Final Word from Thursday, February 4, 2016
For months, Milan Chovanec has played ČSSD's bad cop in the migration debate, to Bohuslav Sobotka's good cop. This tactic has strengthened Chovanec's position among ČSSD voters, because most of them are on the side of the bad cop, together with Miloš Zeman. Sobotka's role as good cop is to placate the EU and USA by espousing European and Western values. Sobotka's toughest critics say that this amounts to treason, and Zeman is taking delight in drumming this in, with a Kalashnikov, if need be. If Zeman is "weakening" Sobotka, as both Chovanec and Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier have publicly acknowledged, it's partly because Chovanec has done such a fine job as the bad cop on migration. The irony of this is that when Alexandr Mitrofanov of Právo writes that Chovanec is acting unequivocally as the marshal of the Sobotka defense league, one of the main ones that Chovanec must marshal troops against is himself. [Czech Republic interior minister European Union United States U.S. president prime minister PM refugee wave]
Glossary of difficult words
to placate - to make (someone) less angry or hostile;
to espouse - to embrace; to adopt or support;
to drum something in/into - to drive a lesson into (someone) by constant repetition;
unequivocally - in a way that leaves no doubt; unambiguously;
marshal - an officer of the highest rank in the armed forces of some countries;
to marshal - to arrange or assemble (a group of people, esp. soldiers) in order.