iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 11h

The company that taught the world to wear shoes is about to stop making them in Europe. At its height, Baťa made tyres, planes, bicycles and gas masks - and built entire towns. Read the story of the company that controlled (almost) everything. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/the-everyt...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Neville Chamberlain’s airline ticket for his flight to Munich, 29 Sep 1938. The agreement was signed in the early hours of the following morning. On Friday, I’ll deconstruct the most enduring myths about Munich - with two leading historians of the period. 👇 basedinbohemia.com

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Today is St Wenceslas Day. The legend says anyone who wears the Crown of St Wenceslas without the right to do so will die within a year. Another legend says Reinhard Heydrich placed the crown on his head in Nov 1941. Seven months later he was dead. www.basedinbohemia.com/p/anthropoid

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Fico says he wants peace. He doesn't want Slovakia dragged into a war “because of some Article 5.” FAZ reports Russia's GRU was likely behind the Munich arson attack. One GRU group operated from Slovakia. Peace is one thing. Keeping it is another. 👇 basedinbohemia.com/p/peace-out-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“Can you imagine being told: ‘Prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers,’ and off they go to fight somewhere, when we don’t even know whom they’re fighting, or why, or what for?” Uh. Because Slovakia's in NATO and an adversary had attacked a NATO country? basedinbohemia.com/p/peace-out-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Peace, Fico and punching bullies in the face. On fear, deterrence and what NATO’s Article 5 actually means. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/peace-out-...

basedinbohemia.com

Peace out, man

The Slovak prime minister’s comments on NATO were naive - and deliberate

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Almost two months since BBC News decided it no longer needed a Prague correspondent. 22 years of memories: making the Dalai Lama laugh, Mel Gibson angry and Gerhard Schröder REALLY angry. Walking behind Václav Havel’s coffin. A look back, and ahead. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/goodbye-to...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A special 5,000-koruna note enters circulation today, marking 100 years of Czechoslovakia’s national bank. It has a commemorative foil and a QR code. Just 200,000 printed. Why are Czechs so attached to their crowns? And why is the euro so far off? 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/crownland

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Ivan Novotný & Metod Špaček sued Slovakia’s Interior Ministry today for refusing to register their Austrian marriage. The ECJ says member states must recognise same-sex marriages concluded elsewhere in the EU. In Jan I met them to hear their story. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/who-belong...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A European capital without street names. An escape to Istanbul after a nightclub brawl in Bulgaria. A 1,000km journey around 🇨🇿 by slow train. 30 years of getting on trains & planes, getting into scrapes, and bringing home crap souvenirs. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/a-life-in-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Georgia nearly killed me. Not the bombs on the railway tracks or a terrifying drive into the Caucasus. The hospitality. Georgian “royalty”, Svaneti, vast quantities of wine - and an awkward visit to a Stalin museum. I’d go back in a heartbeat. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/a-life-in-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I soon realised we were being followed. We were in Lima, shopping for underwear after Air France lost my luggage. I noticed two suspicious guys shadowing us from shop to shop. I assumed they were pickpockets. They weren't. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/a-life-in-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

OTD in 1939, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after the Nazis invaded from the west, under their secret carve-up. Borders look permanent. Until suddenly they aren't. What will the map of Europe look like 87 years from now? 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/maps-matter

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Nearly one in three IVF cycles in CZ takes place at clinics linked to Andrej Babiš's business empire, says Czech Radio. His health minister now wants to expand IVF access to single women. I wrote about Babiš's sprawling business interests here: www.basedinbohemia.com/p/laws-and-s...

basedinbohemia.com

Laws and sausages

Two things you never want to see made

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

500 years ago, Ferdinand I was elected King of Bohemia, beginning almost four centuries of unbroken Habsburg rule. As Prague Castle marks the anniversary, a look back at Field Marshal Radetzky - and the controversial decision to bring his statue back. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/the-radetz...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Today marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Jan Masaryk, who died two weeks after the Communists seized power in 1948. Earlier in Sep, police exhumed his remains to find an answer to an enduring mystery: Did he fall, jump - or was he pushed? 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/the-man-wh...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

If you're an EU citizen registered as living in the Czech Republic, you're one of 237,000. All of you over 18 can vote in next month’s local elections. Almost none of you will. All elections matter. If you don’t vote, others will decide for you. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/the-invisi...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

33 let v týhle zemi - a stejně občas marně lovím v hlavě slova jako pohovor nebo přežitek. 🙄 Dík @filiptitlbach.bsky.social za trpělivost a za moc fajn povídání ve Studiu N - o BBC, o svém životě v České republice a taky o mém novém projektu basedinbohemia.com denikn.cz/2169558/bbc-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Are you an EU citizen living in Prague? Or anywhere in the Czech Republic? Are you bothered by the state of the pavements? The dog mess in the park? The rubbish collection? You do know you can vote right? Right? 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/the-invisi...

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Reposted by Rob Cameron

Suzanne @sverhaar.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Doing this project with friends is bringing me a lot of wonderful experiences, new insights and skills, great results, and a feeling of belonging. Read about it here And subscribe to Rob's Substack!

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

There are 58,000 EU citizens living officially in Prague. All of them (well, all the adults) are eligible to vote in next month's local elections. How many are on the electoral roll? 1,812. Meet the three foreigners trying to change that. www.basedinbohemia.com/p/the-invisi...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Nine months ago I launched basedinbohemia.com with a piece on Andrej Babiš’s barn-sized conflict of interest. Now Brussels says he hasn’t resolved it - and has suspended some Agrofert payments. Some stories refuse to go away. Even for billionaires. 👇 www.basedinbohemia.com/p/laws-and-s...

basedinbohemia.com

Laws and sausages

Two things you never want to see made

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Empires fall. Statues come down. Sometimes they come back up. Field Marshal Radetzky - the Austrian military hero who was actually Czech - lost his monument after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. More than a century later, Prague wants him back. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-radetz...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The Romans came this far. Almost 1,850 years ago, Roman soldiers left a message carved into the rock beneath Trenčín Castle. It’s still there — and it tells a rather extraordinary story. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Some evocative 1963 photos of old Bratislava courtesy of Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/presp... A lost world I wrote about here: robjcameron.substack.com/p/to-the-cas...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Their value is essentially zero. But I’ve carried these things home from Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru etc - and somehow never managed to throw them away. Three decades of travelling, told through the strange, useless objects I’ve accumulated along the way. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/a-life-in-...

robjcameron.substack.com

A life in ten trinkets (part one)

My cabinet of curiosities and worthless souvenirs

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A ceramic lion given to me by a Taiwanese ladyboy in Bratislava. A pair of rhino teeth. A passport from a country that doesn’t exist. Every object in my ridiculous collection has a story attached to it - and a reason I’ve never thrown it away. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/a-life-in-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This is my 'crap collection'. Trinkets, mementos and souvenirs from decades of wandering - from a Kyrgyz felt hat to a ceramic lion given to me by a Taiwanese ladyboy in Bratislava. Worth zero in monetary terms. But worth something to me. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/a-life-in-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

After 22 years reporting on the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the BBC, I spoke to The Slovak Spectator about some of the stories that stayed with me - and what comes next. Thanks to Oscar for the thoughtful questions. 👇 spectator.sme.sk/politics-and...

spectator.sme.sk

For 22 years, he explained Slovakia to BBC audiences. Now his job has disappeared

Rob Cameron on the Slovak stories that stayed with him – and a country he sees as increasingly divided.

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Investigators have begun exhuming the remains of former Czechoslovak foreign minister Jan Masaryk from his family tomb at Lány, in a fresh attempt to establish how he died in March 1948. Murder, suicide or accident? 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-man-wh...

robjcameron.substack.com

The man who fell to earth

Police examine fresh evidence in the death of Jan Masaryk

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Seznam Zprávy reports today that the Czech government's 2027 draft budget contains zero funding for Radio Prague International — potentially leaving it unable to broadcast from January 1st. The news comes a day after the station turned 90. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/losing-you...

robjcameron.substack.com

Losing your voice

Radio Prague marks its 90th birthday. Its future has never looked more precarious.

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

90 years ago today, Radio Prague went on air for the first time. It’s also my alma mater — the place where I began my broadcasting career in 1999. But as Radio Prague turns 90, its future has never looked more uncertain. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/losing-you...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

A beautiful Sunday in Prague — perfect for a walk. But this time, look down. Beneath the streets and squares lies another Prague: buried, forgotten and sometimes surprisingly close to the surface. Come for a walk through the city beneath your feet. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-city-b...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Really enjoyed this from @lewisbaston.bsky.social So fascinating. A great read.

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

iROZHLAS.cz reports that Jan Masaryk’s remains are to be exhumed, almost 80 years after he was found dead beneath his bathroom window. Murder, suicide or accident? Earlier this year, I stood at that window asking myself the same thing. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-man-wh...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

My mum first heard Olga Szántová in 1968, broadcasting to the world as the tanks rolled in. 32 yrs later, I found myself working alongside her. Radio Prague survived invasion & normalisation. She'd be appalled to learn its future is now in doubt. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/losing-you...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

58 years ago today, Dubček returned from Moscow. Exhausted and struggling to speak, he went on the radio to warn against further resistance. It was six days after the invasion. Moscow tried to repeat it in Kyiv in 2022. Only this time it failed. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-prague...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

On this day in 1968, Czechoslovakia’s leaders were forced to sign a declaration accepting the Soviet occupation. František Kriegel alone refused. Operation Danube succeeded in Prague. In 2022, the Kremlin tried the same playbook in Kyiv - and failed. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-prague...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

On this day in 1968, eight Soviet citizens protested on Red Square against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. They were beaten and arrested. The banner read: “For your freedom and ours.” I wrote about the parellels between 1968 - and Kyiv in 2022. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-prague...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Maps aren't just about geography. They can reveal how people understand territory, identity and power - particularly in Central Europe, where borders and names have changed so often. Sometimes the lines on a map tell the real story. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/maps-matter

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

“It was a copy-and-paste of Danube. I mean it literally and not as a metaphor.” Russian researcher Kamil Galeev on Putin's attempt to seize Kyiv in 2022 - and Opertion Danube, the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Read what he told me 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-prague...

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Reposted by Rob Cameron

Kieran Williams @kieranwilliams67.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In January 2022 I tried to imagine what it would look like if an invasion of Ukraine played out like in 1968 in Czechoslovakia. It was not a prediction, more an extrapolation.

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

History doesn't repeat itself. But often it rhymes. Two invasions. Two almost identical plans to neutralise a threat to Moscow's sphere of influence. The first was 58 years ago today. A relative success. The second was Feb 2022. An abject failure. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-prague...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Russia tried this before. In 1968, Soviet forces seized an airport, sent tanks towards the capital, and captured the country’s leaders. In 2022, Moscow tried the same thing in Ukraine. This time, it failed. Why? robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-prague...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

A month back home in Britain. It's been great of course. Family, friends. Bit bloody hot though. But it also feels smaller somehow. Sadder. More isolated. It made me think again about Brexit - and why I was determined to get my EU citizenship back. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-brexit...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

They were Czechoslovak citizens until 1938. They were not “Sudeten” Germans. Some didn't even speak much German. Yet months later they were fighting in the Wehrmacht - despite the Nazis' insistence that only “Germans” could serve. How did this happen? robjcameron.substack.com/p/dont-shoot...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Six months ago I wrote about Soňa Peková and Peter Kotlár. Today, Peková lost her expert-witness authorisation over the Covid vaccine report she produced for Kotlár. Interesting twist in the debate over who gets to call themselves a Covid "expert". 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/enough-of-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

For four evenings, Trenčín’s City Tower will speak - through the voices of people who live there, projected onto the building by artist Krzysztof Wodiczko. A good moment to revisit my story from Trenčín - a city that started as a Roman outpost. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The synagogue in Trenčín hosts a concert of traditional Jewish music today. A good moment to revisit this piece on a city where history is still very much present - including in this remarkable building. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...

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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

From Bratislava Castle, you can see the city that survived. But much of the city that once stood below it is gone. The Jewish quarter, the Neolog synagogue, the cemetery - much of it disappeared beneath war, the Holocaust and Communist redevelopment. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/to-the-cas...

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