🚀 go-pugleaf

SHERIDAN HOUGHTEN wrote:
> 
> Gilles Gour writes:
> >I think that you focus to much on the bloodyest civil wars and not
> >enough on the democratic separation. The closest , the
> >Tchecoslovaquia, may be you will say than this one was not done by
> >referendum, but it was done peacefuly because the logic of
> >incompatibility between the two peoples was understand by both of
> >them.
> 
> Hmm, interesting. Have you ever spoken to anybody from Slovakia?
> From the Czech republic? Since I know more about the Slovak feelings
> than the Czech ones, I'll just say that the *large majority* of
> Slovaks were very upset at the split with the Czechs. Furthermore,
> their economy suffered to a terrible extent (and it was in pretty
> terrible shape before that).
> 
> Just thought you might like to know.
> 
> - Sheridan.

Not that I read this newsgroup often, nor would I normally comment on
this topic, (separation etc...) as the futility of it usuallu just
frustrates. However, this particular subject (the separation of
Czechoslovakia) is a personally relevant one. I spent last summer in the
Czech Republic, and my wife is Czech born (or rather Czhechoslovakian
born, but in Prague, which is Czech). The overwhelming opinion I heard,
from both Czechs and Slovaks (family and otherwise), was that the
decision to separate was one that was rammed down the throats of the
population by the politicians. There was never any referendum on the
matter, for one thing, and what polls there were showed that there was
only a minority who wanted the separation, though it was stronger on the
side of the Slovaks than the Czechs.

What might be a good thing to consider is that this separation was
accomplished by politicians pushing it past an unwilling (for the most
part populace) and that after the separation, while the czech Republic
has been doing wonderfully well (as the larger and wealthier of the
two), while Slovakia has been experiencing worse economic hardships than
ever before.

Just a thought.

Arnon