Poland

[angelburst29]

October 26, 2018 - Polish ruling party wants deal on more US Troops before 2019 Election
Polish ruling party wants deal on more U.S. troops before 2019 election | Reuters

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s ruling party wants to see concrete plans for increasing the presence of American troops on Polish soil before national elections are held next autumn, said Pawel Soloch, head of the National Security Bureau.

The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party says increasing the number of U.S. troops in the country is essential to ward off the threat it says is posed by Russia.

Securing an American base would help PiS show it is taking action to protect Poland from perceived Russian threats ahead of national elections, analysts say. PiS may then use this as an argument to win over more voters, after its narrower than expected victory in regional elections last Sunday.

“It’s clear the electoral calendar is at play. It is definitely important for us to finalize a larger American presence in the country,” Soloch told Reuters in an interview when asked about the government’s defense priorities ahead of the vote.

It remains unclear, however, whether plans for a proposed permanent American base in Poland dubbed “Fort Trump” by Warsaw will take the exact form pitched by President Andrzej Duda in his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in September.

Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak will travel to the United States on Monday and is expected to raise the issue with Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton once more.

Poland’s armed forces have suffered from decades of under-investment and some two-thirds of their equipment dates from the Soviet era.

The country has repeatedly called for a permanent U.S. military presence on its soil. The United States currently rotates troops through Poland temporarily, and permanently stationing forces there would be expensive.

As part of its mission, PiS - which has clashed on many issues with the European Union of which Poland is a member - has prioritized strong bilateral ties with the U.S. government under Trump, outside the scope of NATO.

Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, Deputy Minister of National Defence Tomasz Szatkowski and Soloch visited Brussels this week to inform NATO of their plans to expand the presence of American troops in the country.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pressed the Polish delegation to provide concrete details about the proposals and to communicate their plans to all their allies, a NATO diplomat said.

In a meeting with Trump in September Duda said Poland was ready to invest $2 billion to facilitate the development of a permanent base.

But Soloch said only preliminary discussions have been held between the Ministry of Defence and the Pentagon.

No clear vision for the program is likely to materialize before March, Soloch added. A report drafted by the U.S. Congress and the Pentagon on strengthening the U.S.’s military presence in Eastern Europe is set for discussion next spring.

Only then will Poland be able to confirm the plans and make any related budget allocations.

Duda this year said he wants government plans to increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030 to be sped up to 2024 if economic developments allow. NATO wants member countries to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense.

 

[angelburst29]

October 29, 2018 - Pirates seize eight Polish Crew, three others from ship off Nigeria Coast
Pirates seize eight Polish crew, three others from ship off Nigeria coast | Reuters

Pirates boarded a container ship off the coast of Nigeria, seizing 11 crew including eight from Poland, the vessel’s management firm and Polish state media reported.

The attackers struck the MV Pomerania Sky, bound for the Nigerian port of Onne, early on Saturday and abducted 11 of the crew, Midocean (IOM) Ltd said in a statement on Sunday. The firm added that nine others remained on board and were unharmed.

“Our priority is securing the earliest release of the 11 crew who have been taken and we are working closely with our partners and the local authorities to achieve that,” Midocean said.

“The families of those crew members taken are being kept informed of the situation,” said the company. It added the vessel had proceeded to safe waters.

A Nigerian navy spokesman said they had begun an investigation and search and rescue operation as soon as the incident was reported, and would provide an update soon.

Midocean declined to say where the kidnapped crew members were from, but Polish state media, citing Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, said eight of them were from Poland.

The nationality of the three other abducted crew members was not immediately clear.

Kidnappings and piracy in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea are common.

 

[angelburst29]

November 7, 2018 - Warsaw bans Nationalist March marking Polish Independence Centenary
Warsaw bans nationalist march marking Polish independence centenary | Reuters


FILE PHOTO: Protesters carry Polish flags during a rally, organised by far-right, nationalist groups, to mark the anniversary of Polish independence in Warsaw, Poland, November 11, 2016. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

Warsaw's mayor has banned a far-right march planned for Sunday to mark the centenary of Polish independence, citing the risk of violence and expressions of hatred.

Organizers said they would defy the ban. They lodged a court appeal against the decision to shut down the annual Nov. 11 event commemorating the anniversary of Poland’s independence at the end of World War One.

Tens of thousands of participants had been expected to attend, including far-right activists from elsewhere in Europe, with organizers claiming the event could be the biggest such march in Europe in years.

Last year’s event caught the attention of the world’s media because some of the 60,000 participants carried banners bearing racist and xenophobic slogans such as “pure blood, clear mind” and “Europe will be white or uninhabited”.

“Warsaw has already suffered enough due to aggressive nationalism,” Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, a centrist opposition politician, said. “Poland’s 100th anniversary of independence shouldn’t look like this, hence my decision to forbid it.”

The eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party government said it would organize its own march instead, under the auspices of President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally.

Officials did not clarify whether far-right groups would be allowed to attend. Duda had earlier decided to stay away from the event.

“We don’t understand the decision of Mayor Gronkiewicz-Waltz ... Even if the courts confirm her decision, we will still meet ... The march will take place,” said Tomasz Dorosz, the leader of Poland’s National Radical Camp, one of the groups involved in organizing the march.

Earlier this week Gronkiewicz-Waltz said she would consider banning the march “if there was any element of hatred”, according to local Polish broadcaster TVN24.

PiS, a socially conservative group with a nationalist agenda, taps into the same frustrations with western liberal values and anti-establishment sentiment that galvanize far-right voters throughout Europe.

It has also refused to take in Middle Eastern and North African migrants, despite European Union demands to do so, citing public safety worries.

However, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who heads the ruling party, condemned the racist messages during the 2017 march.

“Polish tradition - the one we invoke - has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, we are as far as possible from that, nothing to do with racism,” he said.

On Nov. 11 Poles commemorate the establishment of the second Polish republic in 1918 from territory seized in the 18th century by the Russian, Austrian and Prussian empires.


November 6, 2018 - Wheelchair-bound 94-year old German on trial for Nazi crimes
Wheelchair-bound 94-year old German on trial for Nazi crimes | Reuters

A 94-year-old German appeared in court in a wheelchair on Tuesday accused of assisting in the murder of hundreds of people at a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two, in what is likely to be one of the last such trials.

The man, a former guard in the SS paramilitary wing of Hitler’s Nazis who cannot be named for legal reasons, has denied the accusations. He spoke with a hoarse-sounding voice when answering questions about his identity.

The man is accused of knowing about killings between 1942 and 1944, when he served in the Stutthof camp, near what is now the Polish city of Gdansk. About 65,000 people, including many Jews, were murdered or died there, according to the museum’s website.

The suspect, who could face up to ten years behind bars if convicted, strained to listen to proceedings and was provided with earphones when he said he could not hear.

Chief Prosecutor Andreas Brendel told the court that the suspect, as a guard at Stutthof where people were gassed and killed in many different ways, was accused of taking part in several hundred murders.

“People were killed with a shot in the back of the head. People were left to starve, to freeze. There is hardly a method of killing that did not take place in Stutthof,” said Brendel.

The suspect looked down when the lethal gas Zyklon B, used in gas chambers, was mentioned.

“In the face of evil, there is no neutrality,” said Christoph Rueckel, a lawyer representing co-plaintiffs, some from the United States and Israel.

The suspect is being tried in a youth court because he was under 21 at the time of the suspected crimes. Court sessions have been limited to a maximum of two hours per day because of his physical frailty and the hearing overall has been scheduled to run until mid-February.

The suspect is expected to make a statement later in the trial.

Some 21 Nazi leaders, including Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, were put in the dock at an international military tribunal in 1945-1946, known as the Nuremburg trials, but the West German justice system did little to bring further prosecutions.

The 2011 conviction of Sobibor death camp guard John Demjanjuk gave impetus to prosecutions against junior ranking individuals in the Nazi death machine. That was the first time working in a camp alone was sufficient grounds for culpability, with no proof of a specific crime.

With the number of suspects dwindling due to old age, Brendel, one of Germany’s most active Nazi hunters, said this trial had major historical significance.

“It is important for the victims, their families and survivors. They can make public their fate and help ensure that something like what the Nazis did never happens again,” he said.

 

[Hi_Henry]

FILE PHOTO: Protesters carry Polish flags during a rally, organised by far-right, nationalist groups, to mark the anniversary of Polish independence in Warsaw, Poland, November 11, 2016. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The man is accused of knowing about killings between 1942 and 1944, when he served in the Stutthof camp, near what is now the Polish city of Gdansk. About 65,000 people, including many Jews, were murdered or died there, according to the museum’s website.

These protesters have some poor poor advisers. "Black" is probable the last color I would chose to use on anything when voicing my love of my country. LAST !!!

Hoodies ???? Hoodies like it or not are associated with gang-bangers, foul mouth rappers, and criminals. Color them in black and the effect is doubled. NEGATIVE !!!

These German trials are a joke on the uninformed. Where are the officers ? They are still there but Germany will not touch them. Many of them enjoyed quiet retirement on lovely pensions for many many years after the end of the war. There were even instances where several prominent ones went into politics.

 

[angelburst29]

November 10, 2018 - Poland's Eurosceptic Leaders hold joint march with Far Right Groups
Poland's eurosceptic leaders hold joint march with far right groups | Reuters


People carry Polish flags and burn flares during a march marking the 100th anniversary of Polish independence in Warsaw, Poland November 11, 2018. The banner reads "God, Honour, Fatherland". REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Poland's eurosceptic leaders marked a century of national independence on Sunday as around 200,000 people marched through the capital in a parade involving far-right groups and neo-fascist activists from Italy.

The march is a focus of debate about whether the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) tacitly encourages groups with roots in the fascist and anti-Semitic movements. The party won power in 2015 and Poland has since become increasingly isolated in Europe amid accusations of a tilt towards authoritarian rule.

Some marchers in Warsaw chanted: “Away with the EU” but there was no sign of white supremacist banners visible at last year’s march.

Government officials walked at a distance from the main marchers away from any overt displays of nationalism and they were kept separate by security forces.

“Thank you for coming here, for Poland, and for bringing the white and red (Polish) flag which saw our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers spill their blood,” President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, said at the start of the march.

“There is space for everyone under our flags,” he said.

Several hundred metres behind the government column, participants held banners saying “God, Honour, Homeland” and launched red flares.

Some chanted: “Pride, pride, national pride” and “Poland should be national not red or rainbow-coloured”, in a reference to the red flag of the Soviet Union and the symbol of gay pride.

Warsaw’s city mayor sought to ban a far-right march held on Nov. 11 annually for almost a decade but a court overruled her.

The government then agreed with organisers after last-minute talks to hold a joint event to mark a 100 years since Poland’s 1918 declaration of independence after an 18th century partition by Russia, Austria and Germany.

Last year, the annual far-right march was dotted with racist banners such as “pure blood, clear mind” and “Europe will be white or uninhabited”.

Those slogans fuelled concern about the rise of xenophobia in Poland at a time when other European countries are also grappling with a resurgence of the far right.

PiS says it rejects anti-Semitism and racism but critics accuse it of quietly siding with the far-right.

Since its election in 2015, the party has seen Poland increasingly isolated in Europe amid accusations of a tilt towards authoritarian rule. It promises more Catholic values and patriotism in public life and more state say in the economy.

The party taps into frustration with liberal values and anti-establishment sentiment that has galvanized far-right voters in other parts of Europe.

“Remember the shameful slogans of last year’s Nov. 11 march?,” centrist lawmaker Marcin Kierwinski said on Twitter on Saturday. “A year later, their authors are meeting with the president and prime minister instead of a prosecutor.”

The United States embassy in Warsaw issued a security alert ahead of the march.

Before the late-night agreement with the government on Friday to hold a joint event, organisers had said they expected the march to be the biggest far-right event in Europe in years.

“The organizers of the Independence March ... are great patriots. In our times, the youth wasn’t this patriotic,” said Teresa Radzikowska, a 70-year-old retiree from central Poland who attended the march.

On Nov. 11 Poles commemorate the establishment of the second Polish republic in 1918 from territory seized by its eastern and Western neighbours in the 18th century, made possible by the defeat of Russia, Germany and Austria in World War One.

Also on Sunday, world leaders gather in Paris to mark the end of the war.

Slideshow (5 Images)
Poland's eurosceptic leaders hold joint march with far right groups | Reuters

 

[Hi_Henry]

November 10, 2018 - Poland's Eurosceptic Leaders hold joint march with Far Right Groups




Warsaw’s city mayor sought to ban a far-right march held on Nov. 11 annually for almost a decade but a court overruled her.

Well it looks like Reuters is painting this as I would expect. A pack of footballers organized the Event. The picture with the burning roman candles frames everything that way in the article.

https://static.pulse.com.gh/img/foo.../0d1edb1afa4a883ffe4a48cab099e2aca36b31a7.jpg

Obviously the organizers of the event need to get city permits to carry out the event. One would think that a huge march like this would best be done during daylight. But it is not. My conclusion, the authorities are doing this on purpose so as to provoke "problems" during night conditions when it is tough to figure out who is who. I suspect an earlier time would not allow to generate the maximum negative coverage to a nationalistic event.

The organizers IMHO are not learning anything from past coverage of their marches in Western Media. Or perhaps they don't care. But a look back should be conducted and conclusion drawn. These then should be considered in modifying future events.

Don't give ammunition to those that paint you Black, the Mainstream Media. Don't play into their hands.

 

[thorbiorn]

Well it looks like Reuters is painting this as I would expect. A pack of footballers organized the Event. The picture with the burning roman candles frames everything that way in the article.

https://static.pulse.com.gh/img/foo.../0d1edb1afa4a883ffe4a48cab099e2aca36b31a7.jpg

Obviously the organizers of the event need to get city permits to carry out the event. One would think that a huge march like this would best be done during daylight. But it is not. My conclusion, the authorities are doing this on purpose so as to provoke "problems" during night conditions when it is tough to figure out who is who. I suspect an earlier time would not allow to generate the maximum negative coverage to a nationalistic event.

The organizers IMHO are not learning anything from past coverage of their marches in Western Media. Or perhaps they don't care. But a look back should be conducted and conclusion drawn. These then should be considered in modifying future events.

Don't give ammunition to those that paint you Black, the Mainstream Media. Don't play into their hands.

The chaos of Ukraine moving west. Perhaps, as you suggest, segments of the Polish administration really don't care. They are at odds with the EU on the issue of immigration. If they deviate from the EU policies, they have sanctions, so perhaps they think, why not led the mob handle it and say sorry, we couldn't do anything. Perhaps segments of the people who organize also don't care how they appear in the media. They have seen Poland vilified by the EU, and don't have many hopes except to make noise.

 

[Hi_Henry]

Well I was right. Even RT is putting on the spin that its the crazy farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr- rightttttttttttttttttttttttt that was marching (boots) in Warsaw on the 11th of November. Ha ha ha ....

"Oh look, it was total chaos !!! My God, Poles are Fascists."

So the observations I made in this thread as to "How not to generate NEGATIVE PR" can be found in their article all over the place.

WATCH thousands of far-right marchers light a SEA OF FLARES in Poland as police look on

RT on Poland
Here is BBC outdoing RT with its main image.
Independent BBC

Pathetic because nothing is said about these people,

Amazing, I had to go to a Muslim site to find a photo with regular people in the Warsaw 2017 march. Sad part, the photo is from 2011.

muslimnews.co.uk

Throw this into GOOGLE "2018 warsaw march independence families walking" and look at the "IMAGE" results. Extremists, Sea of Red Colored Smoke (danger) and .... no regular people, students or families. Now that's Manipulation !!!

BUT THEY WERE THERE. I took the effort to look at the live feed and they were the vast vast MAJORITY.

I just took the text I had for GOOGLE Search and translated it into Polish. My first search result was this album, Regular People

They Are There !!!!

 

[angelburst29]

November 10, 2018 - Poland's Eurosceptic Leaders hold joint march with Far Right Groups
Poland's eurosceptic leaders hold joint march with far right groups | Reuters

Well I was right. Even RT is putting on the spin that its the crazy farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr- rightttttttttttttttttttttttt that was marching (boots) in Warsaw on the 11th of November. Ha ha ha ....

"Oh look, it was total chaos !!! My God, Poles are Fascists."

In Reuters news feed this Monday morning Nov. 12th :

Nov. 12, 2018 - Poland's Eurosceptic Leaders, Far Right mark Independence Centenary at mass march
Poland's eurosceptic leaders, far right mark independence centenary at mass march | Reuters


People carry Polish flags and flares as they sing Polish national anthem during a march marking the 100th anniversary of Polish independence in Warsaw, Poland November 11, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Poland's eurosceptic leaders marked a century of national independence on Sunday as more than 200,000 people marched through the capital in a parade involving far-right groups and neo-fascist activists from Italy.

The march is a focus of debate about whether the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) tacitly encourages groups with roots in the fascist and anti-Semitic movements. The party won power in 2015 and Poland has since become increasingly isolated in Europe amid accusations of a tilt towards authoritarian rule.

Some marchers in Warsaw chanted: “Away with the EU” but there was no sign of white supremacist banners visible at last year’s march.

Government officials walked at a distance from the main marchers, away from any overt displays of nationalism, and they were kept separate by security forces.

“Thank you for coming here, for Poland, and for bringing the white and red (Polish) flag which saw our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers spill their blood,” President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, said at the start of the march.

“There is space for everyone under our flags,” he said.

Several hundred meters behind the government column, participants held banners saying “God, Honour, Homeland” and launched red flares, blanketing sections of the march with smoke.

Some chanted: “Pride, pride, national pride” and “Yesterday it was Moscow, today it is Brussels, stripping us of our sovereignty.”

Warsaw’s city mayor sought to ban a far-right march held on Nov. 11 annually for almost a decade but a court overruled her.

The government then agreed with organizers after last-minute talks to hold a joint event to mark a 100 years since Poland’s 1918 declaration of independence after an 18th century partition by Russia, Austria and Germany.

“It was the biggest march of free Poles in a free Poland ever,” government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcinska told state PAP news agency.

“GREAT PATRIOTS”
Last year, the annual far-right march was dotted with racist banners such as “pure blood, clear mind” and “Europe will be white or uninhabited”.

Those slogans fueled concern about the rise of xenophobia in Poland at a time when other European countries are also grappling with a resurgence of the far right.

PiS says it rejects anti-Semitism and racism but critics accuse it of quietly siding with the far-right.

While insisting Poland should remain in the EU, PiS refuses to allow immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa into the country, and says more decision-making power should be moved from Brussels to national capitals.

The party taps into frustration with liberal values and anti-establishment sentiment that has galvanized far-right voters in other parts of Europe. It promises more Catholic faith and patriotism in public life and more state say in the economy.

“Remember the shameful slogans of last year’s Nov. 11 march?,” centrist lawmaker Marcin Kierwinski said on Twitter on Saturday. “A year later, their authors are meeting with the president and prime minister instead of a prosecutor.”

Some participants carried banners with religious and anti-abortion images.

“The organizers of the Independence March ... are great patriots. In our times, the youth wasn’t this patriotic,” said Teresa Radzikowska, a 70-year-old retiree from central Poland who attended the march.

Before the late-night agreement with the government on Friday to hold a joint event, organizers had said they expected the march to be the biggest far-right event in Europe in years.

One foreign participant said he came to Warsaw because Poland “had not lost its national identity.”

“You’ve not bowed down to Islam and you’re not bowing down to globalism either,” said James Goddard, who traveled from Leicester in central England just for the march.

On Nov. 11 Poles commemorate the establishment of the second Polish republic in 1918 from territory seized by its eastern and Western neighbors in the 18th century, made possible by the defeat of Russia, Germany and Austria in World War One. World leaders gathered in Paris on Sunday to mark the end of the war.

Slideshow (6 Images)
Poland's eurosceptic leaders, far right mark independence centenary at mass march | Reuters

~~~
(Comment) - As quoted above, "PiS refuses to allow immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa into the country, and says more decision-making power should be moved from Brussels to national capitals." ... so, is Bulgaria "next in line" to experience protests in the streets with red flares? Consider this recent quote by the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, “If one or two or three countries leave the United Nations migration pact, then we as the EU can’t stand up for our own interests,” he told a business summit. Is the EU behind the protest in Poland?
~~~


November 12, 2018 - Bulgaria becomes latest EU state to shun U.N. migration pact
Bulgaria becomes latest EU state to shun U.N. migration pact | Reuters


Bulgarian border policemen stand near the barbed wire fence constructed on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, near Lesovo, Bulgaria September 14, 2016. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Bulgaria on Monday joined the growing ranks of European Union nations opposed to a United Nations pact that aims to regulate the treatment of migrants worldwide.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved in July by all 193 member nations except the United States, which backed out last year. It followed the biggest influx of migrants into Europe since World War Two, many fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.

However, the right-wing governments of Hungary and Austria have since said they will not sign the final document at a ceremony in Morocco in December over concerns that it will blur the line between legal and illegal migration.

Poland, the Czech Republic and now Bulgaria have signaled they may follow suit.

“The position of the Bulgarian government will be not to join the United Nations’ global pact on migration,” the deputy leader of the main ruling center-right GERB party, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, said after a meeting of coalition chiefs.

GERB’s anti-migrant junior coalition partner, the United Patriots, is strongly opposed to the U.N. pact, which it says endangers national interests.

The Bulgarian parliament will debate the pact on Wednesday.

The U.N. pact addresses issues such as how to protect people who migrate, how to integrate them into new countries and how to return them to their home countries.

The Swiss diplomat who helped negotiate the pact, Pietro Mona, defended the accord on Monday, saying it helped smaller countries such as Switzerland to better defend their interests.

Speaking in Berlin on Monday, the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, appealed for a united EU front on migration and other issues.

“If one or two or three countries leave the United Nations migration pact, then we as the EU can’t stand up for our own interests,” he told a business summit.

Bulgaria, which lies on one of the main migratory routes from the Middle East to western Europe, says it is already taking steps to stop illegal migration and protect the EU’s external borders.


12.11.2018 - EU to Weaken as Int'l Player if some Countries leave UN Migration Pact - Juncker
EU to Weaken as Int'l Player if Some Countries Leave UN Migration Pact – Juncker

Following the US and Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have also expressed their plans to not sign the UN Pact on Migration in December.

If one or two EU countries leave the UN migration pact, that weakens the EU as an international player, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker stated.

The statement comes after the government of Bulgaria refused to support the accession of the country to the UN World Pact on Migration. The decision was voiced by the chairman of the parliamentary group of the governing party Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, following a meeting of the coalition council of the governing parties.

In addition to this, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis expressed his desire to pull the Czech Republic out of a UN migration agreement on November 1, saying that he would discuss the matter with his governing coalition partner.

The German parliament, in turn, rejected a motion brought by the Alternative for Germany party, which demanded that Berlin not ratify the United Nations Global Compact for Migration.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is an intergovernmental agreement establishing a common understanding of all aspects of international migration and a framework for comprehensive international cooperation.

The European Union has been experiencing a large-scale migration crisis since 2015 due to an influx of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing crises in the Middle East and North Africa.

The countries of the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — are known for their tough stance on accepting refugees, which has repeatedly been harshly criticized by EU bodies and many European politicians.


12.11.2018 - Polish Nationalists set EU Flag on Fire during march in Warsaw (Photo)
Polish Nationalists Set EU Flag on Fire During March in Warsaw (PHOTO)

Relations between Warsaw and Brussels have recently deteriorated over several disagreements on Poland's judiciary reforms; now there is a "very serious threat" of Poland leaving the European Union.

A recent march commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the country's independence, that took place in Poland's capital on November 11 took on an ultra-nationalist air when protesters started to set the EU flag on fire, chanting "down with the EU." Over 250,000 people reportedly gathered in the streets to participate in the march.

The All-Polish Youth organization, which espouses ultra-nationalist and fascist doctrines, posted a photo of the burning EU flag on Twitter.

Flaga Unii Europejskiej spalona. Tłum skanduje: Precz z Unią Europejską!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1061652116064874496

— Młodzież Wszechpolska (@MWszechpolska)

"The commandant of the metropolitan police is offering a reward of five thousand zlotys ($1,400) to those who help find those who did it," the Warsaw police said in a statement.

The incident has already been criticized by the Centre for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behavior.

According to the head of Morawiecki's chancellery, Michal Dworczyk, a few incidents have taken place during the march, yet they were considered "minimal."

A dozen or so irresponsible people cannot destroy a great national holiday," he said.

The EU has recently criticised Poland's judiciary reforms, in particular, a new law that lowers the retirement age for Supreme Court judges to 65. According to Brussels, such reforms may threaten the rule of law in the country.


11.11.2018 - Nationalists march in Warsaw on 100th Anniversary of Polish Independence (Video)
Nationalists March in Warsaw on 100th Anniversary of Polish Independence (VIDEO)

Right-wing activists and eurosceptic leaders are marching through the street of the Poland's capital to commemorate 100 years of country's independence.

The march was organised by right-wing groups such as the National Radical Camp and the National Movement. In 2017, over 60,000 people participated in a similar march.


11.11.2018 - Polish leaders hold joint march with nationalists on 100th anniversary of Independence Day
Polish leaders hold joint march with nationalists on 100th anniversary of Independence Day

Around 200,000 people, including Poland's leaders and nationalist groups, marched through Warsaw on Sunday to mark the 100th anniversary of Polish independence.

The joint march is a focus of debate about whether the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) tacitly encourages groups with roots in the fascist and anti-Semitic movements.

Government officials walked at a distance from the main marchers and away from any overt displays of nationalism.

© Provided by Euronews SA REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

© Provided by Euronews SA Agencja Gazeta/Agata Grzybowska via REUTERS

© Provided by Euronews SA REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

© Provided by Euronews SA

 

[thorbiorn]

Found trace of how former NATO employees are lobbying in Poland to boost the fear of Russia and promote the need for a permanent US base. The example comes through the words of former General Secretary of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who was very "helpful" to get Poland behind the invasion of Iraque in 2004. Now the recommendation is for the permanent NATO base and maintaining a hardline stance with regard to sanctions against Russia. Polish speakers may have seen these links:
Anders Fogh Rasmussen: jestem za stałą obecnością wojsk NATO w Polsce
Rozmowa dnia: Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Q&A with Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Ex-NATO chief backs permanent US base in Poland

 

[Deleted member 4320]

Q: (Pierre) Well, so it's that. People got scared. That's a documented thing. The first leaks from Macron's servers was those documents from a NATO/CIA-sponsored foundation in France that was pushing for a lot of migration and a lot of mosques and stuff. I was wondering if his main mission is to bring in migrants and stir things up to lead towards a civil war?

A: US wishes to destabilize EU similar to Syria so that they can come in and "fix" things. i.e. rule and control resources and trade the "American way". Everyone will speak English!
Session 13 May 2017

Current government is anti-migrant toward muslim people, but open, for instance, to the Ukrainian.

However not really I write post about migration, rather the anti EU moods recall me the fragment from C's about destabilization of EU. Destabilization can come with the war between the european countries (not necessary open military agression).

Poland seems to follow these instructions and be in its very early phase.

 

[angelburst29]

November 13, 2018 - Polish Financial Regulator quits as Government probes Bribe Allegations: PAP
Polish financial regulator quits as government probes bribe allegations: PAP | Reuters

WARSAW - The head of Poland’s financial market regulator resigned on Tuesday, the state-run news agency said, hours after he was summoned by the prime minister over newspaper reports he had sought a multi-million dollar bribe from a bank.

The PAP news agency said KNF chief Marek Chrzanowski denied the newspaper reports and quoted him as saying that he was resigning out of “a sense of responsibility for the functioning of regulatory supervision over the financial sector”.

Chrzanowski did not immediately reply to requests for comment from Reuters.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki earlier demanded an investigation of reports that Chrzanowski asked Getin Noble Bank to hire a specific lawyer and pay him a salary equal to 1 percent of the bank’s capitalization, around $10.5 million.

In return the mid-tier lender would receive “support” from the regulator, the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and the Financial Times reported, citing a deposition to Polish prosecutors from Getin Noble Bank’s owner, Leszek Czarnecki.

Reuters has seen a copy of the deposition.

The prosecutor’s office confirmed that a representative of Czarnecki had notified it that he suspected a crime had been committed related to corruption.

Getin Noble Bank declined to comment.

KNF denied any wrongdoing and said information regarding an offer by its chairman to favor Getin Noble Bank in exchange for a payment of around 40 million zloty ($10.5 mln) was not true.

“Such a proposal was not offered during any meeting with Mr Czarnecki,” a KNF spokesman said in a statement.

The lawyer named in the deposition, Grzegorz Kowalczyk, said the first he had heard about the allegations was in the media.

“I have never consented to anyone seeking a job for me at Getin. I have never talked to Leszek Czarnecki. I know Marek Chrzanowski privately,” he told Reuters.

Chrzanowski, a former central banker, was nominated to his post in 2016 by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has said one of the pillars of its fiscal policy is fighting corruption in value-added tax collection.

Before his reported resignation, the prime minister summoned Chrzanowski to a meeting on Wednesday with the minister responsible for Poland’s secret services, the head of the prime minister’s office, Michal Dworczyk, said on Twitter.

The meeting was later canceled, he told Polsat News broadcaster.

“The prime minister has asked the services and the prosecutor’s office to take quick and decisive action in order to check and clarify information concerning the KNF chairman”, government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcinska said.

Shares in Getin Noble Bank, which is Poland’s ninth lender by assets, have fallen 66 percent this year, and were down by more than 5 percent by 1545 GMT.

The bank has a credit portfolio with a significant number of bad loans, some of them foreign-currency denominated. Czarnecki had promised to pump 1 billion zlotys into the bank this year and next.


November 14, 2018 - Polish Plan to make richest pay more for Pensions is Unconstitutional: Court
Polish plan to make richest pay more for pensions is unconstitutional: court | Reuters

WARSAW - The Polish government’s plan to make the wealthiest taxpayers contribute more to fund pensions and disability payments is unconstitutional, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled on Wednesday, according to state news agency PAP.

The legislation is part of a broader effort by the ruling eurosceptic Law and Justice party to bolster state coffers and fund its expensive social spending policies.

PAP said the labor ministry had expected higher pension and disability contributions to bring in an additional 5.4 billion zloty ($1.4 billion) this year alone.

That would have helped the government reduce its budget deficit, which it currently expects to come to 41.5 billion zloty in 2018.

PiS, a grouping with a left-leaning economic policy and a nationalist agenda, had wanted to eliminate a cap on contributions which had been introduced by previous governments to reflect the limits on state pensions.

Poland’s creaking pension system, a legacy of communist-era state control of the economy, is a major drain on public finances because of the aging population.


November 13, 2018 - Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary face tough Brexit ride: ING
Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary face tough Brexit ride: ING | Reuters

LONDON - The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary face being hit hard by Brexit, a new ING report estimates, as changes to key supply chains and a drop in expat worker remittances compound what could be a 20 percent cut in the countries’ EU funding.

The Dutch bank’s report, published on Tuesday, said the carmaking, agriculture and textiles industries would suffer the most from potential disruption arising from Britain’s planned withdrawal from the European Union in March 2019.

Britain is Poland’s second largest export market and Poland maintains a large trade surplus with the UK worth just over 8 billion euros ($9.02 billion) a year.

Both Hungary and the Czech Republic meanwhile are exposed to British demand for vehicles, with 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent of the respective GDP linked to value added exports to the UK.

The biggest threat, though, will be what Brexit could mean for the 2021-27 EU budget, discussions around which are already taking shape, the ING report indicated.

Currently, Britain contributes around 6 percent of the EU’s budget but its departure will also see average EU GDP per capita levels decline.

That will mean Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary’s GDP per capita levels are no longer below the average and the funding they receive will therefore most likely get cut.

“This and fresh priorities will have profound implications for the 2021-27 budget round, potentially delivering 20 percent plus declines in real terms for the likes of the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary,” ING estimated.

Any extension in the Brexit transition period beyond 2020 would soften that figure somewhat, it acknowledged, but the money central European-born workers living in Britain send back to their homeland, known as remittances, is also likely to fall.

Britain plans tighter controls on immigration after Brexit.

Poland is the largest recipient of remittances with total inflows of 1 billion euros a year. Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria are all quite far behind at 0.3, 0.15, 0.14 and 0.07 billion respectively.

But there are nuances there too. Many Polish workers have been in Britain for more than 10 year, meaning they will not have to leave after Brexit.

“Romania may be more exposed from a decline in remittances than Poland, since the Polish presence in the UK workforce is more mature,” ING said.

The report noted that some western EU states could also suffer from Brexit, with the Netherlands relying for 3.44 percent of its GDP on British demand, 1.5 times the EU average.

Ireland is also exposed, with its central bank forecasting that if Brexit were to leave British-Irish trade governed by World Trade Organisation rules for countries with no bilateral deals, Ireland’s gross domestic product (GDP) would decline 2.9 percent lower in the long run.


November 14, 2018 - Czechs join other EU States rejecting U.N. Migration Pact
Czechs join other EU states rejecting U.N. migration pact | Reuters

PRAGUE - The Czech Republic on Wednesday joined the growing ranks of European Union countries that reject a United Nations pact to regulate the treatment of migrants worldwide.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved in July by all 193 member UN nations except the United States, which backed out last year. It followed the biggest influx of migrants into Europe since World War Two, many fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

But the Czech cabinet voted early on Wednesday not to sign the accord, a government source told Reuters, in line with indications earlier this month.

“The Czech Republic has long favored the principle of separating legal and illegal migration,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Brabec told a news conference. “That is what the Czech Republic’s and other European countries’ suggestions aimed for. The final text does not reflect those proposals.”

The Czech concerns have been shared by the right-wing governments of Hungary and Austria, which have also said they will not sign the agreement at a ceremony in Morocco in December.

Bulgaria’s coalition government, which includes the anti-migration United Patriots party, has also dropped out of the accord, and its parliament is due to vote on the issue on Wednesday. Poland has said it may follow suit.

The non-binding U.N. pact addresses issues such as how to protect people who migrate, how to integrate them into new countries and how to return them to their home countries.

U.N. Special Representative for International Migration Louise Arbour has called moves to shun the accord regrettable and mistaken and said the compact simply aimed to improve the management of cross-border movements of people.

 

[Hi_Henry]

Britain is Poland’s second largest export market and Poland maintains a large trade surplus with the UK worth just over 8 billion euros ($9.02 billion) a year.

Both Hungary and the Czech Republic meanwhile are exposed to British demand for vehicles, with 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent of the respective GDP linked to value added exports to the UK.

From a report,

Foreign direct investment

According to the National Bank of Poland, the value of UK FDI in Poland in 2014 was €5.9 billion, which represented only 3.4% of the total FDI stock (€171.7 billion) registered in the country. Among the largest British investors are Tesco Plc (retail trade), Imperial Tobacco, GlaxoSmithKline (pharmaceuticals), British Oxygen Corporation (industrial gases), Aviva Plc (insurance), Bates Ltd (transport and storage), Cadbury Schweppes (foodstuffs) and Shell Overseas Holdings Ltd. (oil products). A recent trend is to move auxiliary departments of medium and large British firms, such as accounting or HR, to Poland (i.e. offshoring). A considerable part of direct investment goes to real estate. Interestingly, UK financial firms have not invested much in Poland (except for Aviva). Among the 20 largest Polish banks, there is no bank with a dominant share of British capital.

Well I would love to see who is exporting to Britain that is located in Poland and thus contributing to the mentioned statistic for Poland. Because statistics can be very misleading. Misleading can also be so called "Polish Companies". How much of GlaxoSmithKline's revenue in Poland is taxed and remains in Poland ? How about Tesco Plc ? I bet not much.

 

[angelburst29]

16.11.2018 - US Not Willing to set up 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland - Reports
US Not Willing to Set Up 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland – Reports

The United States is not eager to set up a military base, referred to as Fort Trump, in Poland, but its military presence in the European country is still very likely to grow, Onet reported Friday, citing sources.

Warsaw is ready to give up the preliminary concept of establishing the so-called Fort Trump base, but the two sides are still discussing the deployment of US arms and ammunition depots, as well as elements of its command and intelligence structure to Poland, according to Onet news outlet.

In addition, Washington reportedly has some conditions for increasing its military presence in Poland.

The reports follow a statement of US President Donald Trump at a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in September that the United States was considering establishing a base in Poland.

Trump also stated that Warsaw agreed to pay more than $2 billion toward the cost of the base. The Polish president, in turn, suggested that the base is called Fort Trump.

 

[angelburst29]

The Church - that thinks - it too BIG to fail? Every Country around the Globe has been "afflicted" by it's SIN's!

November 19, 2018 - Polish Church asks for Forgiveness for Pedophilia Cases
Polish Church asks for forgiveness for pedophilia cases | Reuters

WARSAW - Poland’s Catholic Church on Monday asked victims of sexual abuse by the clergy for forgiveness, a month after an appeal court upheld a ruling stating the Church was responsible for the crimes of one of its priests.

The Catholic Church worldwide is reeling from crises involving sexual abuse of minors, damaging confidence in the Church in Chile, the United States, Australia and Ireland and other countries.

The Polish court of appeal upheld last month a landmark ruling granting a million zloty ($260,000) in compensation to a victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, accepting that the Church was responsible.

“We ask God, the victims of abuse, their families and the Church community for forgiveness for all the harm done to children and young people and their relatives,” the Polish Bishops wrote in a statement after a conference dedicated to the issue.

They called on victims to report the crimes to Church and state authorities.

“We note with sadness that in Poland too there are cases of sexual abuse of children and young people by some members of the clergy and those working in the Church. We repeat after Pope Francis: ‘The pain of the victims and of their families is also our pain,’” the bishops said.

Pope Francis will meet bishops from around the world at the Vatican in February to discuss the protection of minors.

More than 5 million people flocked to cinemas across Poland in recent weeks to watch a movie called “Clergy” that depicts Catholic priests in a highly unflattering light, breaking box-office records.


November 6, 2018 - Polish parliament questions Tusk over Amber Gold scandal
Polish parliament questions Tusk over Amber Gold scandal

A special parliamentary commission in Poland is currently looking into the actions of European Council President Donald Tusk and his government’s responsibility for the Amber Gold pyramid scheme while he served as Poland’s prime minister from 2007-2014.

Amber Gold ran a pyramid scheme from 2009 to 2012 that promised high returns but ultimately cheated thousands of Poles out of €200 million in savings.

The commission has sought to determine the scope of Tusk’s authority over state security and other offices and when he was made aware of the pyramid scheme.

Tusk has denied any responsibility, pointing to the failure of the independent regulators at Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. Investigators from the ruling Law and Justice party, Tusk’s bitter political rivals, have attempted to link Tusk to the scandal.

For his part, Tusk has said the watchdog should have prohibited or better fact-checked their advertising claims. He also said the country’s regulators failed to react in time to the warning signals about Amber Gold, which was under their authority and not the office of the prime minister.

Law and Justice’s arch-conservative party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has recently turned his efforts to trying to discredit the still-popular Tusk. Kaczynski claims that negligence under Tusk was the reason for the 2010 plane crash in which his identical twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, was killed.