Today is June 26th, and this date reminds us of certain anniversaries.
On June 26, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was signed in San Francisco, formally establishing the United Nations Organization. Thus were laid - God knows how many times - the foundations of a new world order. The victors of the world war established new rules, embodying their dominant influence in the world into international law.
However, the new international treaty did not guarantee peace. The world's conflicts continued. In the twentieth century, the world divided into two opposing camps, between two competing superpowers - the USA and the USSR. The past century was a century of wars and border revisions.
Symbolically, the division of the world was demonstrated by the partition of Germany into the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The capital city of Berlin was divided. On June 26, 1948, the first flight of the Berlin Airlift to West Berlin took place, through which the free world ensured the survival of the inhabitants of the wall-encircled West Berlin.
After 1989, Europe was reunited. On September 12, 1990, the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed in Moscow, on the basis of which the withdrawal of Soviet troops began first from Germany and then from our territory. On June 26, 1991, Army General Eduard Vorobyov, the last Soviet soldier, departed from Czechoslovak territory.
On November 21, 1990, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe was signed in Paris, a document intended to establish once again a new order in Europe after the end of the Cold War, based on democracy, human rights, and cooperation between states. On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, disappearing from the world map as one of the key signatories of the Charter of Paris.
At that time, the European political elite, drawing from the Charter of Paris, succumbed to the illusion that the liberal democratic model would become universal, which did not occur. Our model of governance is not acceptable to many states, including such great powers as Russia or China.
The war in Ukraine and in the Middle East serves as an argument for creating yet another new world order. It confirms that world stability cannot and must not stem solely from established preconceptions or the victor's perspective, but must take into account the interests of all parties to the conflict, because peace and post-conflict arrangements cannot be imposed or dictated.
This is the challenge for you, the new generation. One cannot remain fixed in a single schema, proceed from one scenario, or exclude certain actors from the game, because the world in its development will be highly variable. It is necessary to understand interests and circumstances. Only educated, talented, courageous people of firm character can determine the direction of development.
Both qualities we have mutually instilled in each other during your studies. We must understand our surroundings, others, and ourselves. We need to have the courage to go our own way, because only a courageous person can change the will of the majority. Such should be the profile of you, graduates of CEVRO University.
Cyril Svoboda
