TransAtlantic Perspectives, Vol. I (March 2002)

The view from the Czech Republic, Seth Capron

The Status of Radio Free Europe weighs heavily on Czech-American Relations

Of all the relationships cultivated between post-communist East-Central Europe and the west in the decade since the fall of the Soviet empire, few have been as fruitful as that between the United States and the Czech Republic.  Now the war on terrorism and the American campaign to avenge the September 11 terrorist attacks have come to bear on this relationship and on the Czech capital city of Prague.  Not only have intelligence agencies in both countries exposed Prague as a major crossroad in Osama bin Laden’s al-Queda terrorist network, but the consequences of this discovery have placed a major strain on the relationship between these two friendly countries. In an ironic turn of events, American and Czech disagreement has centered on the issue of Radio Free Europe, once a symbol of American containment policies. 

Radio Free Europe
Just thirteen years ago America was waging a different war than the present war on communism and at that time the Soviet Union and its regime in Czechoslovakia was considered the enemy.  As part of their Cold War campaign, the Americans initiated a radio broadcasting operation known as Radio Free Europe (RFE), to broadcast news and entertainment from the west into the Soviet empire.  The station began operating from its headquarter in Munich in 1951 as a non-profit organization, funded by the American congress. Throughout the Cold War, anyone living behind the iron curtain who had a radio could—illegally—tune in to RFE.  To be sure, the organization drew the ire of authoritarian leaders in communist states, who attempted to clamp down on listeners and disrupt broadcasts.  While extensive secret police networks informed on listeners, states invested extravagant amounts of money on technology (that  was never fully effective) to jam signals coming from Munich.  The station was even the target of a 1981 bombing attack, allegedly funded by Romanian strongman Nicolae Caeusescu.

Even in the face of state-led opposition, RFE continued with its mission to penetrate the airwaves behind the iron curtain until that curtain no longer existed.  When revolution began to sweep across East-Central Europe, RFE’s mission changed along with the global political environment.  No longer was the mission one of confrontation, but one of potential cooperation, and RFE continued to provide news and entertainment from an American perspective, to a region now in the midst of democratization.
 
America and Post-Communist Czech Republic
The early 1990s also saw progress in American-Czech relations.  As the relationship evolved through the 1990s it took on a very personal nature.  This personal relationship was exemplified by the rapport of the respective leaders of each country—especially Czech President Vaclav Havel, President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.  Vaclav Havel and Bill Clinton were like-minded men of similar age who had a great affinity for one another.  Madeleine Albright shared in this mutual admiration but, as a Czech national born in Czechoslovakia, she also garnered widespread admiration from the Czech people.

The association was extremely friendly in nature.  Vaclav Havel enjoyed private rock concerts at the White House, President Clinton played his saxophone in a local jazz bar in Prague. Madeleine Albright stopped by the city from time to time, prompting rumors that she would perhaps be in line to replace Havel as President when his term ran out.  All of this amiability was of course conducive to profitable relations between the Czech and American business sectors.  American investments were welcomed in the new market economy, and as the Czech economy grew, both Americans and Czechs profited.

Radio Free Europe in Prague
It was in this atmosphere of camaraderie that President Vaclav Havel proposed to the Americans that RFE transfer its base of operations from Munich to Prague.  In 1995 the Czech government officially invited RFE to make the move, offering it the former communist parliament building located directly behind the National Museum in downtown Prague.  A symbolic lease of one crown per day (equal to approximately three cents) was offered for the large glass building.

When the U.S. decided to accept the offer, many Czechs welcomed the move as a big accomplishment for the new democracy.  Apart from its symbolic value for a state that had been mired in authoritarianism and external oppression for so long, RFE was important to both Prague and the Czech Republic for structural reasons as well.  Ivo Slovacek, Professor of Political Science and International Law at Charles University in Prague explains, “As a people who for so many years had been on the receiving end of democratic outreach, it is very important for the democratization process within the Czech Republic to now be the provider or initiator of a democratic dialogue….  From a structural standpoint, Radio Free Europe is important to Prague in that it provides a concentration of top-flight and diverse journalists, as well as good competition for Czech media.”
 
While RFE has continued to thrive in Prague—beginning a new broadcasting campaign to Iran and Iraq in 1998—American-Czech relations have slightly cooled.  With the regime change in Washington, it has become apparent just how much individual personalities had shaped the relationship in the previous decade.  Furthermore, the first eight months of the Bush presidency saw a shift to a policy agenda focused less on foreign policy than the previous administration’s.  This step back on the part of the Americans was certainly felt in the Czech Republic, as well as in other small states who, from the perspectives of the Americans, were on the periphery of international politics.

September 11, of course, changed all of this.  A Washington that had, before 9/11 seemed isolationist and introspective, quickly began to look outward, and turned to all corners of the world, building a coalition to fight terrorism. This battle also involved tracing and unearthing the extensive terrorist network that had seemingly infiltrated much of the globe.  This unraveling eventually led to Prague, where a September 11 hijacker—Mohamed Atta—had met with a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat the previous spring.  The Americans’ attention quickly focused on Prague and possible links between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.  (see “The Prague Connection” for further details).

At the time, Czech intelligence was already shadowing the Iraqi diplomat, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, for suspicious activities.  But in April of 2001, just weeks after his meeting with Mohamed Atta, al-Ani was expelled from the Czech Republic after he was caught taking photos of the RFE building.  Czech intelligence now believes that a al-Ani may have been casing the building as part of a planned attack on it. 

Concrete evidence for such an attack has not surfaced, but the very possibility has placed  Prague on high-alert.  Currently four armored personnel carriers are stationed in front of RFE headquarters, along with paratroopers and concrete barriers. These safety measures have blocked off a major city artery.  Fearing an attack, some Czech officials have demanded that the RFE building be moved outside of Prague.  The idea is gaining supporters in the Czech Republic, but it is not one that has been well received by the American administration of RFE or the American government.

Radio Free Europe’s Dilemma
Chamber of Deputies Chairman Václav Klaus was the first to call for a removal of FRE headquarters from downtown Prague, but his demand has since been backed by Prime Minister Miloš Zeman.  Even President Václav Havel, instrumental in bringing RFE to Prague, and initially opposed to a move, has changed his stance.  The Czech government is currently investigating possible relocation sites just outside of Prague and say that such a move would fall within their initial agreement that brought RFE to the city in 1995.
 However, in a January 9 Prague Post interview, RFE president Thomas Dine said a forced relocation would amount to just that—a reneging on the Czech government’s initial deal with the organization.  In the article, Dine says that the Czech government knew the security risks RFE would bring to the city and he alleges that calls for a move are politically motivated, with parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic scheduled for this June.  He also said that he has never seen any credible evidence to suggest that RFE is a terrorist target, and he believes that if it were, relocation would be a victory for those terrorists.  Dine concluded his comments by suggesting that he was not inclined to moving to another site within the Czech Republic, and mentioned that both Tallinn, Estonia and Budapest, Hungary were being considered as possible relocation sites should the Czech government force a move.

In a January 16 Prague Post article, Czech officials fired back at Dine’s comments, saying that they are now determined to move RFE headquarters for security reasons.  They also noted that it was, in the end, no one’s decision but the Czech government’s on where RFE operates in their country.  This has prompted RFE officials to tone down their stance vis-à-vis the Czech government, and they are now negotiating a move outside the city.  While the mayor of Budapest has, in the past weeks, offered an invitation to RFE to relocate to the Hungarian capital city, RFE officials, while not ruling out such a move, say that they would now prefer to work out a deal with the Czech government.

While a compromise is likely to be reached in this dispute, the implications of it on American-Czech relations are not so clear.  The general feeling throughout the Czech Republic is that relations are getting worse.  Professor Slovacek notes, “During the 1990s the Czechs were very positive about their cooperation with America, especially as it related to the democratization process.  Today, the relationship has not only become more formal in manner, but it seems as if the Americans are becoming more distant.”  

The Czech mood also seems to be indicative of an more general European attitude.  The world post-September 11 is undoubtedly a different place, and the American approach to international politics is changing accordingly.  As the Americans increasingly opt for unilateral relations and policies, those states who once felt very much like partners in a global partnership of states—like the Czech Republic—are wondering what will become of the global balance of power.  The concern is that the U.S. is abandoning the international political framework that had been built in the last half century, to pursue their own evolving interests.  The result is a string of strained relationships that seemed strong just a decade ago.  Few, at least, seemed stronger than that between the U.S. and the Czech Republic.  Today, the future of that relationship is not so certain.  The current RFE debate seems in many ways symbolic of the decline.