Europe’s most famous Cold War warrior and former communist political prisoner was excluded from a ceremony yesterday where Russia and the U.S. took steps toward world peace.
Vaclav Havel, the president of Czechoslovakia and then Czech Republic for 13 years, was not invited to the signing of the START II nuclear arms reduction treaty by President Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, which took place in Prague Castle’s Spanish Hall, where the playwright-politician gave his farewell speech to a standing ovation from the Czech Parliament.
Was the ceremony snub Obama’s revenge because Havel, along with 20 other ex-Central and Eastern European leaders, signed an open letter to the American president last summer that warned of a menacing Russia and complained that their region was “no longer at the heart” of U.S. foreign policy?
This is sadly typical, since the left wing of the Democratic Party has always seemed more interested in signing meaningless “peace” treaties with tyrants than worrying about the freedom or security of those threatened by them. This “no enemies on the left” mentality is why they’ve proven themselves far readier to stand with left-wing tyrants like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez than the people those tyrants imprison and arrest.
Tags: Obama, Vaclav Havel