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Former president Václav Havel has joined around 20 colleagues from Central and Eastern Europe in writing an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, appealing to him not to abandon the region in the interest of forming better relations with Russia. In the letter, published on Thursday, they urge Mr Obama to boost American involvement in Europe’s security and resist Russia’s “creeping intimidation”.

If you tune in to Czech Radio on New Year’s Day, at some point you will hear the stirring tones of the presidential fanfare, introducing the president’s annual address to the nation. It was Czechoslovakia’s first head of state, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who established the tradition, when he spoke to listeners on the Czechoslovakia’s tenth birthday in 1928. Here is a short extract from his address, which also happens to be one the oldest recordings in our archives:

In June 1989, a group of people around the dissident and future president, Václav Havel, put together a petition to the communist authorities asking them to stop oppressing freedom in the country. Over five months, more than 40,000 Czechs and Slovaks signed the Několik vět petition, fuelling the demise of communism in Czechoslovakia.

Playwright and former Czech president Václav Havel is going to direct a film based on his latest play “Leaving”, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Tuesday. Producers of the planned movie said it took Mr Havel a long time to decide, but that he had a “very clear idea” of what the film should be like. Mr Havel also stopped a TV production of a theatre performance of his play as it would jeopardize the interests of the film producers. The production of the film should start next year, and Mr Havel’s wife, the actress Dagmar Havlová, is set to land one of the leading roles.

The former Czech president and dissident Vaclav Havel said on Sunday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the Iranian presidential elections was cause for grave concern. In a statement for the ctk news agency, Mr. Havel said that the combination of modern technology and fanaticism was extremely dangerous. “We all know Mr. Ahmadinejad's statements. They are very dangerous and should lead us to greater vigilance and a deeper, more profound reflection about our civilization, its direction, the potential risks and the power of human obsession. Because what is coming out of Iran now has nothing to do with religion or patriotism, it is pure fanaticism,” Havel said.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, it heralded a revolution in Soviet-American relations. At a series of high-profile summits, beginning in Geneva in 1985, a growing personal trust developed between the Soviet and American leaders. Here is President Reagan – from the Czech Radio archives - in Moscow on June 1 1988:

The leaders of all the parties in the Czech Parliament and both houses, all members of the government, Ombudsman Otakar Motejl and former president Václav Havel have signed a statement pledging to take a common stand against growing extremism and racism in the Czech Republic. The statement, which was presented by party leaders and Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb, criticised the promotion of extremism, discrimination and racial, ethnic or social segregation.

Leaders from around the continent gathered in Krakow on Thursday to mark 20 years since Poland’s first partly free elections which swept the anti-communist movement Solidarnosc to power. In a speech to the crowds at Wawel Castle, former Czech dissident turned president Václav Havel said the elections paved the way for the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile back in Prague, the Polish Institute kicked off a series of events to commemorate the landmark vote, and all that ensued. Maciej Ruczaj from the institute told me about some of the

The former president Václav Havel has said he is disturbed at what he called the increasingly coarse nature of Czech politics, something he believes will only widen the gap between people and their politicians. Just as Mr Havel was speaking another rowdy election meeting got underway in Brno, with punches thrown at young protestors trying to disrupt a Social Democrat rally.

Mr Paroubek on Tuesday also objected to remarks made by former president Václav Havel regarding the automobile manufacturer Škoda Auto. Speaking of the dangers of overproduction on Monday, Mr Havel said he thought it “monstrous” to expect the auto industry to make more cars for the sake of unemployment, and compared the idea to requiring concentration camps solely for the employment of guards and jailers. The Social Democrats on Tuesday asked that Mr Havel apologize to the workers of the Škoda factory, to which the ex-president’s office replied only that there would be no comment for the time being.