On September 30th, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty will air its last broadcast in Czech. RFE was one of the main sources of accurate information and news during the dark days of communist tyrrany. Although my first reaction was one of wistfulness, this actually is good news. It means that the Czech Republic has become sufficienty free and democratic that it no longer needs Radio Free Europe; in effect all broadcasters in the Czech Republic now have RFE's DNA in them. As as matter of fact, RFE broadcasts were transmitted from facilities and frequencies of a domestic Czech broadcaster. The demise of RFE in this way is a wonderful success.

According to Thomas Dine, who's in charge of RFE, the money is needed for broadcasts to those blighted regions of the world where a free press is an abstract concept. Still, many Czechs did make an all-out lobbying effort in the US to maintain the funding of $650,000 for the Czech broadcasts of RFE, but to no avail. It does seem as though RFE can continue to broadcast in other languages from the Czech Republic. I understand the nostalgia, but how much better is it to be on the frontline of spreading freedom to other nations!

May many other broadcasts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty be discontinued under these circumstances.