2018 Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture – Miracles in the Heart of Europe Posted on November 30, 2018 by Richard Marko “Despite the consequences of the World War I, despite all the growing pains of the young post-war Czechoslovakia Republic, despite all the indignities we suffered in World War II, despite the horrors of fascism and communism, despite the brutal normalization following the 1968 invasion, despite the difficulties of the transformation period after the Velvet Revolution, despite the dissolution of the common state and creation of independent Slovak and Czech Republic, despite all of that here we are today, the Slovaks and the Czechs, equal, fully-emancipated members of NATO, the EU, and of the entire developed international democratic society.” — Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda