Article

2011-12-18 -Obits-

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Frozen Al 2011-12-18 09:40|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 This is sad. Havel did two things that should long be remembered. The first is highly unusual for a leader, to recognize that the Czechs and Slovaks desired different futures, and agree to divide Czechoslovakia without violence or acrimony.

It makes you wonder about Abraham Lincoln. But it still is a huge victory for the idea of peace without violence, and self-determination over ego.

And neither the Czech nor Slovak people curse him for it.

The other think Havel did was to objectively look at the ruination and pollution the Soviets had inflicted on his once beautiful and forested nation, and ask, "How can we economically recover?"

His solution was to make the Czech nation a center of entertainment and media production, followed by repair and redevelopment and tourism.

It worked. Despite problems from their links with Europe, internally their economy has grown tremendously, and their long term plan is economic sustainability.

Havel, for whatever faults, will long be remembered as a poet and playwright who led his nation from darkness back into the light.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-12-18 11:08|| 2011-12-18 11:08|| Front Page Top

#2 I shed a few tears when I heard he had died.

A great man. The world is diminished with his passing.

Posted by Barbara 2011-12-18 12:49|| 2011-12-18 12:49|| Front Page Top

#3 It would be a great gesture if the Plastic People of the Universe and the Velvet Underground were to do a concert together in his honor.

Posted by Eric Jablow 2011-12-18 15:34|| 2011-12-18 15:34|| Front Page Top

#4 Well, they say deaths come in threes. Christopher Hitchens, Vaclav Havel, and .... Kim Jong-Il.

I wonder how Aric Bardwin and Hans Brix are taking that last one.

Posted by Eric Jablow 2011-12-18 22:16|| 2011-12-18 22:16|| Front Page Top

#5 TOPIX > NORTH KOREA SAYS ITS LEADER KIM JONG-IL HAS DIED, at age 69 from complications of heart disease + diabetes according to a "special broadcast" announced ala State TV.

STORY/ARTIC appears to be breaking as it was not mentioned in the MSM-Net [e.g. CNN, Fox] this Guam AM.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-12-18 22:29|| 2011-12-18 22:29|| Front Page Top

#6 Clearly the stress from the "gutsy decider's" vacation was too much. I credit Oblahblah

Posted by Frank G 2011-12-18 22:37|| 2011-12-18 22:37|| Front Page Top

23:56 Charles
23:56 trailing wife
23:53 Charles
23:52 JosephMendiola
23:50 trailing wife
23:42 trailing wife
23:39 trailing wife
23:35 Steven
23:33 badanov
23:33 trailing wife
23:26 CrazyFool
23:22 CrazyFool
23:21 gromky
23:20 Steven
23:18 Vortigern Hupoluse1541
23:09 Bill Clinton
23:08 Bill Clinton
23:05 Eric Jablow
23:04 Bill Clinton
23:04 JosephMendiola
23:02 Yosemite Sam
23:00 Steve White
22:59 tu3031
22:51 Barbara