The Iron Curtain Foundation organized a "Debate in the Underground" (at the Slovak House in Prague 1), where former President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus and the director of the Václav Klaus Institute, Jiří Weigl, spoke on the topic "March 15, 1939, seen through today's eyes."

On this occasion, he shared one of his experiences from a trip to Slovakia – when he arranged a meeting with Robert Fico, they went for a drink, and the waiter, upon seeing them, said: "Well, that's nice. Mr. Šimečka is in Prague with Mr. Fiala, and Mr. Klaus is in Bratislava with Mr. Fico. Here's a glass of wine, a gift from our establishment."

"Today, it's considered good taste to only remember a carefully 'disinfected' version of history," Klaus said, alluding to the comparison between the past and the present.

He therefore stated that, unfortunately, in the Czech Republic, the war in Ukraine is not being discussed in a rational way. "In our country, the desire for war prevails, and those of us who say: 'Stop the killing and start negotiating' are criticized," he said, adding that this also applies to the current Czech-Slovak rift, where, in his opinion, the Slovak government has a more rational stance than the Czech one. He described the latter as the most pro-Ukrainian government in the world. "I believe that the first task should be to stop the killing and the second to find a way out of the dead end we are in today," he declared.

He considers the idea that everything should first be reset to the point where the conflict began, and only then negotiations should begin, to be childish and unrealistic. On the contrary, he believes that one must start from the current situation, and that the Czech Republic needs to be "de-demonized."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF_veKiX4Iw

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