a truly self-confident country would also occasionally measure the results of its actions. If both PPF and Škoda Auto suffered greatly in China because of Czech foreign policy, and if many Czech industrial sectors remain dependent on China for their future supplies, it's reasonable to ask how long the confrontational phase of the Pavel Doctrine can last. If a deal eventually has to be sought, it will likely be from a position of increasing weakness. [ Czech Republic temporary occupation Ukrainian Ukraine territory India ]