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Two Thumbs Up. By some strange coincidence, or some tricky luck, or some googlish pressure, the hole on the Princes Highway which was mentioned yesterday morning by MEdia Dragon was (con)sealed last night by some unknown working party . Better late than never ...

Elections are due soon in the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq and Indonesia. Democracy, the creation of the Greeks, remains the least bad political system. But it has to work properly: it must remain accountable to ordinary people and not suborn power.
- José Saramago

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Exploding the myth of Prague Spring
The 1968 reform movement never denounced communism, so were freedom and democracy ever really on the table?
When people today watch the dramatic footage of Prague streets in August 1968, filled with crowds gathering around the Soviet tanks trying to explain to the puzzled soldiers that there must have been some kind of a terrible misunderstanding, they are often overcome by emotion. That emotion is an understandable response to a classical example of the clash between good and evil, between the peaceful crowds and the heavily armed occupants. This response, however, might be an obstacle to deeper, more rational analysis of the true nature and hypothetical prospects of the "Resurgent Process," as the Prague Spring was called in the contemporary functionaries' newspeak. The fundamental question is: Was the hope of the Prague Spring really a hope for democracy, and was it ever likely to be fulfilled?
They started a dangerous game and they lost. The situation both at home and abroad got out of their control, which was the end of the "Resurgent Process" and the beginning of yet another character test for the country's long-suffering inhabitants. The 1970s was a period of extreme frustration and despair; the consequences are still present today. This time, however, it was not the Germans, as in World War II, or the Soviets, as in 1968, but the Czechs and Slovaks themselves who oppressed their fellow citizens.
• Prague Spring Myth 1968 [ Fine Line Between Myth & Reality Sydney Spring Myth 2008 vision of good governance and the role of the state]
• · Carr Blowing up the village to save the villagers Contempt charge hangs over Carr; [Sydney is Just a Village; Carr's angry words spark commission showdown; I'll take a lie test, but only when they work: Premier; I'm not guilty - but my brain is]
• · · Spidla's dreams of Sweden Vladimir Spidla told me he wanted the Czech Republic to be like Sweden
• · · · Roberto Buonamano (UT-Sydney in PDF version): Humanity and Inhumanity: State Power and the Force of Law in the Prescription of Juridical Norms
• · · · · USA We Have How Many Troops in Europe?
• · · · · · · Jose Saramago Reinventing democracy; [EVERY day we spend $2.2bn on killing each other: Superducks and underducks]