RIP Vaclav Havel
The BBC has reported the passing of Vaclav Havel and included a short obituary.
While he was primary a writer, playwright, and director, the world knows him best as the first democratically elected leader of Czechoslovakia since the 1930s, and then the Czech Republic, after the country split on ethnic lines.
While he was, perhaps, the leading Czech dissident, he was a very reluctant candidate, and actively disliked the pomp of being the leader of his country. He was the best kind of candidate, one who didn’t really want the job.
His works fall into the absurdist genre and don’t translate readily. The bulk of them are political satire aimed at the Communist rulers of Czechoslovakia, who were finally ousted by the non-violent Velvet Revolution.
He made a difference.
December 18, 2011 2 Comments
About Time
“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.” Mark Twain
The BBC is reporting that Kim Jong-il, the highly erratic leader of North Korea, has died. His designated successor, Kim Jong-un, is his third son and believed to be in his 20s. The process of making the son the successor was not complete, so there is apt to be internal problems in North Korea, which usually means that they will do something stupid to take people’s minds off of it.
December 18, 2011 16 Comments
