Ľuba Lesná - author - page 16 - The Slovak Spectator

Fico finds common cause with Putin

IN THE WAKE of Prime Minister Robert Fico's recent visit to Moscow, political scientists and observers have been asking if the visit marks a radical change in the direction of Slovakia's foreign policy.

Ľuba Lesná

Anti-missile shield on agenda for Moscow visit

PRIME MINISTER Robert Fico and Foreign Minister Ján Kubiš planned to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the proposed American anti-missile shield in Europe during their one-day visit to Moscow on May 4. But they would be presenting vastly different views on the matter.

Ľuba Lesná

Majský gets 12-year sentence

THE SPECIAL Court has sentenced Jozef Majský, one of Slovakia's richest citizens, to 12 years in a high-security prison for planning and founding a criminal gang and for embezzling millions of crowns from two failed pyramid schemes, Horizont Slovakia and BMG Invest.

Ľuba Lesná

Observers: Veteška no challenge to Mečiar

WITH ABOUT A month to go before the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia's (HZDS) national party congress, observers aren't putting much stock in the candidacy of party vice-chairman Viliam Veteška - the second person ever to challenge Vladimír Mečiar for the top post during the party's 16-year history.

Ľuba Lesná

Tensions escalate between Prime Minister and media

THE RELATIONSHIP between the government and the Slovak media grew even more tense last week.At a meeting in Veľký Krtíš on April 22, Prime Minister Robert Fico did not even try to hide his disappointment with the media's conduct.

Ľuba Lesná

Who murdered Róbert Remiáš?

ELEVEN YEARS ago on April 29, Róbert Remiáš, a key figure in the Michal Kováč, Jr. kidnapping case, was killed, and the Slovak public still does not know who did it.Remiáš was the best friend of Oskar Fegyveres, the former Slovak secret police (SIS) officer who was the principal witness in the kidnapping of Kováč, son of the sitting president. Remiáš was killed in 1996 when his car exploded in the Bratislava suburb of Karlova Ves.

Ľuba Lesná

Original Široký files still exist

THE ORIGINAL communist secret police (ŠtB) file on controversial businessman Juraj Široký, which disappeared from the Nation's Memory Institute, is safe and

Ľuba Lesná

Still no written verdict in Cervanová case

THE DECIDING judge in the Ľudmila Cervanová murder case has been granted one final extension to the deadline to deliver a written verdict in the 30-year-old case.

Ľuba Lesná

Duray re-opens debate over Beneš decrees

THE NEW vice-chairman of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), Miklós Duray, says Slovak public officials should apologize to the Hungarian minority for the treatment they received in the post-war period of 1945 to 1948, and give financial compensation to any Hungarian citizens who were unjustly punished.

Ľuba Lesná

New headstone erected for fascist state head

Hundreds of people gathered at a Bratislava cemetery on April 18 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the execution of Jozef Tiso, and unveil a new headstone for the leader of the Second World War Slovak state.

Ľuba Lesná

Bratislava's pipe organ could be silenced

At a recent concert at St. Martin's Cathedral, Pavol Selecký, the conductor of the Slovak National Theatre played his own composition, the monumental Pápežská Hymna (Papal Anthem), on the cathedral's neo-gothic organ.

Ľuba Lesná

"...The question of autonomy loses its importance"

The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Why did the change in leadership of the SMK happen?Pál Csáky (PC): I think Béla Bugár felt too certain about his position and about the fact that I would not be a threat to him. He had already been undervaluing some aspects in the SMK for a long time

Ľuba Lesná

SMK changes leadership after nine years

DELEGATES AT the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK)'s March 31 congress surprised observers by electing vice-chairman Pál Csáky as the party's new leader.Béla Bugár, who had been chairman of the SMK since its founding in 1998, was thus demoted to a rank-and-filer.

Ľuba Lesná

'We need friends'

SHLOMO BREZNITZ was born in Bratislava in 1936. He survived the Holocaust thanks to the Order of Saint Vincent. Soon after the Second World War, he was exiled to Israel. He became a renowned expert on stress.

Ľuba Lesná

"It is the delegates' decision"

The Slovak Spectator (TSS): What is your reaction to the fact that you are no longer chairman?Béla Bugár (BB): It is the decision of the delegates and I accept it. Of course, it is also necessary to see the reasons why it happened.

Ľuba Lesná

Is the arms trade corrupt?

IN THE WAKE of the recent uproar over Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek's endorsement of using 'non-traditional business methods', Ivo Samson, an analyst with the Slovak Society for Foreign Politics think tank, told The Slovak Spectator that bribes, commissions and similar sweeteners are common in the arms trade.

Ľuba Lesná

Jahnátek will probably keep his job

ECONOMY MINISTER Ľubomír Jahnátek was slammed by critics and defended by supporters after he told a magazine the state should use bribery to secure arms deals.

Ľuba Lesná

Government under fire for political nominations

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's government has again come under fire for installing its own nominees to important positions in public administration and state-owned companies - in spite of the fact that before the last elections, Fico promised these positions would be given to independent experts.

Ľuba Lesná

Cervanová accused refused parole

ONE OF the men convicted in the 1976 murder of Ľudmila Cervanová will stay in jail, after the District Court in Trnava ruled it couldn't approve his parole request on March 20.

Ľuba Lesná

Police still silent on Rehák blackmail case

Slovak police have kept silent for many months now about the investigation into the blackmail allegedly committed by famous Slovak businessman Ladislav Rehák and influential lawyer and former president of the Czechoslovak Constitutional Court, Ernest Valko.

Ľuba Lesná

List of author's articles, page 16