Final Word from Monday, October 30, 2023
A new anti-disinformation website from the interior ministry boasts that "Russian extortion via natural gas has ended" and that "the energy market has been stabilized." Don't fall for false reports to the contrary, the website says. Yet energy expert Pavel Janeček told iDnes that we have gone from being dependent on Russia to being dependent on LNG from the U.S. and other countries that are abusing the situation. Interior Min. Vít Rakušan and Industry Min. Jozef Síkela (both STAN) would both no doubt call this disinformation. But what would they say about PM Petr Fiala's comment on Fri. (at 2:39pm) that we can expect Russia to hit Ukraine's critical infrastructure again this winter and that we will then need to help Ukraine, both in terms of humanitarian assistance and perhaps in the area of energy. If the "energy market has been stabilized," how long will this last if the CR - as Fiala seems to be suggesting - agrees to cede some of its electricity or natural gas to Ukraine this winter? [ Czech Republic United States ]
Glossary of difficult words
extortion - the practice of obtaining something, esp. money, through force or threats;
to fall for something - to be deceived by something;
to cede - to give control or possession of something to someone else.