Pres. Petr Pavel opened his speech at the Castle last night on the occasion of the Oct. 28 state holiday by saying that it is a gift for those in the independent Czech Republic to have a country of their own and a gift that, unlike many other parts of the world, we live in the longest period of freedom, security, peace and economic prosperity in history. But we must not look hard or far, he said, to find examples of aggressive violations of international law. That was the closest he came to alluding to the war in Ukraine. In his own brief speech yesterday in announcing the continuation of the Spolu coalition in next year's parliamentary elections, PM Petr Fiala made no mention of the war with Russia. TOP 09 Chair Markéta Pekarová Ada­mová spoke only about the need to strive on a daily basis to provide a secure environment for the people, esp. in light of the security issues that exist not far from here. For a moment at least, top Czech politicians decided to assure voters that their country is not at war.