I’ve just finished my newest article for Taipan Insider, our exclusive newsletter to Taipan Publishing Group subscribers.

I was musing on a BBC News article talking about how some Europeans feel about the European Union, and its latest expansions. To be sure, there has been a lot of grumbling about propping up economically distressed Eastern European members, like Hungary and Poland.

And there has also been some upset about jobs and factories moving east to take advantage of lower wages and costs, and about immigrants to Western countries taking jobs from locals.

Quite reminiscent of what’s happening here in the States with Mexican workers, yes?

Well, this got me thinking why the European Union would want to include Eastern European countries in its membership in the first place… It had to be something other than spreading “inclusive democracy,” right?

Of course… In fact, on Thursday, the Czech Republic will hold an “Eastern Partnership” summit with six former Soviet states to discuss energy and trade ties. The Czech Republic currenty holds the presidency of the European Union, and the former Communist country may just be the right fit to entice closer ties with ex-Soviet states.

My Taipan Insider article goes into more depth about just what’s at stake here. Be sure to read it.

A fun little bit of news out of the beautiful city of Prague today…

The first Burger King (BKC:NYSE) will open in Prague in the next few months. And it’s not only targeting the Czech Repbulic. It wants to become number one in European markets. To do that, it’s already got operations in Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary, and it planning joints in Slovakia and Slovenia.

But it’s got tough competition from McDonald’s (MCD:NYSE), who is top dog right now with 70 restaurants serving 53 million customers. It’s spent more than $172.2 million on restaurants in the Czech Republic.

When I was in Budapest, I grabbed a Whopper for a quick lunch before meeting my guide back at the hotel, Buro Panzio. It cost me 750 Forint, which is about $3.75 or so, and the place was packed. My last night in Budapest, I hit the town with some new friends, and ended up back at BK for a late-night snack. It was still packed, and one young, drunk, teenager was thrown out for misbehaving and bothering the customers.

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I’ve taken some time to get away from the fabulous city of Prague, the cultural and financial center of the Czech Republic, to dig into the wilder side of the country.

I took a three hour train ride to Teplice mab Metuji, right on the border with Poland. This little town is known for its sandstone monoliths, which are very similar to the formations in Bryce Canyon, Utah. The park was really beautiful, especially with the mist and drizzle hanging deep in the pine trees.

Anyone taking a trip to Prague should set aside the time to get up here and unwind…

After a nice hike, I hit the restaurant, or resterace, of my hotel. There I hooked up with some fellow travelers for a game of cards. They taught me how to play “Screw Your Neighbor”.

It’s not a hard game to learn, and I did well, but as I sat and thought about it, I found it very ironic that I was playing a game called “Screw Your Neighbor” and in the morning I would be heading on to Krakow, Poland.

You see, Poland’s being given the evil eye right now. Russia is a bit peeved that the former Soviet state agreed to the U.S. plan for a defensive missile shield. The Czech Republic will also build a radar system the will link in the the missile shield technology.

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I spent the morning on one of the best museum trips I’ve ever taken. In Prague’s old town, there is a Jewish Quarter. There are at least five synagogues within a stone’s throw from each other, and a massive, yet tiny, cemetary that was quite impressive. I’ll get back to that seemingly oxymoronic comment in a second.

For 480 Czech Crowns (at yesterday’s close, that’s US$28.25) I bought a single ticket that gave me entrance to five synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetary, a Ceremonial Hall and the Gallery of Robert Guttmann.

These sites were extremely crowded, but the attendants were very helpful in moving folks along, and every artifact was clearly explained in Czech and English. And Hebrew, in some instances. But let me get back to that comment for a minute.

The Old Jewish Cemetary is one of the most important sites on the ticket. It was established in the beginning of the 15th century and the oldest gravestone is that of Avigdor Kara from 1439. The whole area was less than the size of a football field, but has more than 12,000 gravemarkers.

Experts say that there are many more graves than gravestone in this cemetary, though. As the area was “expanded”, the residents brought in more dirt, and the new graves were layered overtop the old ones. Now, the top of layer is more than 15 feet higher than the street level.

It was one of the most haunting and interesting moments on the tour.

Another interesting sight was the Spanish Synagogue. The temple was inspired by Moorish design and was built in 1868. Rich wood panelling is gilded and painted withflowing designs and deep reds and blues. It made me catch my breath.

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