If anger turns against refugees, terrorists will prevail

Terrorists attack the foundations of our freedom. They want us to be afraid, and, led by fear, change our own values that democratic societies are built upon.

Fear

TERRORISTS stole Europe’s sleep from Friday night to Saturday. They did it the way terrorists always do, feloniously hitting where it hurts the most. The attackers killed more than 120 people; Paris is bleeding and every European bleeds along with the French capital.

Ari Rath: How the best milker became a journalism legend

What do we fear most?

If we do not quell fear, it will befriend anger and eradicate our world.

Fico sacrificed Slovakia's position in the EU

PRIME Minister Robert Fico sacrificed Slovakia's position in the European Union for the sake of his pre-election campaign. 

Mausoleums

THE SHABBY buildings at border crossings remind us of times before Schengen. Even the worse times, when people might not have survived an attempt to cross state borders. 

Slovak senior citizens seldom experience golden years

SOME elderly people who aren’t actually all that old, are being left to die in a very undignified way. They are crammed into hospital wards which have bars on the windows, along with several other patients and left at the mercy of others.

Hope for the Visegrad region from the train station in Vienna

IT’S HARD to understand that the Visegrad countries, who still feel the pain of the long years of lacking freedom, now fail to apprehend the human desire for life in a free country.

Compassion is no complicated concept

EXPRESSIONS of humanity and compassion do not necessarily need great gestures; they can take the form of a pair of shoes given to a refugee. 

Kiska: My relationship with Fico is "constructive"

To mark the occasion of President Andrej Kiska’s one year in office, The Slovak Spectator brings an excerpt from the interview he gave to the daily Sme in April.

Referendum was not about helping families

Slovaks have rejected the controversial referendum which stirred negative emotions and divided the society from its very inception. 

Diplomats are awaiting referendum result

THE REFERENDUM that seeks to constitutionally define the concept of family is dividing Slovak society. Members of the foreign diplomatic community, who traditionally speak with distinct voice when it comes to protection of minority rights, closely follow the campaign as well as the public discourse preceding the February 7 vote.

Mental worlds of presidents

LOVE for one’s homeland is a powerful and edifying feeling, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in addressing his nation on the New Year. For him, this feeling manifests itself in what he calls “fraternal support” for the people of Crimea and Sevastopol after they “had firmly decided to return home”.

Mesežnikov: 2015 will be a pre-election year

THE ELECTION of Andrej Kiska as Slovakia’s president has marred plans for creating a softer version of a Putin-type regime, political analyst Grigorij Mesežnikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) think-tank said in an interview with the Sme daily and The Slovak Spectator.

Media ownership raises concerns

Big business made some consequential shopping decisions over 2014. Press freedom advocates and political ethics watchdogs expressed serious concern over the growing trend of large domestic media ownership.

Scandals

Scandals pertaining to the health care sector did not end with the dubious deal surrounding the dubious purchase of CT device. The Sme daily and Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) reviewed contracts of four large state hospitals in Trenčín, Banská Bystrica, Trnava and Poprad and found that they will pay external caterers nearly €81 million including VAT over the course of 10 years. After Sme ran the story, these overpriced catering contracts signed with mutually intertwined companies saw the heads of the state-owned hospitals forced out, along with the Health Ministry’s service office head Martin Senčák.

Referendum sparks rights discussions

Discussions about defining a family and LGBTI rights were the predominant human rights issues in 2014.

Judiciary gets new head

The single most significant change within the country’s judiciary over the past year is the failure of Štefan Harabin to get re-elected as the Supreme Court’s top chair. Supreme Court Judge Daniela Švecová replaced Harabin at the Supreme Court while another Supreme Court Judge Jana Bajánková, who failed in the first-round bid for Supreme Court head, now leads the Judicial Council.

Kiska’s election changes landscape

IVAN Gašparovič, the one-time right-hand man of controversial three-time prime minister Vladimír Mečiar, ended his decade-long tenure and was replaced by Andrej Kiska, the first-ever independent candidate with no previous political background – not to mention the first president who was not once a member of the Communist Party.