I have spoken to various Polish soldiers about the subject of Iraq. The majority feel it is not their war. However, Poles remain. When questioned further many respond that Poland is fulfilling their NATO responsibilities, however this gets a bit cloudy when I point out France's refusual to be involved. Many feel that Poland has to some how proove its reliablity and faithfullnes to the US. The question is had this been don to the US's satsifaction? Britain has just announced a significant downscaling of its operations in Iraq. Will this spell the end for Poland too?

Tameing the Bear!

Since the election i have heard mostly positive things about the new administration. What i think is most encouraging is PO's attitude to Germany and Russia. I am not alwasy a fan of either country, yet the PIS way of dealing with them was antagonistic at best. Hopefully we will see an ease in relations, especially with Russia and an opening up of the export market.

Only in America!!

One of the biggest indicators of why diaspora voting should be eliminated comes from our American cousins. Of the 27,000 people registered to vote in the US, 67% of them would choose PiS. As I recently mentioned on Beatroot’s blog, I do not vote in Britain as I feel that to influence the lives of others while not being there is a misuse of the vote. The American’s results I think show that I have a point as they are voting without having experienced the last two years of fear mongering.

All Saints Chaos

It’s a funny old world! It appears that the outgoing government have recently passed a law that not only does their own ministry which deals with the area of interest not fully agree with, but it could potential cripple the country. The law deals with trading hours for shops and heavily restricts trading on the 12 official public holidays. Unlike in the UK these days have great religious significance and even nominal Catholics adhere to these days. The one that may cause most problems is the upcoming All Saints Day. The Labour Ministry has noticed that the law covers petrol stations as well as the big shops, that most who voted for the law original thought it dealt with exclusively. This means that on Nov 1st, most petrol stations could be closed! Oh deer….. This is this busiest day of the year for Polish Motorists and may have potentially immeasurable implications. On the brighter side it could also save many lives, as this day accounts for the highest number of road accidents in a single day in Poland.

Where are the limits of law enforcement?

The recent case of PO Deputy Beata Sawicka being arrested by the Central Anti-corruption Bureau (CBA) is the latest in a line of worrying developments for the state of civil-libities in Poland. I am hearing the stories in a somewhat sanitised way as my level of Polish means that I can not read or understand the news articles first-hand. However, as far as I understand things, this is a case of provocation. The term entrapment is a difficult one for many to fully deliniate as often law enforcement agencies have to play the role of criminals if they are to gather hard evidence. However, in this case it would appear that there was no previous history of corruption (I stand to be corrected, if you know of one) and so I fail to see what was the case put forward to the prosecutors’ office to authorise such an operation. I assume that the CBA did have to justify its actions, and it is not just free to target anyone. The lady in question does seem to have been extremely foolish, however, without the CBA’s instigation then I doubt any crime would have been committed. Therefore it is pure and simply entrapment. The CBA seems to be acting as a branch of PiS and not as a state institution dedicated to the defence of Polish people.

Sophie's Choice

The question of whether blood is thicker than water Has risen its head In the Czech Republic. Two babies born on the same day look to have been mistakenly given to the wrong parents. And now after ten months of parenthood the parents are preparing to give up their children in return for their genetic offspring.

This rises several interesting questions:
1) Is a biological connection to people more important than social and cultural ties?
2) If the mistake had be realized after say five years would they still swap?
3) When does bonding and identity building occur in a baby and will the swap have serious ramifications for the growing ego?

The idea that for ten months you could care, love, protect and generally adore a baby and then be happy to give it up is I must admit slightly horrifying for me. However, I also see that the idea that your flesh and blood is being brought up by someone is equally disturbing.

In this situation I honestly don’t know what I would do. – Try and have both babies?? Obviously this would be unfair on the other couple. However, what else could the human heart desire?

WaterGate????

Why is there a persistent re-use of the term water within US scandals. Nixon had Watergate, Clinton had Whitewater and now Bush junior has BlackWater . However, oddities aside, the Blackwater afair could singify a dramatic change of the rules in Iraq for Private Military Companies (PMCs). From 2003 until now they have been immune from Iraqi prosecution for any actions carried out in Iraq. This has basicily given them a carte blanche licence to kill. However, the US administration are being pressured to (and are seemingly thinking about) allowing the Iraqi legal system to deal with cases of excesive force.

This could spell the end for PMC's in the way we know them. As few people (even mercs) would want to end up in the hands of Iraqi police and the legal system. As the coallition relies heavily on PMCs this could have dramatic effects for the whole operation.

Return of the wonderer

I have had an extended summer break, but now i am back on-line and thinking of things to say to you. I am like many people in Poland and awaiting the elections, uncertain if they will change anything. To be honest i am not so bothered who wins as how they win. That is i hope for a majority government and an end to all this coallition bollocks. The sooner Poland gets rid of the Giertichs of this world the better for all of us.

Murder of the innocents

Its amazing what a bit of motivation can do. With only 8% of the popular vote, many .people would resigne themselves to the sidelines and become a critic of, but not participant in the political process. But not our boy Giertich!! Given a mandate by PIS, nothing can stop him in his far reaching reforms. As if limiting the information avaliable to the next generatiion was not enough, he is now attacking the moral idependence of education, by using the cirriculum as a vehicle for his owm political and or religeous beliefs.

There can be only one!

The small market town of Uniejów once again became transformed into a medieval battleground for the third annual knights competition. Since starting in July 2005, the festival has become a large regional attraction. Held in the grounds of the 14th Century Uniejów castle, the latest incarnation is an extremely professional affair.

Awell as the fights, there is an array of arts and crafts stalls as well as the usual sausage sizzle bar. Uniejów is fast becoming a tourist attraction, that will only be improve by the opening of a geo-thermally heated aqua-park next year along with a treatment centre.

I will undoubtedly go to the fourth and i recommend that all of you do likewise if you are in the vicinity.

Łódż Arising

It is rare that the journalists at Poland Monthly venture much outside the safe environs of Warszawa, with industrial projects in Silesia and the like being perhaps the exception. However, I was pleased to see this months PM had an article about Łódź. What is more, it wasn’t purely economy or business related. It was on a grander scale; that is Culture and People!! I had heard through the Grape Vine about Atlas owner Andrzej Walczyk and film maker David Lynch’s ambitious project for Łódź. However, I had not read the details about it in an English language article (Polish still mainly being of the spoken/listening variety despite being her three years). The plans are defiantly ambitious and will revolutionize the center of Łódź. Not mentioned in the article is the rebuilding of Łódź Fabryczna (one of the two main stations in Łódź). The plan apparently is to build an underground station akin to Warszawa’s. In a city with 120+-year-old buildings and street foundations this will require a delicate hand. That said if completed, then it will immensely improve and somewhat dreary and dare I say it foreboding place.
What does this all mean for Łódź? Well, Łódź has a somewhat poor reputation. It is not up there in the top destinations in Poland. Krakow, the Tri-City, the capital and others outshine poor old Łódź. After seven years of coming to Poland as a tourist and visiting mainly the Tri-City and Warszawa, I moved to the Łódź region having never actually seen it (Strange but true!). After being here for three years I can honestly say I love the city and wouldn’t swap it for any other in Poland. Due to its poor reputation it doesn’t have the pretension and attitude of some of the others. That said, it has original architecture, dating back to the 19th Century. This is not the Regal grandeur of Krakow or the merchants haven of Gdansk, but the hard reality of an industrial epicentre. Combine this with a bountiful supply of universities colleges and academies and you have the makings for a cultural centre. Lynch has recognized something that has been hidden for a long time and I hope will finally be let out of the bag.

Ok, enough if the flag-waving, Let us just sit back and see what will happed. After the neglect of the post-industrial period, Łódź can only get better!!

Mixed up Priorities

We seem to be being led astray somewhat by the PiS government with regards to the important issues in Poland. Everyday we are inundated with stories concerning the ever present drives of the government to de-communise Poland with now plans to removal street sings. However, have we not got more important things to be concerned about. According to many, the average pay in Poland is around 2,500 Zł. I hear this all the time and bulk at the though of this. It is a figure banded around all over the place but seems to be far off the mark by what is see all around me. The World Salaries website corroborates these figures and yet this just makes thinks worse for me. It says for example that gross pay for teachers is 2,811 zł. Yea right! In what world are these people living? The site says it gets its info from the Polish government, yet are we to assume that this is correct data. I know that there is an inbuilt problem with the representation of statistical data labelled as "average". Most average figures are taken from mean averages and thus skew the figures to give an over-inflated value of the statistics represented. I am sure that if a mode average or a median average taken we would see that the reality is far from this. I have two jobs and struggle to bring home much over 3,000 net. I am don't forget a foreigner and in some respects getting paid an inflated salary (which is greatfully taken) there for I can not see how the average person (may be typical person), can accumulate 2,500 zł.

The point of what I'm saying? Well, aren't there more useful things the government could be doing rather than designing ways to remove historical relics. I accept that i did not live here through communism and so may be can not appreciate the pain caused by it. However, shouldn't we be moving forward and not continuously be going backwards?

Is France leading the way?

While looking over articles about the upcoming French election (of which I must admit I haven't paid much interest),I was surprised to read some of the party names:

Francois Bayrou (Union for French Democracy)
Olivier Besancenot (Communist Revolutionary League)
Jose Bove (Anti-Globalist)
Marie-George Buffet (Communist)
Arlette Laguiller (Workers' Struggle)
Jean-Marie Le Pen (National Front)
Frederic Nihous (Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions)
Segolene Royal (Socialist)
Nicolas Sarkozy (Union for a Popular Movement)
Gerard Schivardi (The Mayors' Candidate)
Philippe de Villiers (Movement for France)
Dominique Voynet (Greens)

I know that the French haven't really got over the fact that the words English and Lingua-Franca often appear together, but to be honest they seem to be speaking a different language to the rest of Europe. Reviewing the list one gets the feeling that this is a 1950s election portfolio (albeit with the addition of the Greens) and not one for the 2007 Election.

Maybe I have been clouded by the sameness of the UK political scene and am just unused to seeing political parties with real opinions and issues to debate and fight for. However, the issues that are being fought for could tear France and Europe apart.

I don't know who I want to win; and not being French its not really any of my business, which is a fact that Blair seems to have forgotten as he voices support of one of the candidates Nicolas Sarkozy . Anyway, I am digressing here, the point is whether the French have it right, and British people have forgotten what the real issues are about or whether the French are stuck in a time warp. If we look at the Polish electoral scene then we see a similarly diverse spectrum of parties. However, we all know the resultant problems of sustaining a credible and workable government.

Then there is the question of voter apathy, would a more diverse choice encourage more voters. Turnout at the Polish 05 election would suggest not as there was definitively plenty of choice, but few choosers. In terms of issue politics, recent gains by the British National Party in Britain would suggest that even in Britian, we are seeing a return to diverse issue dominated political parties.

For now we will have to wait and see for Sunday's first round results to show if France can indeed unite behind a candidate, when the options are so different.

Lodz's Anti-Semetic Reign of Acceptance

On the 14th March the Lodz City Hall hosted a Teenage protest concerning the amount of anti-semetic graffiti and general anti-semitism that exists in Lodz. Lodz (Poland's second largest city) is regarded as being the most anti-Semitic city in Poland. The City's mayor was even vocal about the issue. However, how much has changed? Everyday I go past vulgar graffiti, which one would think could be easily white-washed over. However, little seems to be done about it. It is left to scar the city. If the authorities truly wished to deal with the situation, surely a few cans of paint and a band of willing workers from the city's unemployed could be found. - But no, the graffiti stays. Is this a case of public abhorance, while privatly the city's management accept and condone the anti-semetism that prevails.

Has the EU failed a significant Foreign Policy test?

The recent abduction of 15 UK service personnel has somewhat foreboding implications for not just the Middle-East, but also the EU. Whether you are in favour of the War in Iraq or against; Iran's actions were from the outset obtuse. Iran and Britain are not at war and so no matter where the boats actually were, normal paradigms would suggest that a quick and efficient handover of personnel should have been arranged. This however was not the case and Iran has chosen to make a media and political spectacle out of it (as much for their own populace as for the British or wider world). Sir Malcolm Rifkind (former Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Defence in the last Conservative government) made the following comments in the British Guardian Newspaper:

There was, however, one other approach that would have a good chance of succeeding. The members of the EU aspire to having a common foreign policy. What better issue could there be on which our French, German and Italian allies and partners could show solidarity with the UK and demonstrate the benefits of joint action?

The best means of pressure would have been the export credit guarantees that are given to assist trade between Iran and western Europe. These, together with banking and other financial facilities are the soft underbelly of the Iranians and their withdrawal could do significant damage to Iran's already weak economy.

Such measures have already been canvassed by the Americans in respect of Iran's nuclear defiance.

So has the EU missed the boat? Should they have taken the opportunity to show a united front and provide some real teeth to their joint "calling for the 'immediate and unconditional' "

And what does this mean for national defence policy. Is Britain therefore right to maintain its strategic nuclear capability and its stand-alone force projection ability. Furthermore, is Poland, which does not have either of these two abilities, therefore right in colluding with the US; as it may not be able to fully depend upon its European neighbours.

A Cristian Europe versus An Open Europe

President Kaczynski - Christianity is the EU foundation

Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, in an article for the tabloid 'Fakt' that: 'The Union cannot build its future with no reference to the centuries old history of Europe and European roots. This is why it is so difficult for us to accept opposition to a reference to Christian values in the preamble to the future Constitutional Treaty.'

The Berlin Declaration is to be signed in the capital city of Germany, as part of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and the birth of the EU.

The declaration is to play a key role in drafting the preamble to the bloc's new Constitutional Treaty.

President Kaczynski said that the Union must continue to expand.

"For Poland it is obvious that the European Union, if it wants to retain its dynamics and to count on a global scale – it must be an open union".

On behalf of the bloc's 27 member states, the Berlin Declaration will be signed tomorrow by the German Chancellor, the European Parliament and the European Commission leaders.

Poland's foreign minister Anna Fotyga is on leave and will not take part in the ceremony.

Above taken from www.poland.pl

Are the two points raised by the President of Poland not a little conflicting? If we make Cristianity a fundamental part of the Constitution, then to which countries are we supposed to expand. Is it a good message to send to Turkey, Bosnia and Albania, that yes you can come in, but please remember that we are Christian and we were here first!

Religion, is and has always been a private matter. Jesus himself made this crystal clear when remarking that what is ceasar, render unto ceasar and what is God's render under God.

This mix of politics and religion is the most frightening aspect of the current PiS government in Poland.

Vetting Witchhunt

New Polish vetting law operative
2007-03-15, 15:06
New vetting law comes into force today obliging 700,000 Poles including journalists, lawyers and head teachers to declare whether they collaborated with the communist-era secret police.
The legislation was designed by President Lech Kaczynski and the ruling conservative the Law and Justice Party (PiS) government of his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw.
Its aim was to settle accounts with former communists. As a result, people from various professions including municipal government officials, university professors, legal professionals, journalists and corporate as well as bank chiefs born prior to August 1, 1972 are required to submit statements revealing any co- operation with communist-era secret police and intelligence services.
Those who fail to do so or have courts ruled against them risk being banned from their professions for up to a decade.
According to the critics of the project, the process of verifying hundreds of thousands of declarations is estimated to last until 2023. Declarations are to be submitted to the National Remembrance Institute which was created in 1998.

--- The above was taken from www.poland.pl/news

Is this another way of distracting the public from the main issues? Surley Poland has more important things to spend its money on. Not to mention the principle of rehabilitation. This laws colours everyone with the same brush. Even if you only dealt with the Intelligence services once twenty years ago, you must give details. And then what, you lose your job?

Right to life?

If LPR's idea goes through, then this will mean that a woman's life is worth less than a feotus. - Great, this means if i value my wife, we can never have children!!!
Is this just another attampt by our glorious coalition to divert attention from real issues, such as taking 14 months to process an application for EU funds to upgrade computers in a small business?