Final Word from Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Czech PM Andrej Babiš declared his desire for regime change in Iran yesterday only for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to say later in the day that regime change isn't the goal. The goal, according to Rubio, is to "eliminate the threat of Iran's short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets." If Czech support is categoric, as Vice PM Karel Havlíček indicated on Sun., will it also encompass unwavering support for a ground invasion if Donald Trump changes his mind yet again? That's the situation Czechs risks getting themselves into. As we wrote in Dec., the Trump administration and Babiš government are in a very real sense both the best of friends and the biggest of enemies. They see mostly eye to eye on civilizational issues and on what needs to be done to get Europe back on track, but they're miles apart on the practical issue of defense. Babiš and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka are managing the defense differences but have now fallen into an even bigger trap by pledging Czech support for what might become Trump's first forever war. In this sense Trump is an enemy, and he should be treated as such. [ Czech Republic Israel Secr. United States ]