When Pope John Paul II paid his third visit to the Czech republic last weekend, President Havel welcomed him with the words " we will heed your advice Holy Father for we are in sore need of it".

The advice when it came was simple - the Pope urged Czechs to forsake their quest of the materialistic and open their hearts to spiritual values. Yet nothing appears to be harder for Czechs at present than to forsake their quest of the materialistic, Petr Holub of RESPEKT notes. Seven years after the fall of the communist regime Czechs have not yet had their fill of Western consumer lifestyle. At first Czechs furnished their homes with Western products as they came on the market new colour TVs, videos, dishwashers and computers and went on attractive holidays abroad. One coveted luxury quickly followed another and another. Making up for the lost years, Czechs went on a mass spending spree, opinion surveys revealed that when Czechs saved money it was almost always in view of buying something special, hardly ever as a safety net for the future. In the course of last year Czechs spent an astonishing 750 billion crowns on imported goods. It was 200 billion more than in the previous year.
At this point even the liberal Czech government, which suffered the growing trade deficit for so long, realized that something had to be done. It's "corrective" economics package has already put financial restrictions on imports and Premier Klaus has repeatedly urged Czechs to restrict spending and start saving. But can Czechs' insatiable appetite for Western goods possibly be curbed? Respekt notes that in Germany, Britain, Holland and Sweden an increasing number of people are becoming increasingly disinterested in the trappings of consumer lifestyle. These are people who want to get out of the rat race, who value time and space and a clean environment above 3 family cars and diamonds, the weekly says. The trend is especially discernable in Germany where a full two thirds of Western couples say they want more than two children - while those of the former East Germany want one. The situation is the same in this country where the birth rate has gone into a steep decline. Doubtless Czechs too will have their fill of the materialistic in due course of time, RESPEKT says, and change will come as a result of that experience, not before, no matter how well meaning the advice is or how respected the advisor. When we eventually wake up to the fact, we'll inevitably realize that in the process of cleaning out Western warehouses we've lost out on something far more precious, the author concludes.

The quote of the week in TYDEN magazine also brings home the message that we of the former post-communist block covet everything we had to do without. Top brass not exempted. Quote of the week goes to visiting Russian premier Viktor Cernomyrdin who gushed " Eto charoshaja mashina" after driving a brand new Tatra 700 model, priced at 1,5 millin crowns, around the block, while on a visit to the leading Czech car maker. It was promptly presented to him as a special gift.

As if to show that there is still hope for us MLADY SVET, features a true story which goes to prove that "money really can't buy everything". An elderly couple who own 26 hectars of meadowland located only 5 km from the city centre are besieged by realtors who want the plot. Apparently no power on earth will persuade them to part with the land - even though the offers have risen to a billion Czech crowns and the family is not at all well off. "The land means a lot more than the money. It belonged to our forefathers and will go to our children " Mrs. Blazkova told the weekly.
However the pressure has increased from both the realtors, the magistrate and neighbours all of whom want to entice business into that particular Prague suburb. So the couple are fighting a legal battle to turn the plot into a wildlife reservation -their only hope of holding out against the power of money.

Moving on - this week's PRAGUE POST has a story which "sounds like a B-grade science fiction film" but is in reality a major defense ministry headache. "Fuel gobbling bacteria paralyzes Czech army jets" reads the headline. As if the dilema over the modernization of the nation's fleet fighter jets weren't bad enough, defense ministry officials are now plagued by the fact that the fleet has been partially grounded by an outbreak of infinitesimal monsters living in the jets' fuel. According to Jiri Nekvasil, the army's chief of staff, the fuel-gobblers that clog fuel filters have to date infested some 600 tons of fuel, worth around 9 million crowns. He would not say what percentage that was of the fleet's annual fuel stock.

The tiny bacteria, which can be seen only under a microscope, look like a spilt jar of live jimmies, scurrying about the kitchen table. While the bacteria don't cause permanent damage to the planes by living inside the thin film of biological muck that lines the walls of jet fuel tanks they block the fuel's passage through the engine. Microbiologist Jan Kostal says the main task is to keep them from multiplying. "You must create conditions which they do not favour, otherwise their number will grow exponentially, since they multiply by dividing." Unfortunately, the Army's efforts so far have only made matters worse. Exterminators used the expired chemical poison Biocit, which was not strong enough to kill the bacteria and actually functioned as a vaccine. The bacteria got used to it and appear to have become immune. Kostal says the army still has a chance to save its gas. "The bacteria are only a physical addition and it is possible to filter them out" he claims. However the process would be costly -and the army is on a slashed budget. So what else can be done ? According to Kostal another possibility is to add other components to the fuel and use it as a gas for automobiles. Not an idea which is likely to go down well with Czech motorists...and if you let your imagination run away with you the possibilitites are endless....