An interesting question
And a personalization of how the war in Iraq affects Poles too.
What's in it for Poland?
 
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According to a Chinese philosopher, Han Feizi, seeking friends among the countries that are far away and neglecting the neighboring ones is one of the over 40 symptoms of country's fall. As we read the text on our class, how strange we felt, when we discovered that Poland HAS them all! "Ke wang ye!" ("It has to fall!") as Han feizi said.
P.S. Long time no article in here, Gustav. Glad to see you back into blogging! :)
(imho) it's stupid question.
some (poles) are affected; most of us -- not (not yet?)
19th soldier?
they are (imho) in Iraq for something personal
(for money mostly, position.. some -- for some kind of experience too; i think...)
but thinking about ALL COUNTRY...
its not so simple.
...................
(of course if You take some oppinons from the streets of warsaw; and more -- from Warsaw Saloon (-s) -- you can see (some kind of) COMMON oppinion...
but warsaw -- it's not All poland
(like paris -- not all France; and new york...)
ps,
>> amy
("i like Chinese" -- something like Monthy Python song;-)
in our world there is no "countries that are far away..."
Osama is in new york; chechnia is in moscow...
and so on.
Amy - while I'm more than willing to question this government's attitude toward close neighbors, Makowski has a point that these days, geographical distance means less and less.
But Makowski, Poland is paying a political price too. Not to mention the financial price that the government is paying. On top of that, while few Poles are directly affected, a huge majority oppose participation.
So - where's the return on investment?
Isn't that a fair question to ask?
Looks like you have upgraded to New Blogger......have you figured out how to isolate your comments feed from the main page feed?
Haven't figured out anything about it yet really. Mostly it just ticks me off by getting my sign-in name wrong all the time.
Could it be that the thing that's in it for Poland is pure and simple prestige?
After years of effectivley having no foriegn policy, Poland wants to stamp its mark on the world of international relations.
Also, i have a question while you're on the subject of blogs. I am new to blogging, how do i get my blog noticed and read. Is there a notification system or index of some sort. It comes u in random searhes, but you have to know what you're after which kind of defeats the point.
Check This Out Gus
What's in it for Poland?
I don't know....survival?
It's an obvious answer for most of us.
Unless you're one of those people who deny the existence of Islamic terrorism. If you're not one of those people, then maybe it's time to face the fact that we have a deadly serious enemy that needs attention now rather than later.
Define Poland? Then you will know what is in it for the various entities that make up Poland. Kaczka has just returned from Iraq after striking an arms deal with his Iraqi counterpart - so we can be sure the coffers of the arms dealers are doing quite well!
The soldiers - well, being so far away from your loved ones while in an unwinnable war situation affects them and their loved ones but the rest of society doesn't lose any sleep over it.
One big affect would have been if Orlen got it's dirty hands on oil contracts it sought - but it didn't! Marcinkiewicz was wrong.
Similar to the Irish, the Poles passively resist their country's collaboration. But a bread and butter issue it ain't. So until such time as another Polish soldier loses his life and Poles sympathise for one minute during the news coverage, Iraq, does not affect Poles at all.
Likwidshoe: If Poland is so endangered by islamic terrorism, why hasn't it been attacked yet? In the view of most Poles, cooperating with the US puts it in more danger, not less.
The primary goal for Poles of cooperating with the US in its military adventures, is putting their country on the international stage. Poles aren't very concerned with the threat to their survival of islamic terrorism. They're more concerned about Russia's threat to their survival.
Poles want more influence in international affairs. The question is - can the US help them get it?
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