Czechs Annex Královec

I had a trip planned to visit Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania, as part of my "20 countries in 2020" but the trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 shutting down the world.

It used to be called Königsberg.  The city was founded in 1255 and it was named in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia.  Königsberg was a part of Germany but after WWII it was taken by the Soviet Union, renamed Kaliningrad, and today is home to Russia's Baltic fleet. 

Here's a short 4-minute video of how Kaliningrad an exclave of Russia.

©History Matters

On 30 September, Russia declared that following a referendum that it annexed four Ukrainian oblasts - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.  Aside from North Korea and Syria, no other country in the world recognises the illegal annexation of about 15% of Ukraine.  This is now the largest of land in Europe since WWII.

Well aside from the 4 billion Kč ($186.5 million) of military arms and equipment that the Czech government has given Ukraine, the Czechs have unleashed one of its more powerful weapons - the Czech sense of humour.

There's now a whole satirical campaign on social media that Czechland has now annexed Kaliningrad and renamed it Královec.  There are all kinds of memes out now about "Královec is Czechia" and "Make Královec Czech Again".

There's a satrical tourist website for visiting Královec and there's a twitter account. 

A few days ago some 200 people staged a mock referendum in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague.  This is even better now that thanks to Prague's mayor, Zdeněk Hřib, the square in front of the embassy is now Boris Nemcov Square which commemorates the outspoken Putin critic that was assassinated in 2015.

You've just got to love the Czech sense of humour.  One of my favourite memes shows the critical infrastructure work going on as Czechland supplies beer to Královec via "Beer Stream 1".

#Kralovec #KralovecIsCzechia #MakeKaliningradKralovecAgain

If only Czechland would take over Královec.  Then at least the country would no longer be landlocked.  Sitting on the Baltic Sea, there would now be water and beaches and the Czech military could now even have a navy.   

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine.