Irresponsible war enthusiasts from Prague… Professor Krejčí explains what Řehko’s plans entail
If there were to be a war between NATO and Russia on the eastern flank of the Alliance, a professional army would not be enough and the state would have to resort to at least selective mobilization, warned Chief of the General Staff Karel Řehka. According to him, the war in Ukraine showed that it is necessary to defend the whole society, not just the army. These words caused an uproar, what about you Professor?
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Mr. General is right: given the potential of the Russian Federation, the current state of the Army of the Czech Republic (AČR) would not be enough. Slogans like “Everything for the front” would appear again, they are not talking about the fact that the Czechia would not represent a distant rear for weapons, but a deeper front.
There is, of course, a problem: official information shows that the ACR warehouses are not overflowing with heavy weapons. The mobilized would just receive infantry weapons, i.e. equipment for guard duty – or they would become fodder for the enemy’s weapons as infantry on the front line.
General Řehka’s words must therefore be taken as a serious warning. It is necessary to do everything to end the fighting in Ukraine and to limit as much as possible the possibilities of non-uniformed and uniformed war supporters in Czech politics.
Lubomír Zaorálek also responded to ParlamentníListy.cz, who finds it very unfortunate that the army is led today by those who led it to where it is today. “They’ve been blindly building expeditionary forces instead of focusing on territorial defense. Now they have what they worked for,” said Zaorálek. Were we more territorial in defense?
We should have been more active in peace diplomacy. In this geopolitical cycle, no one threatens our territory, not even the Russian Federation. We are at the level of Austria, which does not show as much hysteria between politicians and journalists as the Czechia. On the other hand, the defense of the territory against the great powers… We have never stood our ground in history. The Czechia is a country that is primarily supposed to build an integrated rescue system.
Other politicians point out that we are talking about something that will not happen, and if it does, it will concern active reserves, that is, trained civilians. At the moment, it is said to be more of a pre-election move directed against one of the candidates. What do you think about it?
The fact that the issue of peace emerged as an important topic only in the second round of the presidential election shows the immaturity of both candidates. They don’t talk about passers from election teams.
To sum it up. Prime Minister Fiala declared that we are at war. Minister Černochová is drumming up the attack day and night. We train Ukrainian soldiers on our territory. We are sending more and more supplies of weapons to Ukraine. Chief of the General Staff Řehka talks about mobilization. And we will have a general at the Castle. But when someone talks about war, it’s scary on the one hand. How to take it all over?
The Czechia will go to war if NATO – i.e. Washington – decides to do so; military alliances have commanders. The same is true the other way around – when NATO comes to the opinion that it is necessary to stop arming Ukraine and make concessions, the Czechia will adapt. There is no difference between the presidential candidates.
The United States of America has approved another package of military equipment and equipment worth 55 billion crowns. The European Union has approved an additional 500 million euros in aid to Ukraine in this regard. In addition, on Wednesday, Germany decided to issue permission for Leopard 2 tanks to go to Ukraine. What to say about that?
The delivery of German, American and British heavy tanks is another escalation, that is, a political decision to continue the war at a higher level. So far, there is talk of approximately two hundred of these tanks. This would mean the creation of ten or fifteen new tank brigades. Sometime in May. Then there are problems with the service, especially with the repair service, for too many types of weapons.
The successes of the Ukrainian army in the area of Kharkiv and Kherson come at a time when the front was approximately 1,200 kilometers long and the Russian side had approximately 150,000 soldiers. At that time, small, fast Ukrainian units penetrated the rear from the Russian side in sparsely populated fronts and were reinforced in case of success. Today, the front is a little over eight kilometers long, and the Russians have approximately twice as many soldiers on it as there were four years ago. Tactics are changing.
Look at the nature of the fights. Who is missing compared to WWII combat? There are no navies to be seen, no airborne troops and deep tank breakthroughs are used. The reason is simple, two reasons to be exact. The quality of anti-tank and anti-ship weapons, both for infantry and artillery, tactical missiles, aircraft and helicopters, has increased significantly. And secondly, the preparation of ships, landing forces and tank assembly areas are well visible from satellites and small drones.
It does not seem that the promised supply of tanks to Ukraine could fundamentally change the situation. According to current information from the American server The GlobalFirepower.com, Russia currently has approximately 600,000 more soldiers in arms than Ukraine, 10,500 more tanks than Ukraine, almost 115,000 more armored vehicles, 500 more attack helicopters… On the side of the Ukrainian army is the terrain, a defense built in depth and allies in NATO. Fighting can escalate further even without the use of nuclear weapons. The irresponsible war enthusiasts from Prague should not forget about them – Russia has almost six thousand nuclear warheads. This does not compensate for any mobilization, not even within the entire North Atlantic Alliance.
There are also opinions that neither Pavel nor Babiš can drag us into the war, when the Czech Republic already participates in anti-Russian sanctions, sends weapons to Ukraine and trains Ukrainian soldiers on our territory. We really have been at war for a long time. How to root it?
There is still a qualitative difference between material aid and the deployment of one’s own troops. A very dangerous difference.
The campaign says that a “new totality” is imminent. How do you perceive it similarly?
In Western liberal democracies, chaos and a sharp split on the opposite side are increasing. With this, the dangerous effort to look for a simple solution in the form of various muzzle laws and the criminalization of political critics is naturally growing stronger. In addition, the decline in the quality of the ruling elites brings it closer to what is called the “new authoritarianism”. Being seen in military uniform during the crisis also shows the shift of a significant part of the public in this direction.
Presidential candidate Andrej Babiš canceled the contact campaign due to death threats. This has probably never happened before in history. What to say about that? How is that even possible? Huge hatred was visible at the rallies.
That’s what we talked about. Personally, I believe that in the event of Andrej Babiš’s victory, the Czechia would head for a color revolution. Jan Werich would probably say that today’s emotions are more than majesty.
What will the election decide? International issues, or economic and social?
Definitely a long-term media massage, which has split society in such a way that almost no one listens to arguments anymore. The result of the election was given many months in advance, the only question was who would compete against Babiš in the second round. Here is perhaps the only surprise of the election – the repeated failure of academic functionaries in a political campaign.
A lot of insults were directed at the “burans” from the countryside who voted for Babiš. It is said that General Pavel will remain silent for now, but then he will deal with the countryside. First of all, the people of Prague complain about the “forkheads” who spoiled Pavlov’s victory in the first round. What do you think?
Every new president knows immediately after his election that he wants to be president by everyone – that is, even by those who did not vote for him. There will be no revenge, I will think about the next election. And he will have many worries, very many worries, about cultivating the image of a caring father in difficult times.
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author: Daniela Black