Nightmares in ex-communist politics feature populist, racist and authoritarian parties. So Slovakia's new coalition government, consisting of all three, promised sweat-drenched nights for liberal-minded Slovaks and outsiders alike. But not all bad dreams come true. A prime bogeyman for outsiders and liberal-minded Slovaks is Jan Slota, the leader of the radical right-wing Slovak National Party. He is known for his intemperate remarks about the country's Roma (Gypsy) and Hungarian minorities. The former, he said, were a problem best ap- proached with a "long whip in a small yard". He once said he would like to flatten the Hungarian capital, Budapest, with a tank. His convivial lifestyle attracts attention too (he explained an anti-Hungarian remark by pleading drunkenness).
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