Overnight,
on August 20-21, 1968, the combined forces of five Warsaw Pact countries, led
by the USSR, invaded Czechoslovakia and overthrew the reforming government of
Alexander Dubcek.
But there was growing disapproval of
Dubcek’s reforms, not only from other Warsaw Pact governments but also from
hardline Communist elements within Czechoslovakia. The end came when a visit
from President Tito of Yugoslavia – a country not in the Warsaw Pact – fuelled
rumours that Dubcek intended to take Czechoslovakia out of the Warsaw Pact. A
few days later, tanks rolled through the streets of Prague.
The “Prague Spring” was crushed. Over 100
civilians were killed, and Dubcek and his allies were arrested. Within days of
the invasion, a “protocol” was issued which banned all parties and
organisations which “violated socialist principles”. The USSR put in place a
puppet government, led by Gustav Husak, which overturned Dubcek’s reforms and
ended free speech in Czechoslovakia for a generation. Indeed, it ended it
throughout the Warsaw Pact. There was no further overt opposition to Soviet
dominance until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Fast forward nearly half a century, to
January 2015. The people of Greece joyfully elected a Left government that
promised them an end to austerity and freedom from the debt burden that is
crushing their economy. And to start with, things looked good.
Yanis Varoufakis, the charismatic new
Finance Minister, embarked on a whirlwind tour of EU states to drum up support
for his new approach. Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, observed that the
members of the Greek government were “competent, intelligent and had thought
about their issues”, and should be taken seriously. And although the European
Commission was not exactly happy about the idea of changing the 2012 Memorandum
of Understanding, it was - at least at first - apparently prepared to negotiate
a coherent and realistic alternative.
Πηγή: forbes.com
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