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RE: The Return of the Iron Curtain
Insightful post - thank you for writing this. The parallels between what is happening here in the U.S. and what is happening in the Czech Republic are very interesting. It seems you are saying that some people resent the countries of Western Europe and perceive them to have relegated them to inferiority ("second tier"). Is this what you are saying? It is striking because this is the same sentiment invoked by much of the rural population in the U.S. - that the urban and educated population looked down their nose at them. The response in both cases seems to be one of "we don't need you - we will do our own thing, even if that thing is authoritarian and harmful to our own self-interest."
I think resentment and ignorance are both at play. Many people do not travel, don't care about other countries and have no idea what exists outside their borders. In the former Warsaw Pact, people were told the West was a land of wonder and opportunity. They watched Dallas in the 90s and laughed at JR and those crazy Texans. But many people are afraid of what changes joining with the West could bring them. They don't believe giving power to Brussels will help them. They don't even like Prague and city slicker intellectuals. Its very similar to the divide in the USA as well, I agree. When I spoke of "second tier" Europe I meant the plan floated at times by the ECB to create a two-tier EU with a core group with more benefits and an outlying area with less voting power, basically. This is not a good idea IMHO because it causes resentment. Admittedly CZ doesn't have the Euro, we still have our own currency which is actually good that we retain sovereign rights and float the crown to the Euro etc ... Resentment and Ressentiment are strong forces at play in politics today, set up by income inequality, materialism, and Neoliberal austerity programmes. It cant go on like it is. Basically Western Europe doesnt seem much to care if the East has autocratic leadership. But this is myopic because the trend can spread .. look at Germany, the former East Germany is creating political havoc (and lets not forget the money behind Brexit and these ethnonationalist campaigns is murky with ties to Putin, etc) (ie who profits when Merkel falls?). Its a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy - the West expects bad leaders and corruption in the East and does very little to counter it, and the East lives up to the stereotype. This is the tragedy of Zeman's reelection .. we are fulfilling the stereotypes the West has of us. I say "us" because I've lived here for 17 years, though I will always be a foreigner here.