I don’t know why a future prime minister couldn’t be Ukrainian, since by the same logic, anyone from anywhere in Ukraine can be a prime minister.
Something similarly absurd can be seen in the economy. Likely perhaps also because of the previous government, the Czech economy today should be showing rapid growth. Yet Czechs elect people who have pushed the economy back to a state from before this growth—the very growth that was being discussed in the media not long ago.
The truth, however, is that this so-called “rapid growth” seems to exists mainly on paper. In real life, it is clear that something changed in Czechia starting in the winter of 2023. Economic models made this visible. Interestingly, this happened shortly after I began pointing out, in 2023, a specific post-pandemic condition in Czechia that was not common anywhere from Germany to Western Europe. After the pandemic, the downturn in Czechia was rather preserved—or even deepened. And this happened several months before the war, and during that period as well.
The post-pandemic period may have indicated that keeping something “down” was not accidental. This state lasted until the winter of 2023. Such an almost two-year condition after the pandemic did not exist anywhere in the more western parts of Europe. The population seemingly did not realize its situation for a long time when compared to the reality of Western Europe—apparently perceiving this state, one of the worst economic downturns in Europe, ?as their “normal condition.”? The positive thing is that the states were exposed, and therefore can no longer function as they were supposed to. In the Central Europe, I noticed a change only toward the end of 2023, which is also shown by economic models. It seems that some people began to speak up who want to hear the truth, a certain groups of people with certain values. Prague itself looks like that because of the result of election. However, this concerns only certain parts of society and certainly does not correspond to what the paper statistics show.
I have said before that a weak economy can show a certain level of growth without actually becoming stronger. Quite the opposite—when compared to strong economies that, for example, do not need any dramatic growth in a given period or do not currently have it, it becomes even clearer that this growth is purely statistical. Rankings themselves are misleading in this respect. In the end, growth stops again at a “dead point” that wealthy countries overcame many years ago, often decades ago. It stops because the economy is not set up in a way that would allow it to reach that level and catch up with those that overcame a dead point long ago—or never had one at all.
This is clearly visible in Czechia: the results of growth are reflected only among a certain segment of people. Mostly among those who gravitate toward a particular lifestyle and are able to stick to their values—both for better and for worse.
I have been observing this development for roughly the past ten years. The pandemic deepened it further. Meanwhile, in the more western parts of Europe, in 2022 I barely noticed that there had been a pandemic at all—“despite” much stricter measures. Likely due to politics and general mentality, these countries were able to get back on their feet relatively quickly after the pandemic.
Perhaps also under the previous government in Czechia, some things did move slightly, but the reality of Czechia remains ironic. Society is often illuminated mainly by high school students or students or by a certain group of people who hold certain values. Without them, society is often frightening. In comparison to this Czech reality, the West then appears as a gold standard.
