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Czech Republic

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Overview

Less than 20 years old, the Czech Republic sprang into being following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. For most of their modern history, the Czech people had to share their government and nation with the Slovaks in the old Czechoslovakia. Almost half of Czechoslovakia’s history was dominated by the old Soviet Union, which maintained strong control over most of Eastern Europe during the Cold War. An attempt to pull away from Soviet control in 1968 produced the Prague Spring, which was short-lived and forcibly crushed. Once the Soviet Union fell apart, Czech and Slovak leaders decided to go their separate ways and create two independent nations in the 1993. Since that time, the US has courted Czech leaders and established a strong economic and military relationship. With the help of American officials, the Czech Republic joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999, and in 2008, the Czech government signed an agreement with the US government, to build a radar station in the republic as part of an anti-ballistic missile system that the Bush administration badly wanted. Both of these moves have been vehemently opposed by Russia, which sees the military alliance between the Czech Republic and the West as a threat to Russian security.

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Basic Information

 Lay of the Land:  The Czech Republic is located in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Germany to the west, Poland to the North, Slovakia to the east and Austria to the south.

 
Population: 10.2 million
 
Religions: Catholic 56.2%, Protestant 1.0%, Jewish 0.1%, Buddhist 0.1%, non-religious 42.6%. In a recent opinion poll, only 28% claimed to believe in God.
 
Ethnic Groups: Czech 90.4%, Moravian 3.7%, Slovak 1.9%, other 4%.
 
Languages: Czech (official) 96.5%, Romani (Carpathian, Sinte) 2.2%, German 0.5%, Polish 0.5%, Bavarian 0.08%, Lower Silesian.
 

 

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History
In approximately the 5th Century, Slavic tribes from the Vistula basin settled in the region of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. The Czechs founded the kingdom of Bohemia and the Premyslide dynasty, which ruled Bohemia and Moravia from the 10th to the 16th Century. One of the Bohemian kings, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, made Prague an imperial capital and a center of Latin scholarship.
 
The Czechs lost their national independence to the Hapsburgs Empire in 1620 at the Battle of White Mountain and for the next 300 years were ruled by the Austrian Monarchy. With the collapse of the monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent country of Czechoslovakia was formed, encouraged by, among others, US President Woodrow Wilson.
 
Despite cultural differences, the Slovaks shared with the Czechs similar aspirations for independence from the Hapsburg state and voluntarily united with the Czechs. For historical reasons, Slovaks were not at the same level of economic and technological development as the Czechs, but the freedom and opportunity found in Czechoslovakia enabled them to make strides toward overcoming these inequalities. However, the gap never was fully bridged, and the discrepancy played a continuing role throughout the 75 years of the union.
 
Although Czechoslovakia was the only east European country to remain a parliamentary democracy from 1918 to 1938, it was plagued with minority problems, the most important of which concerned the country’s large German population. Constituting more than 22% of the population and largely concentrated in the Bohemian and Moravian border regions (the Sudetenland), members of this minority, including some who were sympathetic to Nazi Germany, undermined the new Czechoslovak state. Internal and external pressures culminated in September 1938, when France and the United Kingdom yielded to Nazi pressures at Munich and agreed to force Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.
 
Germany invaded what remained of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, establishing a German “protectorate.” By this time, Slovakia had already declared independence and had become a puppet state of the Germans. Czech Jews and other minorities were rounded up by the Nazis and deported to concentration camps. More than 100,000 Jews lived in the Czech lands in 1939. Only a few thousand remained or returned after the Holocaust in 1945.
 
At the close of World War II, Soviet troops overran all of Slovakia, Moravia, and much of Bohemia, including Prague. In May 1945, US forces liberated the city of Plzen and most of western Bohemia. A civilian uprising against the German garrison took place in Prague in May 1945. Following Germany’s surrender, some 2.9 million ethnic Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia with Allied approval under the Benes Decrees.
 
Reunited after the war, the Czechs and Slovaks set national elections for the spring of 1946. The democratic elements, led by President Eduard Benes, hoped the Soviet Union would allow Czechoslovakia the freedom to choose its own form of government. The Czechoslovak Communist Party, which won 38% of the vote, held most of the key positions in the government and gradually managed to neutralize or silence the anti-communist forces. Although the communist-led government initially intended to participate in the Marshall Plan, it was forced by Moscow to back out. The Communist Party seized full control of the government in February 1948.
 
The communist leadership allowed token reforms in the early 1960s, but discontent arose within the ranks of the Communist Party central committee, stemming from dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the economic reforms, resistance to cultural liberalization, and the desire of the Slovaks within the leadership for greater autonomy for their republic. This discontent resulted in a change in party leadership in January 1968 and in the presidency in March. The new party leader was Alexander Dubček.
 
After January 1968, the Dubček leadership took practical steps toward political, social and economic reforms. In addition, it called for politico-military changes in the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and theCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance. The leadership affirmed its loyalty to socialism and the Warsaw Pact, but also expressed the desire to improve relations with all countries of the world regardless of their social systems.
 
A program adopted in April 1968 set guidelines for a modern, socialist democracy that would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel. Dubček called it giving socialism “a human face.” After 20 years of little public participation, the population gradually started to take interest in the government, creating what became known as the “Prague Spring” of 1968.
 
The internal reforms and foreign policy statements of the Dubček’s leadership created great concern among some other Warsaw Pact governments. On the night of August 20, 1968, Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian, East German, and Polish troops invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government immediately declared that the troops had not been invited into the country and that their invasion was a violation of socialist principles, international law and the UN Charter.
 
The principal Czechoslovak reformers were forcibly and secretly taken to the Soviet Union. Under Soviet duress, they were compelled to sign a treaty that provided for the “temporary stationing” of an unspecified number of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. Dubček was removed as party leader on April 17, 1969, and replaced by another Slovak, Gustáv Husák. Later, Dubček and many of his allies within the party were stripped of their party positions in a purge that lasted until 1971.
 
The 1970s and 1980s became known as the period of “normalization,” during which supporters of the 1968 Soviet invasion bolstered the pro-Moscow regime that ruled the country. Political, social and economic life stagnated.
 
Czechoslovakia’s place behind the Iron Curtain lasted until the “Velvet Revolution” in 1989. Václav Havel, a leading playwright and dissident, was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989. Havel, imprisoned twice by the communist regime, became an international symbol for human rights, democracy and peaceful dissent. The return of democratic political reform saw a strong Slovak nationalist movement emerge by the end of 1991, which sought independence for Slovakia. When the general elections of June 1992 failed to resolve the continuing coexistence of the two republics within the federation, Czech and Slovak political leaders agreed to separate their states into two fully independent nations. On January 1, 1993, the Czechoslovakian federation was dissolved and two separate independent countries were established—the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in March 1999.
 
President Václav Havel left office in February 2003 after 13 years as president. Over the years, Havel lost some of his popularity with the Czechs, who became disenchanted with him as a political leader. In March, Václav Klaus became the Czech Republic’s second president. A conservative economist, he and Havel often clashed. In May 2004, the Czech Republic joined the European Union (EU). After an inconclusive election in June 2006, the political deadlock was broken in August, with rightist Mirek Topolánek appointed prime minister. His government resigned in October after losing a no-confidence vote. He formed another government in January 2007. A year later, Topolánek's government narrowly survived another no-confidence vote.
 
Czech Republic History (Czech Republic Government website)
Czech Economic History (Travel Document Systems)

 

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Czech Republic's Newspapers
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History of U.S. Relations with Czech Republic

Millions of Americans have their roots in Bohemia and Moravia, and a large community in the United States has strong cultural and familial ties with the Czech Republic. President Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of the original Czechoslovak state on October 28, 1918. President Wilson’s 14 Points, including the right of ethnic groups to form their own states, were the basis for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks. Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia’s first president, visited the United States during World War I and worked with American officials in developing the basis of the new country. Masaryk used the US Constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak constitution.

 
After World War II, and the return of the Czechoslovak government in exile, normal relations with the US continued until 1948, when the communists seized power. Relations cooled rapidly. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 further complicated U.S.-Czechoslovak relations. The United States referred the matter to the UN Security Council as a violation of the UN Charter, but no action was taken against the Soviets.
 
Since the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, bilateral relations between the US and the Czech Republic have improved immensely. President Václav Havel, in his first official visit as head of Czechoslovakia, addressed the US Congress and was interrupted 21 times by standing ovations. In 1990, on the first anniversary of the revolution, President George H.W. Bush pledged American support in building a democratic Czechoslovakia. His administration was originally opposed to the idea of Czechoslovakia forming two separate states due to concerns that a split might aggravate existing regional political tensions. However, the US recognized both the Czech Republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993.
 
As part of their Cold War campaign, the Americans initiated a radio broadcasting operation known as Radio Free Europe (RFE) to broadcast news and entertainment from the west into the Soviet empire. The station began operating from its headquarters in Munich in 1951 as a non-profit organization, funded by the US Congress. After the fall of communism, the Czech Republic’s president, Václav Havel, proposed to the Americans that RFE transfer its base of operations from Munich to Prague.  In 1995 the Czech government officially invited RFE to make the move, offering it the former communist parliament building located directly behind the National Museum in downtown Prague.  A symbolic lease of one crown per day (equal to approximately three cents) was offered for the large glass building. When the US decided to accept the offer, many Czechs welcomed the move as a big accomplishment for the new democracy. A few years later, acrimony developed between US and Czech officials over RFE (see Controversies).
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Current U.S. Relations with Czech Republic

The US government views relations with the Czech Republic as “excellent.” The Czech Republic has made contributions to international allied coalitions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. In early 2008, the Czech Republic established a 200-person Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Logar Province, Afghanistan. In addition, an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) was deployed to work alongside the Afghanistan National Air Corps. The deployment of this Czech OMLT complements the ongoing donation of 12 Czech military helicopters to Afghanistan, six of which have been delivered. Additionally, the Czechs will redeploy a Special Forces unit to Afghanistan for a third time as well as a 65-person security detachment to support Dutch forces.

 
Other Czech deployments to Afghanistan include a large military field hospital in Kabul and a Special Purpose Military Police unit operating in Helmand Province. The Czech Republic also is continuing to support other coalition efforts, including providing a maneuver battalion to Kosovo in support of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) on a continual rotational basis, as well as a limited number of personnel to Iraq.
 
In contrast to the US view of bilateral relations, some Czech experts say that the feeling inside the republic is that relations are getting worse. According to one expert, “During the 1990s the Czechs were very positive about their cooperation with America, especially as it related to the democratization process. Today, the relationship has not only become more formal in manner, but it seems as if the Americans are becoming more distant.”  
 
Also, it remains to be seen how the Czech government will be affected by its decision to allow the US to build a controversial radar base in the country. Russian officials are unhappy with this development, and in light of the recent conflict in Georgia, some believe the Czech government could come under substantial pressure from Moscow for moving so closely to the US.
 
On July 8, 2008, after lengthy negotiations and much debate, the Czech Republic agreed to allow the United States to deploy on its land an antiballistic missile shield. Russia strongly objected to the accord, viewing the system as a threat. Bush administration officials claimed that the shield was meant to deter an attack from Iran, but few Russians or Czechs were convinced. Czech lawmakers must approve the deal. In the meantime, Czech scientists are moving toward closer collaboration with US institutions. Described by Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek as one of the incentives behind hosting the radar base, the cooperation would mean more US funding and collaborative resources for local researchers, ultimately raising the Czech Republic’s profile as a world leader in technological development.
 
Focusing on top local research in fields including nanotechnology, IT and cybernetics, Czech and American scientists are now reviewing Czech research projects to pinpoint viable candidates for collaboration with leading US research institutions.
 
Some Czech officials have been quick to point out that this collaboration does not mean Czech scientists are “selling out” to the Pentagon. Rather than buying research projects for specific use, the United States plans to “inject funds” into promising projects.
 
The 2000 US census reported that 1,262,249 people identified themselves as Czech in the United States. The first major wave of immigration came in the 1850s, as Czechs who had supported the 1848 revolution fled in fear of reprisals from the Austrian Hapsburgs. By the late 1850s, there were 10,000 Czechs in the United States, mainly in Chicago because it was an easily accessible nexus on the rail network. By 1900, there were 199,939 American-born Czechs and 156,640 foreign-born Czechs in the US. Immigration was limited by the National Origins Immigration Act of 1924, although 20,000 managed to escape Nazi persecution and find refuge in the US. Between 1946 and 1975, 27,048 Czechs emigrated to the US, enabled by a relatively open political climate before 1968 and assisted by the American Fund for Czechoslovakia, established with the assistance of Eleanor Roosevelt. 
 
New York is home to the oldest Czech community in the US. Czechs settled alongside German, Irish, and Norwegians in Wisconsin, and later congregated in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.
 
In 2006, 322,026 Americans visited the Czech Republic. Tourism has grown consistently and dramatically since 2002, when 190,357 Americans traveled to the Czech Republic.
 
In 2006, 36,659 Czechs visited the US. The number of tourists has increased sporadically since 2002, when 26,209 Czechs came to America.
 
ČR-U.S. scientists solidify relations (by Markéta Hulpachová, The Prague Post)
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Where Does the Money Flow

 The US imports from the Czech Republic considerably more than it exports. Some of the top purchases in 2007 were electric apparatus and parts ($183 million), automotives parts and accessories ($162.3 million), parts for civilian aircraft ($150 million) and iron and steel products ($101 million). Altogether, the US imported $2.43 billion in goods from the Czech Republic.

 
Meanwhile, the US only sold $1.26 billion in goods to Czechs in 2007, with no single commodity or product eclipsing the $100 million mark. The best selling US export was computer accessories ($94.3 million), followed by civilian aircraft ($89 million), aircraft parts ($86 million), electric apparatus ($73.8 million) and generators and accessories ($72.2 million).
 
The US sold $21.9 million in defense articles and services to the Czech Republic in 2007. In 2002, the US sold $35 million alone in air-to-air missiles, selling 150 Sidewinder missiles, associated equipment and services to the Czech military. In 2003, the Pentagon informed Congress of a pending sale of advanced F-16 fighters (PDF) to the Czech Republic valued at $650 million.
 
During the Clinton administration, the US sold to the Czech Republic almost half a billion dollars in military equipment.
 
The US gave $5.1 million in aid to the Czech Republic in 2007, divided between Foreign Military Financing ($3.2 million), and International Military Education and Training ($1.9 million). The 2008 budget estimate reduced aid to $3.3 million. In 2009 the budget request will return aid to former levels at $5.1 million and will divide it between Foreign Military Financing ($3.5 million) and International Military Education and Training ($1.6 million).
 
US Businesses in the Czech Republic (Czech Embassy in Washington, DC)
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Controversies

 Anti-Missile Pact Draws Russian Ire

Russia warned the US and the Czech Republic in July 2008 that it would be forced to react with military means if the two countries go ahead with plans for a missile shield. The statement came hours after the US signed an initial deal to base part of Washington’s controversial missile defense system in the Czech Republic. Moscow officials said placing the system near Russia’s borders could weaken its own defenses. The Russian government had previously threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.
 
The deal, signed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Prague, allows a tracking radar base to be set up on Czech territory. The Bush administration claimed the shield is designed to counter a threat from Iran, not Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin countered that if that was truly the case, he would agree to the base being put in Russia-friendly Azerbaiajan. However, President Bush insisted on the Czech Republic. The plans remain unpopular in the Czech Republic, while the US has failed to reach agreement with Poland on placing other parts of the system there. The plans involve building the tracking radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. However, if the US cannot get Poland to agree, it may try to place the interceptors in Czech territory. The US wants the sites to be operational by about 2012.
 
Czech opposition parties have strongly criticized the plans and are calling for a national referendum. The plans will have to be approved by the Czech parliament, where the government would need the votes of the opposition parties to get them through.
 
Of the $310 million originally sought by President Bush to begin deployment, Congress approved only $225 million. Furthermore, Congress placed limitations on the funds, which can only be used once bilateral agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic are first reached. Although bilateral agreements are still pending, the Bush Administration announced that it will seek $719 million for FY 2009 to begin deployment of the system.
BMD in Eastern Europe: Controversy and Resistance (Center for Nonproliferation Studies)
 
US-Czech Tensions over Radio Free Europe
Following the attacks on 9/11, US intelligence officials discovered that one of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta, had met with a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat the previous spring in the Czech Republic. American agents quickly focused on Prague and possible links between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. At the time, Czech intelligence was already shadowing the Iraqi diplomat, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, for suspicious activities. But in April 2001, just weeks after his meeting with Atta, al-Ani was expelled from the Czech Republic after he was caught taking photos of the Radio Free Europe (RFE) building. Czech intelligence believed that al-Ani may have been casing the building as part of a planned attack on it. 
 
The possibility of an attack placed Prague on high-alert. Four armored personnel carriers were stationed in front of RFE headquarters, along with paratroopers and concrete barriers. These safety measures blocked off a major city artery. Fearing an attack, some Czech officials demanded that the RFE building be moved outside of Prague. The idea was not well received by the Bush administration or RFE officials.
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Human Rights

State Department officials say there exist in the Czech Republic problems with both law enforcement and judicial corruption, and high-level political intervention sometimes resulted in investigations being prematurely closed or reassigned to other jurisdictions. According to the 2007 State Department report, there were some reports of police mistreatment of detainees and official tolerance of inmate-on-inmate abuse in one prison. There were reports that police failed to provide detainees access to an attorney. Child abuse and trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and forced labor continued to be problems. Random violence, rallies, and vandalism by neo‑Nazis and skinhead groups against Roma (aka Gypsies) occurred throughout the year. Societal discrimination against minorities, especially Roma, continued, and a lack of equitable education, housing, and employment opportunities for Roma persisted.

 
According to Human Rights Watch, Czech authorities have failed to adequately protect Roma from the ever-increasing danger of racist attacks. When attacks do occur, Roma are often denied equal treatment before the law, a direct violation of both Czech and international law. The biggest problem stems from the local police, who sometimes display an open sympathy for skinheads, allowing them to hold unauthorized marches and threaten non-ethnic Czechs. Police are often slow to respond to Romani calls for help and hesitant to make arrests, even after a violent attack. In some cases, police themselves have used excessive force against Roma, sometimes causing death. Overall, the Czech record on human rights has been admirable since the 1989 Velvet rRvolution toppled the communist government. But the otherwise laudable reforms of Czech democracy have failed to ensure many basic human rights to the Roma minority. The effects of the citizenship law and the states unwillingness to combat racist violence reveal an undeniable pattern of discrimination along ethnic lines.
 
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Debate
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Past Ambassadors

Adrian A. Basora
Appointment: Jun 15, 1992
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 20, 1992
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jul 15, 1995

 
Jenonne R. Walker
Appointment: Jun 27, 1995
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 31, 1995
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 31, 1998
 
John Shattuck
Appointment: Oct 22, 1998
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 10, 1998
Termination of Mission: Left post Dec 16, 2000
 
Craig Robert Stapleton
Appointment: Aug 7, 2001
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 28, 2001
Termination of Mission: Left post Dec 16, 2003
 
William J. Cabaniss
Appointment: Oct 6, 2003
Presentation of Credentials: Jan 13, 2004
Termination of Mission: Left post, Sep 15, 2006
 
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Czech Republic's Ambassador to the U.S.
ambassador-image Kmoníček, Hynek

Hynek Kmoníček, a long-time member of his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who for a time served as deputy foreign minister, took over as the Czech Republic’s ambassador to the United States on March 16, 2017. After the election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S., Kmoníček predicted that “Donald Trump’s administration will be a combination of the aggressive isolationism of Andrew Jackson together with the strategy of Richard Nixon minus Kissinger.”

 

Kmoníček was born October 22, 1962, in Pardubice, in what was then Czechoslovakia. He attended the University of South Bohemia, studying music and education, and earned a doctorate in Education in 1986. He went on to Prague’s Charles University, where he earned degrees in English and Arabic studies in 1989.

 

As might be guessed from his original field of study, he started his working life in 1986 as a music teacher, and played lute and classical guitar in concerts as well. Beginning in 1991, he served as a tutor of English and Arabic at the University of Pardubice. He took a year off starting in 1994 to study the modern history of the Middle East, with a specialty in Hebrew and Arabic languages at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

 

Kmoníček joined the foreign ministry in 1995 as a desk officer in the Middle East department and by 1997 he was director of the North Africa and Middle East Department. In 1999, Kmoníček was named director general for Asia, Africa and the Americas.

 

His first ambassadorial assignment came in 2001, when he was made the Czech Republic’s representative to the United Nations in New York. There he was chair of the Fifth Committee, which handled the organization’s budgetary and administrative issues. In 2006, Kmoníček was appointed ambassador to India, with responsibility for Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Among his many responsibilities in this position, he helped a Czech scientist who was arrested by Indian officials in 2008 for illegally collecting rare beetles. In 2015, the scientist, Emil Kučera, discovered a beetle in China, which he named Anthaxia Kmoníček for Kmoníček.

 

Kmoníček returned to Prague in 2009 to serve as deputy foreign minister for legal, consular and political affairs. By the next year, however, Kmoníček had worn out his welcome with Foreign Minister Karol Schwarzenberg, and in 2011 Kmoníček was transferred to the position of ambassador to Australia, with responsibility for New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa. Schwarzenberg was quoted at the time that if the Czech Republic had an embassy on Mars, he would have sent Kmoníček there.

 

But Miloš Zeman took over as president of the Czech Republic in 2013, and brought Kmoníček home to serve as his chief foreign policy adviser, director of the Foreign Affairs Department, a role he filled until taking the Washington job.

 

In 2015, Kmoníček cooled a brewing spat between Zeman and U.S. Ambassador Andrew Schapiro, who suggested that Zeman, as the leader of an EU country, not attend a military parade in Moscow celebrating the anniversary of the end of World War II.

 

Kmoníček is married to Indira Gumarova and has a son and three daughters. Kmoníček enjoys gourmet cooking and collecting hot sauces.

-Steve Straehley

 

To Learn More:

Hynek Kmoníček CV

U.S. Ambassador Praises Zeman’s Man as Skillful Diplomat (Prague Post)

Hynek Kmoníček (by Indira Gumarova, Czech and Slovak Leaders)

Hynek Kmonícek Of Czech Republic Chairman Of Fifth Committee (United Nations)

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Czech Republic's Embassy Web Site in the U.S.
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US-flag nation-flag U.S. Embassy web site

U.S. Ambassador to Czech Republic

Shapiro, Andrew
ambassador-image

 

On March 6, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated attorney Andrew H. Schapiro as ambassador to the Czech Republic. Like many of Obama’s nominees, Schapiro was a “bundler,” or someone who helped raise money for the president’s campaigns. Schapiro was very successful in this regard, with some estimates of his fund-raising reaching $1.26 million.

 

Schapiro is from Chicago, graduating from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in the suburb of Flossmoor in 1981. His mother was a Czech survivor of the Holocaust who became a psychiatrist; his father, Joseph, was a pediatrician. Schapiro’s mother, Raya Czerner Schapiro, co-compiled a book, Letters From Prague: 1939-1941, dealing with the experience of her grandmother and uncle during the Nazi occupation of Prague.

 

After high school, Schapiro went to Yale, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1985. He was then named a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, earning his M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1987. Schapiro returned to the United States to enter Harvard Law School, where he was a year ahead of the future president, serving on the Law Review with Obama. Schapiro received his law degree in 1990.

 

Schapiro then clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit in Chicago from 1991 to 1992. He then went to Washington to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun from 1992 to 1993. While there, Schapiro was credited toward moving Blackmun to an “abolitionist position” on the death penalty. 

 

Beginning in 1993, Schapiro worked in the Federal Defenders Office for the Southern District of New York. In 1998, he joined the private sector, signing on with the law firm Mayer Brown, and becoming a partner in 2001.

 

In 2011, Schapiro was lured to the firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, specializing in appellate work. Among those he represented during his years at the two firms were You Tube/Google, successfully defending them in a $1 billion copyright infringement suit brought by Viacom; Philip Morris, successfully defending the tobacco in an action relating to punitive damages; Las Vegas Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson in a billion-dollar dispute over ownership of the Venetian Macao hotel and casino; and ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik in his unsuccessful appeal of his sentence for tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Schapiro’s pro bono clients have included the Sierra Club, the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Innocence Project.

 

Schapiro is married to Tamar Newberger, who works in the technology industry in marketing.  They have a daughter, Galia, and a son, Alexander.

-Steve Straehley

 

To Learn More:

Official Biography

Lawyer Selected For Czech Ambassadorship Also Major Obama Fundraiser (by Michael Beckel, Center for Public Integrity)

Another Obama Bundler From Chicago Gets a Plum Diplomatic Post (by Carol Felsenthal, Chicago Magazine)

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Previous U.S. Ambassador to Czech Republic

Eisen, Norman
ambassador-image

President Barack Obama selected White House ethics lawyer Norman Eisen to be ambassador to the Czech Republic in June 2010, and his Senate confirmation hearing was held on August 5. However, Republican objections, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, blocked a vote on his confirmation. Finally, on December 29, Obama gave Eisen a one-year recess appointment. The position of U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic had been vacant since the day Obama took office.
 
Eisen has no diplomatic experience to speak of, but he does have other qualities going for him—including knowing Barack Obama since law school, and raising substantial sums of money for the president’s 2008 campaign.
 
The son of Eastern European Jewish refugees who survived the Holocaust, Eisen is a first-generation American who grew up in Los Angeles. His mother was born in Czechoslovakia and his father in Poland. In 1975, when Eisen was 14 years old, his father died, and Eisen was forced to drop out of high school to help support his family. Two years later, he returned to school and graduated from Hollywood High School.
 
Eisen went on to Brown University and graduated in 1985. Then he became a civil-rights organizer for the Anti-Defamation League, which focuses on combating anti-Semitism. He later attended Harvard Law School, where he first met Obama.
 
After graduating from law school in 1991, Eisen took a job in Washington with the law firm of Zuckerman Spaeder. During his 17 years with the firm, he handled white-collar criminal cases and congressional investigations. He eventually made partner. In 1998, he co-founded the Kids Computer Workshop to teach computer skills to children in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Washington, DC.
 
In 2003, Eisen co-founded Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog organization that targets corrupt officials.
 
During the 2008 presidential race, Eisen bundled between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama. He also personally donated more than $40,000 to political campaigns, including $4,600 to Obama, $2,300 to Joseph Biden, and $27,350 to the Democratic National Committee.
 
Aside from fundraising, Eisen worked on education policy for the Obama campaign, before turning his attention to ethics reform. He crafted a broad ethics reform plan during the transition and submitted it to Obama for his approval the day after the inauguration. The plan became best known for provisions banning registered lobbyists from taking positions in the administration. It also earned him the nickname “Mr. No.”
 
Eisen’s first official post in the Obama administration was Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform.
 
Eisen is married to Lindsay Kaplan, an associate professor of English at Georgetown University, and the couple has one daughter, Tamar.
 
Norman Eisen (WhoRunsGov)

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Table of Contents
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News
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Overview

Less than 20 years old, the Czech Republic sprang into being following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. For most of their modern history, the Czech people had to share their government and nation with the Slovaks in the old Czechoslovakia. Almost half of Czechoslovakia’s history was dominated by the old Soviet Union, which maintained strong control over most of Eastern Europe during the Cold War. An attempt to pull away from Soviet control in 1968 produced the Prague Spring, which was short-lived and forcibly crushed. Once the Soviet Union fell apart, Czech and Slovak leaders decided to go their separate ways and create two independent nations in the 1993. Since that time, the US has courted Czech leaders and established a strong economic and military relationship. With the help of American officials, the Czech Republic joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999, and in 2008, the Czech government signed an agreement with the US government, to build a radar station in the republic as part of an anti-ballistic missile system that the Bush administration badly wanted. Both of these moves have been vehemently opposed by Russia, which sees the military alliance between the Czech Republic and the West as a threat to Russian security.

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Basic Information

 Lay of the Land:  The Czech Republic is located in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Germany to the west, Poland to the North, Slovakia to the east and Austria to the south.

 
Population: 10.2 million
 
Religions: Catholic 56.2%, Protestant 1.0%, Jewish 0.1%, Buddhist 0.1%, non-religious 42.6%. In a recent opinion poll, only 28% claimed to believe in God.
 
Ethnic Groups: Czech 90.4%, Moravian 3.7%, Slovak 1.9%, other 4%.
 
Languages: Czech (official) 96.5%, Romani (Carpathian, Sinte) 2.2%, German 0.5%, Polish 0.5%, Bavarian 0.08%, Lower Silesian.
 

 

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History
In approximately the 5th Century, Slavic tribes from the Vistula basin settled in the region of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. The Czechs founded the kingdom of Bohemia and the Premyslide dynasty, which ruled Bohemia and Moravia from the 10th to the 16th Century. One of the Bohemian kings, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, made Prague an imperial capital and a center of Latin scholarship.
 
The Czechs lost their national independence to the Hapsburgs Empire in 1620 at the Battle of White Mountain and for the next 300 years were ruled by the Austrian Monarchy. With the collapse of the monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent country of Czechoslovakia was formed, encouraged by, among others, US President Woodrow Wilson.
 
Despite cultural differences, the Slovaks shared with the Czechs similar aspirations for independence from the Hapsburg state and voluntarily united with the Czechs. For historical reasons, Slovaks were not at the same level of economic and technological development as the Czechs, but the freedom and opportunity found in Czechoslovakia enabled them to make strides toward overcoming these inequalities. However, the gap never was fully bridged, and the discrepancy played a continuing role throughout the 75 years of the union.
 
Although Czechoslovakia was the only east European country to remain a parliamentary democracy from 1918 to 1938, it was plagued with minority problems, the most important of which concerned the country’s large German population. Constituting more than 22% of the population and largely concentrated in the Bohemian and Moravian border regions (the Sudetenland), members of this minority, including some who were sympathetic to Nazi Germany, undermined the new Czechoslovak state. Internal and external pressures culminated in September 1938, when France and the United Kingdom yielded to Nazi pressures at Munich and agreed to force Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.
 
Germany invaded what remained of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, establishing a German “protectorate.” By this time, Slovakia had already declared independence and had become a puppet state of the Germans. Czech Jews and other minorities were rounded up by the Nazis and deported to concentration camps. More than 100,000 Jews lived in the Czech lands in 1939. Only a few thousand remained or returned after the Holocaust in 1945.
 
At the close of World War II, Soviet troops overran all of Slovakia, Moravia, and much of Bohemia, including Prague. In May 1945, US forces liberated the city of Plzen and most of western Bohemia. A civilian uprising against the German garrison took place in Prague in May 1945. Following Germany’s surrender, some 2.9 million ethnic Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia with Allied approval under the Benes Decrees.
 
Reunited after the war, the Czechs and Slovaks set national elections for the spring of 1946. The democratic elements, led by President Eduard Benes, hoped the Soviet Union would allow Czechoslovakia the freedom to choose its own form of government. The Czechoslovak Communist Party, which won 38% of the vote, held most of the key positions in the government and gradually managed to neutralize or silence the anti-communist forces. Although the communist-led government initially intended to participate in the Marshall Plan, it was forced by Moscow to back out. The Communist Party seized full control of the government in February 1948.
 
The communist leadership allowed token reforms in the early 1960s, but discontent arose within the ranks of the Communist Party central committee, stemming from dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the economic reforms, resistance to cultural liberalization, and the desire of the Slovaks within the leadership for greater autonomy for their republic. This discontent resulted in a change in party leadership in January 1968 and in the presidency in March. The new party leader was Alexander Dubček.
 
After January 1968, the Dubček leadership took practical steps toward political, social and economic reforms. In addition, it called for politico-military changes in the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and theCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance. The leadership affirmed its loyalty to socialism and the Warsaw Pact, but also expressed the desire to improve relations with all countries of the world regardless of their social systems.
 
A program adopted in April 1968 set guidelines for a modern, socialist democracy that would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel. Dubček called it giving socialism “a human face.” After 20 years of little public participation, the population gradually started to take interest in the government, creating what became known as the “Prague Spring” of 1968.
 
The internal reforms and foreign policy statements of the Dubček’s leadership created great concern among some other Warsaw Pact governments. On the night of August 20, 1968, Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian, East German, and Polish troops invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government immediately declared that the troops had not been invited into the country and that their invasion was a violation of socialist principles, international law and the UN Charter.
 
The principal Czechoslovak reformers were forcibly and secretly taken to the Soviet Union. Under Soviet duress, they were compelled to sign a treaty that provided for the “temporary stationing” of an unspecified number of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. Dubček was removed as party leader on April 17, 1969, and replaced by another Slovak, Gustáv Husák. Later, Dubček and many of his allies within the party were stripped of their party positions in a purge that lasted until 1971.
 
The 1970s and 1980s became known as the period of “normalization,” during which supporters of the 1968 Soviet invasion bolstered the pro-Moscow regime that ruled the country. Political, social and economic life stagnated.
 
Czechoslovakia’s place behind the Iron Curtain lasted until the “Velvet Revolution” in 1989. Václav Havel, a leading playwright and dissident, was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989. Havel, imprisoned twice by the communist regime, became an international symbol for human rights, democracy and peaceful dissent. The return of democratic political reform saw a strong Slovak nationalist movement emerge by the end of 1991, which sought independence for Slovakia. When the general elections of June 1992 failed to resolve the continuing coexistence of the two republics within the federation, Czech and Slovak political leaders agreed to separate their states into two fully independent nations. On January 1, 1993, the Czechoslovakian federation was dissolved and two separate independent countries were established—the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in March 1999.
 
President Václav Havel left office in February 2003 after 13 years as president. Over the years, Havel lost some of his popularity with the Czechs, who became disenchanted with him as a political leader. In March, Václav Klaus became the Czech Republic’s second president. A conservative economist, he and Havel often clashed. In May 2004, the Czech Republic joined the European Union (EU). After an inconclusive election in June 2006, the political deadlock was broken in August, with rightist Mirek Topolánek appointed prime minister. His government resigned in October after losing a no-confidence vote. He formed another government in January 2007. A year later, Topolánek's government narrowly survived another no-confidence vote.
 
Czech Republic History (Czech Republic Government website)
Czech Economic History (Travel Document Systems)

 

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Czech Republic's Newspapers
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History of U.S. Relations with Czech Republic

Millions of Americans have their roots in Bohemia and Moravia, and a large community in the United States has strong cultural and familial ties with the Czech Republic. President Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of the original Czechoslovak state on October 28, 1918. President Wilson’s 14 Points, including the right of ethnic groups to form their own states, were the basis for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks. Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia’s first president, visited the United States during World War I and worked with American officials in developing the basis of the new country. Masaryk used the US Constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak constitution.

 
After World War II, and the return of the Czechoslovak government in exile, normal relations with the US continued until 1948, when the communists seized power. Relations cooled rapidly. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 further complicated U.S.-Czechoslovak relations. The United States referred the matter to the UN Security Council as a violation of the UN Charter, but no action was taken against the Soviets.
 
Since the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, bilateral relations between the US and the Czech Republic have improved immensely. President Václav Havel, in his first official visit as head of Czechoslovakia, addressed the US Congress and was interrupted 21 times by standing ovations. In 1990, on the first anniversary of the revolution, President George H.W. Bush pledged American support in building a democratic Czechoslovakia. His administration was originally opposed to the idea of Czechoslovakia forming two separate states due to concerns that a split might aggravate existing regional political tensions. However, the US recognized both the Czech Republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993.
 
As part of their Cold War campaign, the Americans initiated a radio broadcasting operation known as Radio Free Europe (RFE) to broadcast news and entertainment from the west into the Soviet empire. The station began operating from its headquarters in Munich in 1951 as a non-profit organization, funded by the US Congress. After the fall of communism, the Czech Republic’s president, Václav Havel, proposed to the Americans that RFE transfer its base of operations from Munich to Prague.  In 1995 the Czech government officially invited RFE to make the move, offering it the former communist parliament building located directly behind the National Museum in downtown Prague.  A symbolic lease of one crown per day (equal to approximately three cents) was offered for the large glass building. When the US decided to accept the offer, many Czechs welcomed the move as a big accomplishment for the new democracy. A few years later, acrimony developed between US and Czech officials over RFE (see Controversies).
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Current U.S. Relations with Czech Republic

The US government views relations with the Czech Republic as “excellent.” The Czech Republic has made contributions to international allied coalitions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. In early 2008, the Czech Republic established a 200-person Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Logar Province, Afghanistan. In addition, an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) was deployed to work alongside the Afghanistan National Air Corps. The deployment of this Czech OMLT complements the ongoing donation of 12 Czech military helicopters to Afghanistan, six of which have been delivered. Additionally, the Czechs will redeploy a Special Forces unit to Afghanistan for a third time as well as a 65-person security detachment to support Dutch forces.

 
Other Czech deployments to Afghanistan include a large military field hospital in Kabul and a Special Purpose Military Police unit operating in Helmand Province. The Czech Republic also is continuing to support other coalition efforts, including providing a maneuver battalion to Kosovo in support of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) on a continual rotational basis, as well as a limited number of personnel to Iraq.
 
In contrast to the US view of bilateral relations, some Czech experts say that the feeling inside the republic is that relations are getting worse. According to one expert, “During the 1990s the Czechs were very positive about their cooperation with America, especially as it related to the democratization process. Today, the relationship has not only become more formal in manner, but it seems as if the Americans are becoming more distant.”  
 
Also, it remains to be seen how the Czech government will be affected by its decision to allow the US to build a controversial radar base in the country. Russian officials are unhappy with this development, and in light of the recent conflict in Georgia, some believe the Czech government could come under substantial pressure from Moscow for moving so closely to the US.
 
On July 8, 2008, after lengthy negotiations and much debate, the Czech Republic agreed to allow the United States to deploy on its land an antiballistic missile shield. Russia strongly objected to the accord, viewing the system as a threat. Bush administration officials claimed that the shield was meant to deter an attack from Iran, but few Russians or Czechs were convinced. Czech lawmakers must approve the deal. In the meantime, Czech scientists are moving toward closer collaboration with US institutions. Described by Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek as one of the incentives behind hosting the radar base, the cooperation would mean more US funding and collaborative resources for local researchers, ultimately raising the Czech Republic’s profile as a world leader in technological development.
 
Focusing on top local research in fields including nanotechnology, IT and cybernetics, Czech and American scientists are now reviewing Czech research projects to pinpoint viable candidates for collaboration with leading US research institutions.
 
Some Czech officials have been quick to point out that this collaboration does not mean Czech scientists are “selling out” to the Pentagon. Rather than buying research projects for specific use, the United States plans to “inject funds” into promising projects.
 
The 2000 US census reported that 1,262,249 people identified themselves as Czech in the United States. The first major wave of immigration came in the 1850s, as Czechs who had supported the 1848 revolution fled in fear of reprisals from the Austrian Hapsburgs. By the late 1850s, there were 10,000 Czechs in the United States, mainly in Chicago because it was an easily accessible nexus on the rail network. By 1900, there were 199,939 American-born Czechs and 156,640 foreign-born Czechs in the US. Immigration was limited by the National Origins Immigration Act of 1924, although 20,000 managed to escape Nazi persecution and find refuge in the US. Between 1946 and 1975, 27,048 Czechs emigrated to the US, enabled by a relatively open political climate before 1968 and assisted by the American Fund for Czechoslovakia, established with the assistance of Eleanor Roosevelt. 
 
New York is home to the oldest Czech community in the US. Czechs settled alongside German, Irish, and Norwegians in Wisconsin, and later congregated in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.
 
In 2006, 322,026 Americans visited the Czech Republic. Tourism has grown consistently and dramatically since 2002, when 190,357 Americans traveled to the Czech Republic.
 
In 2006, 36,659 Czechs visited the US. The number of tourists has increased sporadically since 2002, when 26,209 Czechs came to America.
 
ČR-U.S. scientists solidify relations (by Markéta Hulpachová, The Prague Post)
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Where Does the Money Flow

 The US imports from the Czech Republic considerably more than it exports. Some of the top purchases in 2007 were electric apparatus and parts ($183 million), automotives parts and accessories ($162.3 million), parts for civilian aircraft ($150 million) and iron and steel products ($101 million). Altogether, the US imported $2.43 billion in goods from the Czech Republic.

 
Meanwhile, the US only sold $1.26 billion in goods to Czechs in 2007, with no single commodity or product eclipsing the $100 million mark. The best selling US export was computer accessories ($94.3 million), followed by civilian aircraft ($89 million), aircraft parts ($86 million), electric apparatus ($73.8 million) and generators and accessories ($72.2 million).
 
The US sold $21.9 million in defense articles and services to the Czech Republic in 2007. In 2002, the US sold $35 million alone in air-to-air missiles, selling 150 Sidewinder missiles, associated equipment and services to the Czech military. In 2003, the Pentagon informed Congress of a pending sale of advanced F-16 fighters (PDF) to the Czech Republic valued at $650 million.
 
During the Clinton administration, the US sold to the Czech Republic almost half a billion dollars in military equipment.
 
The US gave $5.1 million in aid to the Czech Republic in 2007, divided between Foreign Military Financing ($3.2 million), and International Military Education and Training ($1.9 million). The 2008 budget estimate reduced aid to $3.3 million. In 2009 the budget request will return aid to former levels at $5.1 million and will divide it between Foreign Military Financing ($3.5 million) and International Military Education and Training ($1.6 million).
 
US Businesses in the Czech Republic (Czech Embassy in Washington, DC)
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Controversies

 Anti-Missile Pact Draws Russian Ire

Russia warned the US and the Czech Republic in July 2008 that it would be forced to react with military means if the two countries go ahead with plans for a missile shield. The statement came hours after the US signed an initial deal to base part of Washington’s controversial missile defense system in the Czech Republic. Moscow officials said placing the system near Russia’s borders could weaken its own defenses. The Russian government had previously threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.
 
The deal, signed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Prague, allows a tracking radar base to be set up on Czech territory. The Bush administration claimed the shield is designed to counter a threat from Iran, not Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin countered that if that was truly the case, he would agree to the base being put in Russia-friendly Azerbaiajan. However, President Bush insisted on the Czech Republic. The plans remain unpopular in the Czech Republic, while the US has failed to reach agreement with Poland on placing other parts of the system there. The plans involve building the tracking radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. However, if the US cannot get Poland to agree, it may try to place the interceptors in Czech territory. The US wants the sites to be operational by about 2012.
 
Czech opposition parties have strongly criticized the plans and are calling for a national referendum. The plans will have to be approved by the Czech parliament, where the government would need the votes of the opposition parties to get them through.
 
Of the $310 million originally sought by President Bush to begin deployment, Congress approved only $225 million. Furthermore, Congress placed limitations on the funds, which can only be used once bilateral agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic are first reached. Although bilateral agreements are still pending, the Bush Administration announced that it will seek $719 million for FY 2009 to begin deployment of the system.
BMD in Eastern Europe: Controversy and Resistance (Center for Nonproliferation Studies)
 
US-Czech Tensions over Radio Free Europe
Following the attacks on 9/11, US intelligence officials discovered that one of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta, had met with a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat the previous spring in the Czech Republic. American agents quickly focused on Prague and possible links between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. At the time, Czech intelligence was already shadowing the Iraqi diplomat, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, for suspicious activities. But in April 2001, just weeks after his meeting with Atta, al-Ani was expelled from the Czech Republic after he was caught taking photos of the Radio Free Europe (RFE) building. Czech intelligence believed that al-Ani may have been casing the building as part of a planned attack on it. 
 
The possibility of an attack placed Prague on high-alert. Four armored personnel carriers were stationed in front of RFE headquarters, along with paratroopers and concrete barriers. These safety measures blocked off a major city artery. Fearing an attack, some Czech officials demanded that the RFE building be moved outside of Prague. The idea was not well received by the Bush administration or RFE officials.
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Human Rights

State Department officials say there exist in the Czech Republic problems with both law enforcement and judicial corruption, and high-level political intervention sometimes resulted in investigations being prematurely closed or reassigned to other jurisdictions. According to the 2007 State Department report, there were some reports of police mistreatment of detainees and official tolerance of inmate-on-inmate abuse in one prison. There were reports that police failed to provide detainees access to an attorney. Child abuse and trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and forced labor continued to be problems. Random violence, rallies, and vandalism by neo‑Nazis and skinhead groups against Roma (aka Gypsies) occurred throughout the year. Societal discrimination against minorities, especially Roma, continued, and a lack of equitable education, housing, and employment opportunities for Roma persisted.

 
According to Human Rights Watch, Czech authorities have failed to adequately protect Roma from the ever-increasing danger of racist attacks. When attacks do occur, Roma are often denied equal treatment before the law, a direct violation of both Czech and international law. The biggest problem stems from the local police, who sometimes display an open sympathy for skinheads, allowing them to hold unauthorized marches and threaten non-ethnic Czechs. Police are often slow to respond to Romani calls for help and hesitant to make arrests, even after a violent attack. In some cases, police themselves have used excessive force against Roma, sometimes causing death. Overall, the Czech record on human rights has been admirable since the 1989 Velvet rRvolution toppled the communist government. But the otherwise laudable reforms of Czech democracy have failed to ensure many basic human rights to the Roma minority. The effects of the citizenship law and the states unwillingness to combat racist violence reveal an undeniable pattern of discrimination along ethnic lines.
 
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Debate
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Past Ambassadors

Adrian A. Basora
Appointment: Jun 15, 1992
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 20, 1992
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jul 15, 1995

 
Jenonne R. Walker
Appointment: Jun 27, 1995
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 31, 1995
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 31, 1998
 
John Shattuck
Appointment: Oct 22, 1998
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 10, 1998
Termination of Mission: Left post Dec 16, 2000
 
Craig Robert Stapleton
Appointment: Aug 7, 2001
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 28, 2001
Termination of Mission: Left post Dec 16, 2003
 
William J. Cabaniss
Appointment: Oct 6, 2003
Presentation of Credentials: Jan 13, 2004
Termination of Mission: Left post, Sep 15, 2006
 
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Czech Republic's Ambassador to the U.S.
ambassador-image Kmoníček, Hynek

Hynek Kmoníček, a long-time member of his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who for a time served as deputy foreign minister, took over as the Czech Republic’s ambassador to the United States on March 16, 2017. After the election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S., Kmoníček predicted that “Donald Trump’s administration will be a combination of the aggressive isolationism of Andrew Jackson together with the strategy of Richard Nixon minus Kissinger.”

 

Kmoníček was born October 22, 1962, in Pardubice, in what was then Czechoslovakia. He attended the University of South Bohemia, studying music and education, and earned a doctorate in Education in 1986. He went on to Prague’s Charles University, where he earned degrees in English and Arabic studies in 1989.

 

As might be guessed from his original field of study, he started his working life in 1986 as a music teacher, and played lute and classical guitar in concerts as well. Beginning in 1991, he served as a tutor of English and Arabic at the University of Pardubice. He took a year off starting in 1994 to study the modern history of the Middle East, with a specialty in Hebrew and Arabic languages at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

 

Kmoníček joined the foreign ministry in 1995 as a desk officer in the Middle East department and by 1997 he was director of the North Africa and Middle East Department. In 1999, Kmoníček was named director general for Asia, Africa and the Americas.

 

His first ambassadorial assignment came in 2001, when he was made the Czech Republic’s representative to the United Nations in New York. There he was chair of the Fifth Committee, which handled the organization’s budgetary and administrative issues. In 2006, Kmoníček was appointed ambassador to India, with responsibility for Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Among his many responsibilities in this position, he helped a Czech scientist who was arrested by Indian officials in 2008 for illegally collecting rare beetles. In 2015, the scientist, Emil Kučera, discovered a beetle in China, which he named Anthaxia Kmoníček for Kmoníček.

 

Kmoníček returned to Prague in 2009 to serve as deputy foreign minister for legal, consular and political affairs. By the next year, however, Kmoníček had worn out his welcome with Foreign Minister Karol Schwarzenberg, and in 2011 Kmoníček was transferred to the position of ambassador to Australia, with responsibility for New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa. Schwarzenberg was quoted at the time that if the Czech Republic had an embassy on Mars, he would have sent Kmoníček there.

 

But Miloš Zeman took over as president of the Czech Republic in 2013, and brought Kmoníček home to serve as his chief foreign policy adviser, director of the Foreign Affairs Department, a role he filled until taking the Washington job.

 

In 2015, Kmoníček cooled a brewing spat between Zeman and U.S. Ambassador Andrew Schapiro, who suggested that Zeman, as the leader of an EU country, not attend a military parade in Moscow celebrating the anniversary of the end of World War II.

 

Kmoníček is married to Indira Gumarova and has a son and three daughters. Kmoníček enjoys gourmet cooking and collecting hot sauces.

-Steve Straehley

 

To Learn More:

Hynek Kmoníček CV

U.S. Ambassador Praises Zeman’s Man as Skillful Diplomat (Prague Post)

Hynek Kmoníček (by Indira Gumarova, Czech and Slovak Leaders)

Hynek Kmonícek Of Czech Republic Chairman Of Fifth Committee (United Nations)

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Czech Republic's Embassy Web Site in the U.S.
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U.S. Ambassador to Czech Republic

Shapiro, Andrew
ambassador-image

 

On March 6, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated attorney Andrew H. Schapiro as ambassador to the Czech Republic. Like many of Obama’s nominees, Schapiro was a “bundler,” or someone who helped raise money for the president’s campaigns. Schapiro was very successful in this regard, with some estimates of his fund-raising reaching $1.26 million.

 

Schapiro is from Chicago, graduating from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in the suburb of Flossmoor in 1981. His mother was a Czech survivor of the Holocaust who became a psychiatrist; his father, Joseph, was a pediatrician. Schapiro’s mother, Raya Czerner Schapiro, co-compiled a book, Letters From Prague: 1939-1941, dealing with the experience of her grandmother and uncle during the Nazi occupation of Prague.

 

After high school, Schapiro went to Yale, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1985. He was then named a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, earning his M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1987. Schapiro returned to the United States to enter Harvard Law School, where he was a year ahead of the future president, serving on the Law Review with Obama. Schapiro received his law degree in 1990.

 

Schapiro then clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit in Chicago from 1991 to 1992. He then went to Washington to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun from 1992 to 1993. While there, Schapiro was credited toward moving Blackmun to an “abolitionist position” on the death penalty. 

 

Beginning in 1993, Schapiro worked in the Federal Defenders Office for the Southern District of New York. In 1998, he joined the private sector, signing on with the law firm Mayer Brown, and becoming a partner in 2001.

 

In 2011, Schapiro was lured to the firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, specializing in appellate work. Among those he represented during his years at the two firms were You Tube/Google, successfully defending them in a $1 billion copyright infringement suit brought by Viacom; Philip Morris, successfully defending the tobacco in an action relating to punitive damages; Las Vegas Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson in a billion-dollar dispute over ownership of the Venetian Macao hotel and casino; and ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik in his unsuccessful appeal of his sentence for tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Schapiro’s pro bono clients have included the Sierra Club, the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Innocence Project.

 

Schapiro is married to Tamar Newberger, who works in the technology industry in marketing.  They have a daughter, Galia, and a son, Alexander.

-Steve Straehley

 

To Learn More:

Official Biography

Lawyer Selected For Czech Ambassadorship Also Major Obama Fundraiser (by Michael Beckel, Center for Public Integrity)

Another Obama Bundler From Chicago Gets a Plum Diplomatic Post (by Carol Felsenthal, Chicago Magazine)

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Previous U.S. Ambassador to Czech Republic

Eisen, Norman
ambassador-image

President Barack Obama selected White House ethics lawyer Norman Eisen to be ambassador to the Czech Republic in June 2010, and his Senate confirmation hearing was held on August 5. However, Republican objections, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, blocked a vote on his confirmation. Finally, on December 29, Obama gave Eisen a one-year recess appointment. The position of U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic had been vacant since the day Obama took office.
 
Eisen has no diplomatic experience to speak of, but he does have other qualities going for him—including knowing Barack Obama since law school, and raising substantial sums of money for the president’s 2008 campaign.
 
The son of Eastern European Jewish refugees who survived the Holocaust, Eisen is a first-generation American who grew up in Los Angeles. His mother was born in Czechoslovakia and his father in Poland. In 1975, when Eisen was 14 years old, his father died, and Eisen was forced to drop out of high school to help support his family. Two years later, he returned to school and graduated from Hollywood High School.
 
Eisen went on to Brown University and graduated in 1985. Then he became a civil-rights organizer for the Anti-Defamation League, which focuses on combating anti-Semitism. He later attended Harvard Law School, where he first met Obama.
 
After graduating from law school in 1991, Eisen took a job in Washington with the law firm of Zuckerman Spaeder. During his 17 years with the firm, he handled white-collar criminal cases and congressional investigations. He eventually made partner. In 1998, he co-founded the Kids Computer Workshop to teach computer skills to children in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Washington, DC.
 
In 2003, Eisen co-founded Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog organization that targets corrupt officials.
 
During the 2008 presidential race, Eisen bundled between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama. He also personally donated more than $40,000 to political campaigns, including $4,600 to Obama, $2,300 to Joseph Biden, and $27,350 to the Democratic National Committee.
 
Aside from fundraising, Eisen worked on education policy for the Obama campaign, before turning his attention to ethics reform. He crafted a broad ethics reform plan during the transition and submitted it to Obama for his approval the day after the inauguration. The plan became best known for provisions banning registered lobbyists from taking positions in the administration. It also earned him the nickname “Mr. No.”
 
Eisen’s first official post in the Obama administration was Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform.
 
Eisen is married to Lindsay Kaplan, an associate professor of English at Georgetown University, and the couple has one daughter, Tamar.
 
Norman Eisen (WhoRunsGov)

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