Final Word from Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Registration for mail-in balloting ended on Sun., just a few days after Pres. Petr Pavel said yet again that Czechs should be part of a peacekeeping force of the "coalition of the willing" in Ukraine. Only about 25,000 people registered to vote by mail from abroad, and there's no reliable way to determine how many of them decided to remain anonymous in case the "coalition of the willing" becomes a "coalition of the compelled." Registering to vote would make it all that much easier for Czech authorities to deliver conscription notices if the war in Ukraine took a turn in that direction. The registration deadline also approached as Donald Trump's ICE agents (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) were rounding up foreigners who had crossed into the U.S. illegally or overstayed their visas. Would a Czech with an expired visa who has been illegally employed in the U.S. for years really want to risk having his name and address passed on to ICE? Some Czechs no doubt opted not to exercise their right to register simply because they're not interested in Czech politics or are lazy, but others see it more as an issue of personal survival. [ Czech Republic United States draft military service elections ]
Glossary of difficult words
to shun - to avoid deliberately and esp. habitually;
to compel - to force or oblige (someone) to do something;
conscription - compulsory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces;
to round up - to drive or collect a number of people or animals together for a particular purpose;
to overstay - to stay longer than the time, limits or duration of.