Background: General Andrei Volsov saved Prague from razing by when Hitler's armies retreated. (He was later hanged by the Soviets after they captured him and Prague. You see, per agreement between Roosevelt and Stalin, Patton had to stop 100 Km from Prague and leave both Volsov's army and Prague to the incoming Soviets. (Patton requested permission to move forward; Eisenhower refused. Volsov later got the rope because he, captured by the Germans and imprisoned, convinced the Germans to let him organize units of Russian prisoners who hated the Soviets more than they hated the Germans: they, thus fought on the side of the Germans and against the Russians until late in the war. Volsov's execution was almost inevitable.)

It may have been for nothing.

The "war" is now between traditions and secularism in the Czech Republic. Prague, ever a jewel, now embraces "black" Christmas decorations, HIV, marijuana (http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/96909), prostitution, and traffic in slaves. There are recent suggestions that Prague and the CZ Republic use high fashion models to attract tourists.

The research opportunity?

There are two republics: Slovakia and the Czechs. Slovakia is often seen as "farmers" and a more traditional culture. There is also a division within the Republic (as in the United States) between rural traditionalists and secularists.

"The Republic, however, accompanied by Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia, has moved closer into the European Union. According to Radio Prague, "European leaders on Friday hailed the expansion of the Schengen passport-free travel zone to nine mostly ex-East Bloc nations as a landmark moment for the continent's integration. "This is an historic moment for which we have been waiting for a long time," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in the small town of Zittau on the German-Polish-Czech border. Border controls were abolished at midnight and about 400 million Europeans can now travel from the Arctic Circle in Norway to Portugal without showing a passport." (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1. See also http://comments.breitbart.com/071221131745sb1tagxg/)

Will Prague show less resistance to secular erosion from the EU? Will Bratislava retain its traditions? (Alexander Dubcek, who stood up best to the Soviets, was a Slovak!) And will the rural areas, in the Republic or in Slovakia, show more? Will secularism accomplish the mass uniformity that once eluded the German army? How long with there be a separate set of social values in the former Eastern bloc when compared with western Europe? Finally, will birth rates drop further and will Islam supply the replacements?

When will the cultural funeral be and how will it be observed? There are even pleas that Prague adopt EU smoking bans and, of course, from a transplanted Brit! (http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/98634. See also: http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/98589 re "Pardubice, the best place to live in the CZ Republic.) As Daniela Lazarova commented about black plastic Christmas trees:: "...maybe we should go back to decorating trees with nuts and apples." (http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/98991)

JimB

Reference:

Most of this information is available from www.radio.cz and some of it from Wikipedia. Also Google "Andrei Volsov."

"Starbucks to open over 20 branches in Czech Republic, Poland this year.

"The world’s largest coffee-shop chain Starbucks plans to open some 20 outlets in the Czech Republic and Poland this year. Saturday’s Mladá Fronta reported that the Czech Republic would have its first Starbucks by March 2008. It is speculated that this first branch will be opened in Prague’s Palladium shopping centre, with others to follow in the city’s other malls. There are more than 15,000 Starbucks in over 40 countries. This year, the chain aims to expand into Central Europe, as well as Portugal and Bulgaria.

"Rosie Johnston"

More at: http://www.radio.cz/en/news#3