Warsaw Station

Trying something out

2010-03-14T11:12:00.002+01:00

Warsaw Business Journal
March-15-21, 2010 (vol. 16 #10)
Download this issue in PDF format

The Lions: "a crazy train to craptown"

2008-11-12T22:09:00.001+01:00

Fire Ford. Sell the Lions to Ilitch

http://www.nfl.com/thanksgiving/story?id=09000d5d80c6de1b&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Gustav goes to Georgia

2008-10-30T20:07:00.011+01:00

I was recently in Georgia (yes, the country) on a press trip. Since I no longer have any real time to blog, here are my press notes, 2 1/2 months after the country's war with Russia.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF GEORGIA:

This place is at least as poor as Morocco. GDP is minuscule, as is GDP per head. The complaints of the Georgians we have run into so far include those that were common in Poland not so long ago – our bus driver complains that his daughter speaks 3 languages (Russian, German, and Georgian) and has a degree in economics, but still can't find a decent job. She was finally hired by a Turkish company. Her salary is some 300 lari (<$300) per month. Pensions are 70 lari per month. There is apparently dissatisfaction at gov't policy to keep wages low and deny workers rights in favor of investment.

GDP has been roaring forward over the past few years. GDP growth was 10% in 2006 and 12% in 2007, but that is expected to drop to just 5% this year due to the war. While Poland would be happy with 5% next year (will probably be somewhat higher this year), Georgia's economy is so small that to raise standards of living to Western standards at a satisfactory rate, it must grow much faster. Most of the slowdown is due to the complete shutdown of the tourism industry in August, usually the busiest month for tourism.

“We [her tourism company, as well as others] shut down tourism in August. Even though some said 'Ok, we are ready to come,' we cancelled all tours,” says Inga Belova, our tour guide. “We simply didn't know what would happen. [Despite the signing of the ceasefire], there was this plan to take Tbilisi, so we were forced to shut down everything,” she says.

We pass houses being built for refugees. How many refugees are there? We ask. Belova doesn't know the answer, but gives this anecdotal evidence: “I can tell you that every school in Tbilisi had at least 400 refugees each,” she says.

The people are absolutely fantastic. Most are jet-black haired and brown-eyed. Skin tone varies, though there is much tan skin. It is rainy and chilly our first day in Georgia. When asked if this type of weather is typical for Georgia in August, our tour guide says “No. It is usually quite warm.”

As racist/stereotypical as it sounds, the people here seem just like a mix of slavic and arabic. Big, slavic noses and eyes, with the dark hair and eyes of Turkey or Iraq. Geography seems to support this idea. Or have I made it up as a result of the geography and my own prejudices?

We walk through cave town (Uplistsikhe) which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's rather boring unfortunately. There are several dug-out pits with small crevasses leading down into them. Some are for wine that is squeezed from grapes, and some of these are collectors for the blood of sacrificed animals. Georgians still sacrifice animals apparently, and now connect it with their Christian faith. Another interesting part is an amphitheater which still has Roman carvings on the ceiling.

The Georgian flag was adopted with Mikeil Saakashvili's rise to the presidency. Though it contains St. George's cross, the tour guide maintains that “Georgia” comes from the greek “geo” or land, since Georgians lived off of the land. According to sources, ancient literature refers to Georgia being very big on the cult of St. George. The 9th-century basilica at the site of the cave city complex is dedicated to St. George, and has many pictures of him.

Walked around park in Borjomi. Park is large, with many facilities (several children's playgrounds, including a “fairyland” as well as a cable car which one can ride to the top of a mountain which rises up on the edge of the park. Other relatively modern-looking buildings, but don't know what they are).

A plaque/bench at the entrance of the park says it was opened in 2005 jointly with President of Georgia Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Yushchenko. However, the Belova says the park opened just last year.

Gori:

Gori – Is this the city that we heard on the television and radio reports was devastated by Russian bombs?

If it was the authorities have done a tremendous job of rebuilding. Two and a half months after the conflict, not a single bullet hole, not a solitary bomb hole is visible. The Georgian authorities have covered up every trace of the war in hopes of bringing the country back to normal as soon as possible.

“They were considering leaving one of the destroyed houses – like in Hiroshima or Nagasaki,” explains Belova. “But they soon gave up this idea. Everything has been rebuilt.”

It's certainly difficult to tell. A statue of Stalin still stands proudly before the local parliamentary building, which somewhat ironically resembles a miniature Reichstag.

Gori is the city where Stalin was born, and a museum to his tribute still stands, along with his first house in the city and his original traincar that he used during World War II. If the bombs reached this particular Gori landmark, there are no signs to show it. And despite the Russian invasion this past August, the population hasn't given up their affinity for the home-grown dictator.

“Stalin was a very generous man,” gushes a guide at the Stalin museum in Gori, as she points to portraits of the young revolutionary.

“I have to warn you, they are crazy about Stalin here,” Belova tells me, though it's obvious the citizenry is proud of the small-town boy who grew up to lead one of the 20^th century's superpowers for 30 years.

Gori – with a population of 70,000 Georgia's fourth-largest city – closely resembles a provincial Polish town. Students in modern fashion wander the streets along with unkempt and unemployed 50-somethings. The inside of the Stalin museum, for all of it's carefully laid-out interior, is surrounded by a certain disorder, with the unkempt bushes and lawns around the building. The architecture mostly comprises the classic communist boxes, with fragile, wood-framed rectangle windows and re-bar guards/decoration.

Bakuriani ski resort town:

A small ski-resort town. Picturesque, but under construction. There is a gleaming new, modern-standard cable-car system which has been built there and opened last year, but which is still incomplete. The third station at the top of the mountains is still under construction. In fact, the lower, bottom gondola station does not look complete, there is still much construction being done all around – there is an entire “city” being being built there. “All of this will be ready by the middle of the ski season, in January (ski season lasts until March)” said Belova.

“All of the land for development is already sold,” she adds.

Looking at the state of things, it's difficult to believe that they will finish all of the construction by that time. It seems possible though, if they continue to build through the winter. But there is much to be done.

The roads in Bakuriani are extremely bad. This is of course understandable given the amount of construction. Once the construction finishes, the roads are to be paved. All of this is to be finished by the end of 2009.

A ride on the new cable-car system for the whole day costs 25 lari, or approximately $18.

The city itself is a schitzophrenic mix of the Soviet and the modern. Communist-style pensionats stand next to beautiful, modern, ski lodges. In these gleaming lodges sit burgois tourists from Austria and the Baltic states, while poor Georgians hang their laundry outside, and drive old scooters hauling wooden trailers behind them. Ugly yellow gas pipes run above ground, exposed. Cows still graze in pastures near the ski-slopes.

Currently, this is likely not the most comfortable place to take a skiing vacation – but certainly full of atmosphere and hospitality – and beautiful views. There is much, much more coming obviously, and within 3 years this will be as handsome a ski resort as any in Europe, Though perhaps not as big.

According to Belova, Bakuriani is a resort not necessarily for “expert” skiers who want the most challenging slopes, but is rather for families. Hard to believe, really. Doesn't seem like anything would be easy, and though most everyone speaks Russian, there seem to be few English speakers. This is sure to change when the new infrastructure revs up and young, professional tour operators, guides and hoteliers start coming in. Perhaps they are already there, but it sure doesn't look like there would be infrastructure there to support them.

Another drawback of Bakuriani is that a day trip to Tbilisi is impossible. Apparently there is more “expert” skiing in Gudauri, which is also closer to Tbilisi.

THERE ARE STRAY DOGS EVERYWHERE!!!

In this ski resort town we meet Omari, the owner/administrator of a small hotel (Apollon), who invites me to the basement with Misha (Mikheil, the bus driver) for some vodka, apparently produced by his family. We drink some of his family's wine. I get pretty darn tipsy after about 4 shots of vodka and 2 or 3 glasses of wine, which both Omari and Misha order I drink right down. We drink to friends, we drink to our families, and we drink to our countries.

“America and Georgia good. America and Georgia friends,” exclaims Misha. “Russia no good, Russia no go,” he adds, and pounds down a glass of home-made wine. Omari, who is 66 and tells us that he fought in the Red Army, just shrugs and smiles. He repeats Misha's words but it is unclear if he is trying to make sure I understand or if he actually agrees. Misha expresses his pride in never having served in the Red Army. He is 60 years old – my father's age, and full of life. He has one grandchild. Omari is 66 and says he has three. He served in the Red Army, he says.

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park:

Largest national park in Georgia (of approx. 10) at 78,000 ha. It's a gorgeous gorge, Beautiful.

August is peak season for tourists at the park, so the Russian invasion basically wiped out tourist season there. Park officials say they lost 40,000 lari, which is not all that very much, but when one considers that until now the park averaged only about 2,000 paying visitors per year. (Georgians don't typically go there, as so many already live close to nature.)

Can hear the sound of chopping wood. The locals were originally against the park (opened in 2001) because they were worried that they wouldn't be able to chop their own wood for the winter. A compromise was reached that there are certain areas where they are allowed to chop trees for their own heating use, but they are not allowed to sell it.

A trip for journalists to this park to write about tourism there was planned for August, as part of the park's cooperation within a European park system to help promotion of the park. This trip was canceled, obviously.

Tbilisi:

Rustaveli Avenue is the main avenue in the city, on which lies the Opera & Ballet House stands.

A new, posh Kempinski hotel is being built where the center for Marxism once was.

Tbilisi's architecture comprises many mixed styles. Over the years, many architects were invited from all over the world to design and build its buildings.

The typical Georgian style of architecture is characterized by several living spaces surrounding a common courtyard. Belova says that “You share your life with your neighbors.”

Tbilisi's subway was built in the 1960s and comprises 2 lines and over 30 stops – much more than Warsaw's!!

Freedom Square – at the center of which is a pillar on top of which is the traditional depiction of St. George slaying the dragon. In communist times this square was of course called “Lenin Square”.

Took picture of church at top of hill under construction - Armenian Gregorian church. Belova says that relations between Georgia and Armenia are very good.

Tbilisi used to be famous for its sulfer baths, but now there are only a few. The water ranges from 24-42 degrees Centigrade and is rich in hydrogen sulfide. Belova says that they are under the protection of UNESCO (Can't find sources to support this).

Plenty of casinos, called “slot clubs” including the “Nevada Slot Club”. The letters of the sign advertising this location have an American flag pattern.

Meeting with officials

Acting head of tourism ministry:

Baltics, Ukraine and Poland are emerging markets for Georgian ski tourism.

In 2007 there were 1 million foreign visitors.

Since 2006 there is no VAT for “incoming tour operators” (?)

80% of backpackers come for cultural events (?)

Tourism represents 3.5% of total GDP.

There is a “solid” budget dedicated to building roads. This budget is still being worked out, so the number isn't known yet. Acting minister believes it will take 2-3 years to “improve” the roads. All of this information is very sketchy.

In terms of which nationalities visit and who does what: Armenians – over 100,000 last year, visit Georgia's seaside resorts.

Those visiting the ski resorts such as Bakuriani are mainly Ukrainians – 80% of tourists.

In 2009 Georgia is targeting the Baltics (understood to include Poland), Ukraine and Israel as markets for Georgian tourism.

Latvian Ambassador:

Eco-tourism is the future here.

Estonian Ambassador:

Advantages for Georgia include its long summer and Georgians' hospitality.

Estonian evacuees during the war were mostly backpackers.

Lithuanian Ambassador:

Georgia can follow the example of Spain, which grew its tourism industry from 1% of GDP under Franco (check) to approx. 11% of GDP today.

The main thing is infrastructure. Roads are terrible and must be improved, according to Lithuanian Ambassador.

Georgian Military Highway:

Our tour guide is fond of saying that it now has nothing to do with the military nor a highway, but as highways go, Poland would do well to have something like this. Stretches throughout Georgia, east-west/north-south.

According to Belova, the highway dates back to the 19^th century, as a road which armies aiding Georgia would travel into and through Georgia on. However, the first passes of this road were built under David the Builder (probably the most famous/respected Georgian king) in the 12^th century.

Guduari ski-resort town:

Here we find extremely good tourist infrastructure – and there is much more coming. There is lots of construction and lots of nice hotels, as well as plenty of skiing facilities. Though there are some “huts” and small, run-down, tin-roofed houses, this place has obviously benefited from tourism investment.

Our hotel in particular was lovely, and had all of the trappings any traveller could reasonably want. The director of the hotel says that when it was built in 1987, it was given a four-star rating, but that this didn't help tourism any, due to the “mess” under communism. Now, the hotel has no official star rating, but my experience tells me that this could reasonably be called a 4-star hotel, at least at Polish standards. Though there was no Wi-Fi in the rooms, the director says that internet is available. Perhaps it can be purchased or perhaps there is an internet cafe – though I didn't see one. There is also two lanes for Russian-style bowling and one Russian billiard table (like American pool table, except longer, with smaller holes and bigger balls. Extremely difficult! Still however, the hotel is really expensive. A standard double room costs 443.50 Georgian lari, or approximately $317. This does however include 3 meals per day. (Where else are you going to eat? All of the restaurants are connected to other hotels. There is no McDonalds, etc.)

Still, there are plenty of other, smaller hotels around, but with similar standards, so there is plenty of choice. And again, there is much more coming. Plenty of pics of construction.

Guduari is a 2 hour drive from Tbilisi. Most of the roads are difficult (and full of sheep herds) but not impossible for the Western driver.

Sunday market:

Saw them sacrificing a goat. Slit its throat and goat seemed to be in a lot of pain. Eventually they cut its head clean off and began skinning and cleaning it. Yuck. Reminds me that I do not believe in cultural relativism. When I remark that this is sad to one of my colleagues, he says yes, but this is what they do here. For me, if sacrificing is part of your religion then fine. If you are killing an animal to eat it, that is also fine. But create as little pain as possible for the poor animal. It certainly seems to me that having one's throat slit is an awfully painful way to die, and I am reminded that Daniel Pearl seemed to feel the same way. Yes, I eat hamburgers, but those cows are usually shot in the head as soon as they enter the slaughterhouse. If I had to be killed, I would rather be shot in the head than have my throat slit.

Tbilisoba (festival celebrating the city of Tbilisi):

Held every October, on the last weekend of the month. In one of the main recreational areas of town there is a festival of games and rides. Looks something like the travelling amusement parks in the US, with their cheap-looking rides. But it looks like fun as well. Plenty of games – a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, a judo tournament, and rock climbing. According to our guide, there are concerts in the evenings.

Guest-house stay in the town of Kakheti:

Kakheti is the easternmost region of Georgia. We stop at a guest house there for dinner, close to the town of Telavi.

Dinner is the highlight of the evening, where several Georgian men, including the head of the household, sing for us during dinner. This is a traditional Georgian activity. The men sing sitting down, at various periods throughout dinner. At other times, the head of the household, also the “leader of the table” or “Tamada” proposes toasts – first to God, then to the household, then to women, love friends, and to Ukraine (several members of our group are from Ukraine) and the US (“our big friend across the sea,” he says). The songs come to a climax with one in particular that starts out slow and then speeds up. One of the younger men plays a guitar/lyre-type instrument. As the song speeds up, one of the older gentlemen grabs two knives and begins playing percussion on glasses and bottles standing on the table. Other men pick up plates and hold them upside down and in the center (as a waiter might hold his tray), and he drums on these as well. Obviously, when the song ends the men are rewarded with thunderous applause from our group.

WATCH:

Wine makers of Tsinandali (near Telavi):

At this humble home in eastern Georgia, Vajha Nikolaishvili and his son Nikolai run a small wine-making business. The main tree from where the grapes grow was planted by Vajha's grandfather more than 100 years ago. His wine is exported all over the world, sold mostly to private companies who package and export it. It is made according to old traditional methods. Crushed grapes are kept in a barrel for about a week, then placed in clay jars, the biggest of which is two tonnes when full. There are approximately ten of these clay jars, which, when standing on the floor, reach as high as the cellar's approx 8-foot-high ceiling. There are holes in the cellar floor, and the jars are lowered down into them, until the tops are flush with the floor. They are surrounded/covered by earth. According to Vajha, these jars are a “family”. The two largest ones are the grandparents, he says, the two medium-sized ones are the “parents,” and the many small ones are the “grandchildren.”

The wine is put into these pots in September, and they remain in the ground until the New Year.

We have the opportunity to taste the wine before and during lunch – it comes from red plastic buckets he has sitting around the cellar, and he uses a small hose to pour it. It is easily the best wine I have ever tasted in my life. Who knew it would come from an old plastic bucket?

We also have an opportunity to watch Vajha's wife make bread in the traditional method. She first rolls circles of dough into slender cylinders, adding a dusting of flour or a few drops of water as she goes. The bread is baked in an oven which to me looks like a simple fire pit. It is a short, fat round structure with wood planks on the outside and stone on the inside. She bakes the bread by slapping the dough to the inside of the oven, where it sticks. As the bread bakes, it begins to peel off of the sides of the oven, which is how you know it is ready.

WATCH:

Porn, beer and democracy

2008-03-12T21:31:00.002+01:00

Former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński and his party, PiS, are not exactly known for thier penchant for technology. But some might be surprised to know that the former PM – who has no driving license and shares a bank account with his mother – has his very own weblog, or blog.

Yet despite indulging in this relatively modern form of expression, Mr Kaczyński still managed to show his complete lack of understanding of the world wide web, when on his blog he derided the idea of implementing internet voting in Poland.

Mr Kaczyński said that voting should be a “serious, conscious [activity], demanding a certain effort.” He added, “I am not enthusiastic about a young man sitting in front of a computer, watching films, pornography, sipping a beer and voting when he feels like it.”

Leaving aside the obvious irony of making this type of statement on a blog, let's be clear about one thing: Increasing the ease by which citizens can participate in a democracy is always a good thing. One wonders if in contemplating the young man with his beer and pornography, Mr Kaczyński also took time to consider the invalid who leaves her home with great difficulty or the displaced employee who works far away from his registered home.

Certainly, there are valid concerns about the security of e-voting – but that was not the issue that
the former PM raised. Mr Kaczyński's concern seems to center around a certain “decorum” that he believes voters ought to maintain when voting. This is laughable. After all, there is nothing to prevent any citizen from attending a polling station after having downed several whiskey sours and with a Playboy magazine tucked deftly into his back pocket.

Recent opinion polls have shown Mr Kaczński's PiS party trailing badly, despite heaps of criticism piled on the governing PO party for getting little done. Indeed, PO's support has increased since last October's elections. But PO has offered precious little for voters to support – instead, voters seem to favor PO simply by virtue of their not being PiS.

With the former PM's recent statements, it's little wonder – they show how out of touch he is with the vast majority of Polish society, which is becoming ever more plugged in to the information superhighway at an astounding rate. For years now, Poles have been doing business online, as well as banking, blogging, connecting with friends, sharing photos and even shopping for groceries. That the former PM still sees the average “internaut” as a pimply porn-downloading teen is depressing, and enough to make Poles who find the internet essential to their daily lives seethe.

But therein lies the rub – most of plugged-in Poland already finds PiS' old-fashioned ideas anachronistic, and didn't vote for them in October. PiS' constituency lies with the rural voters who feel left behind by Poland's modernization. But with the internet extending its tentacles ever further into even the deepest Polish backwoods, Mr Kaczyński may soon find that such statements undermine his credibility with his own voters.

Hope reigns in Poland

2007-10-22T00:23:00.000+02:00

Civic Platform has crushed Law and Justice.

Concerning tomorrow's elections

2007-10-20T19:16:00.000+02:00

Here's a fine article from the International Herald Tribune on young Poles trying to get other young Poles out to vote.

Fire Carr

2007-09-01T21:44:00.000+02:00

Now.

Tragedy at Radom Air Show

2007-09-01T17:31:00.000+02:00

Two pilots have died in a horrific mid-air crash during a performance of Poland's famous "Żelazna" (Iron) acrobatic flying group. One of the victims was a founder of the group.

Radom Air Show link

Update: picture here

Lions - 10 wins this season?

2007-09-01T14:51:00.000+02:00

Playoffs too?

Yeah, right.

It turns out, their own players were delivering some of the worst blows. "There were knockdown, drag-out fights all the time last year," defensive tackle Cory Redding said. "There were cheap shots with guys getting leg-whipped and hit in the helmet."

Jeff Backus, who has endured each of the 72 losses since 2001, said last season's team-crumbling behaviour wasn't new.

"It's happened as long as I've been here," the offensive tackle said. "My first couple of years, there were lazy veterans that didn't want to be touched in practice. If you blocked them, they would try to get you back in a dirty way for the rest of that practice."

Would Poland be better off with Civic Platform?

2007-08-30T10:50:00.000+02:00

Time Magazine on Polish politics.

How does capitalism work again?

2007-08-30T10:48:00.000+02:00

Bloomberg on how PiS plans to screw those Poles who first bought into capitalism.

Sunday Vista Blogging XVIII - The Great Wall of China

2007-08-26T16:38:00.000+02:00

Gus for WS

Great Wall, Juyongguang section

Gus for WS

Great Wall, Juyongguang section

Birthplace of Solidarity to die?

2007-08-25T21:43:00.000+02:00

The EU is demanding the Gdańsk Shipyard pay back state subsidies. If it does so, it could go out of business for good.

Kaczyńskis spying on journalists

2007-08-25T11:22:00.000+02:00

It has been reported that former Interior Minister Janusz Kaczmarek, in secret testimony to Poland's parliamentary commission on the secret services, revealed that journalists' phones were tapped on the orders of PM Jarosław Kaczyński and Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.

Can elections come too soon?

No early elections?

2007-08-19T21:29:00.000+02:00

Zbigniew Religa could be Poland's next prime minister

Warsaw Station has learned that parties currently not in power - Civic Platform (PO), the coalition Left and Democrats (LiD) and the Peasants' Party (PSL) - are working on a proposal for a government of national unity, to be led by famous heart surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Religa is the current health minister and is not affiliated with any party. The proposal would put members of all parties willing to join the national unity government into Poland's various ministerial positions

The proposal will be extended to former members of the ruling coalition - Samoobrona (SO) and the League of Polish Families (LPR) - as well as to the current (quasi-) governing party, Law and Justice (PiS). It is expected that SO and LPR will accept the proposal, while PiS is expected to reject it, making them the sole party in opposition, after 2 years of governing as the party with the largest number of representatives in Poland's parliament.

Who benefits?

The logic goes that early elections could only benefit PiS. Though PO leads PiS in the polls, it is unlikely that they will have enough support to gain a majority of representatives. To do so, they would have to form a coalition with either LiD (offending their anti-leftist supporters) or with PiS (offending their liberal-economic supporters). Also, the polls may not be as reliable as PO hopes. In the 2005 elections, polls famously predicted that PO would win.

If early elections were to occur, Samoobrona and LPR look to be left out of parliament entirely, or, if they stand as a coalition (the appropriately- monikered LiS or "fox"), to be reduced to a minority fringe element in parliament.

LiD could potentially gain seats, but are averse to the idea of the economically liberal PO gaining power - especially if it ends up teaming up with PiS.

Though PiS is likely to lose a few seats in parliament with early elections, it will still hold enough to be an extremely powerful opposition party, especially with Lech Kaczyński holding the presidency. For this reason, and because PiS is expected to be able to bring out large numbers of its rural supporters to the polls, PiS will push for early elections.

A doable deal?

I doubt such an arrangement is achievable, since Polish parties as a general rule are unable to agree amongst themselves for very long. Could opposition to PiS be such a unifying force that nearly all of the parties in parliament could agree to work together? Not for very long, certainly.

How such a political coup could take place without early elections is also somewhat of a mystery - as far as I know nothing like it has ever occurred in modern Polish politics.

But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good thing. Poland has been absent of any type of productive politics - horsetrading, compromise, and the creation of policies and legislation that garner wide public support - for a long time. A government of national unity could lead to such a welcome change. It just doesn't seem likely it will ever happen.

Is Detroit "coming back"?

2007-08-19T17:13:00.001+02:00

Mike Lyndon thinks so.

It's been "coming back" since the mid-1990s though. When will it finally be back?

Sunday Vista Blogging XVII - Terracotta Warriors

2007-08-19T15:33:00.000+02:00

Gus for WS

Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an, China

Gus for WS

Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an, China

New Station resident

2007-08-15T22:18:00.000+02:00

Warsaw Station welcomes Laika - the Station's new resident space cadet.

Gus for WS

Ain't she cute?

Cross posted (with commentary and another pic) at p3

More pics here

Sunday Vista Blogging XVI - Everest

2007-08-13T18:41:00.000+02:00

One day (or several months...) late. So what? It's August.

Gus for WS

Mount Everest, halfway between Basecamp 1 and Basecamp 2

Times they are a-changin'

2007-08-10T18:43:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago, some racists assholes vandalized about 100 gravestones in an historic Jewish cemetery in Częstochowa. They spray-painted them with swastikas and "SS" marks. That, of course and unfortunately, is hardly a new development. However, instead of the usual inaction from the local community, 20 students and the town's mayor went and helped clean it up.

"The fact is, there is anti-Semitism everywhere. But what is also important is the reaction of the rest of society," [Poland's chief rabbi Michael] Schudrich said. "Too often the rest of society tolerates these things. But in this case, the mayor and the young people didn't sit at home and wait for someone else to come clean it up. They came out and made a physical - not just verbal - reaction."

Perhaps its overdue, but it is a step forward.

New elections - Yipee!

2007-08-09T23:05:00.000+02:00

That's right, we'll have fresh elections in October folks. And just as politics in this country were becoming so boring.

We know this, apparently, since the opposition leader and the president have agreed that new elections are "unaviodable".

So, how far back is this going to push preparations for Euro 2012?

If the duck can be beaten, it might be worth it. But can he?

That's my city

2007-08-01T19:19:00.000+02:00

Heh.

Today we ought to think about...

2007-08-01T14:13:00.000+02:00

this.

Poland's Prime Minister does not have a bank account

2007-05-23T10:16:00.000+02:00

He uses his mom's.

I'm so sick of this

2007-04-21T14:22:00.000+02:00

Economist.com:

But the tragedies of Virginia Tech—and Columbine, and Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, where five girls were shot at an Amish school last year—are not the full measure of the curse of guns. More bleakly terrible is America's annual harvest of gun deaths that are not mass murders: some 14,000 routine killings committed in 2005 with guns, to which must be added 16,000 suicides by firearm and 650 fatal accidents (2004 figures). Many of these, especially the suicides, would have happened anyway: but guns make them much easier. Since the killing of John Kennedy in 1963, more Americans have died by American gunfire than perished on foreign battlefields in the whole of the 20th century. In 2005 more than 400 children were murdered with guns.

Minutes after the tragedy on Monday, Polish news programs were running headlines like:

"W Ameryce można kupić broń w supermarkecie"

Translation: "In America one can buy a gun in a supermarket"

Everyone else sees it. Why don't we?

An interesting question

2007-02-19T18:17:00.000+01:00

And a personalization of how the war in Iraq affects Poles too.

What's in it for Poland?

A sad day

2007-01-23T22:44:00.000+01:00

Ryszard Kapuściński has died.

A hopeful sign

2006-12-08T10:36:00.000+01:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 7, 2006

SEN. VOINOVICH INTRODUCES VISA WAIVER LEGISLATION FOR NATIONS COOPERATING WITH WAR ON TERROR

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today introduced legislation that would extend visa-free travel privileges to our allies in the Global War on Terror.

The Secure Travel and Counterterrorism Partnership Act of 2006 would improve cooperation with key allies while strengthening U.S. national security interests and promoting U.S. economic competitiveness. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) are original co-sponsors of the bill.

“There are many countries helping us thwart terrorism around the world and they should be rewarded for their continued cooperation,” Sen. Voinovich said. “This legislation will improve both our national security and economic interests while helping to solidify these relationships and improve good will toward the United States for years to come. I will work closely with the administration and my colleagues in the Senate as we move forward to show our allies that we appreciate their help in this historic fight.”

Sen. Voinovich’s legislation authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Department of State, to expand the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to countries that support the United States and are prepared to do everything in their power to help keep terrorists from crossing our borders.

“I believe this bill effectively demonstrates Congressional concern yet does not seek to dictate to the Administration which of our strategic partners should be included in the program,” Sen. Lugar said. “Such compromises are the hallmark of good legislation, and I look forward to seeing this bill signed into law.”

Sen. Akaka said: “This bill will enable the United States to validate its affinity with those nations that share America’s hopes for a better and peaceful future while contributing to our mutual economic well being.”

“I have fought for years to expand the VWP so our allies can visit family and conduct business in the United States without standing in line to get a visa,” said Sen. Mikulski. “We know that our borders will be no less secure because of these visitors. But we know that our alliance will be more secure because of this legislation.”

Sen. Voinovich believes that expanding the VWP will bring clear benefits for our immediate and long-term national security interests. The countries would be eligible to participate in the program only after the executive branch certifies that they do not pose a security or law enforcement threat to the United States.

All participants would be required to implement enhanced travel security requirements, negotiate new agreements on counterterrorism cooperation and critical information-sharing and further demonstrate their close cooperation with the United States in the Global War on Terror. The legislation would also require the U.S. government to report to Congress on its plans for further enhancing security standards for existing VWP countries.

“In addition to promoting U.S. national security interests, my bill will increase business ties and tourism, benefiting our economy and competitiveness for years to come,” Sen. Voinovich said. “This is not only a sign of gratitude but a smart move that will advance America’s strategic interests.”

The VWP was established in 1986 to improve relations with U.S. allies and benefit the U.S. economy. The program permitted nationals from selected countries to enter the United States for tourism or business without a visa for up to 90 days. Currently, 27 countries participate in the program.

Although numerous countries have expressed a desire to participate in the VWP, and a willingness to cooperate with the necessary security requirements, no new countries have been admitted since 1999. President Bush recently called on Congress to expand the VWP to deserving nations, and has previously identified 13 “Road Map” countries as potential candidates for future participation. These include Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and South Korea.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T12:52:00.000+01:00

With a heavy heart at the news of the tragedy at the Halemba mine, I wish you a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving. More than ever, today it will be easy to remember all of the things we have to be thankful for.

No way we can lose now

2006-11-17T22:06:00.000+01:00

Bo will be watching over the Wolverines at the Horseshoe tomorrow.

Is free trade too much to ask?

2006-11-16T19:31:00.000+01:00

Poland's demand that Russia play fair is burning up both Brussels and Moscow

The EU and Russia had been preparing the love fest for months. On November 24, representatives from Brussels and Moscow were to meet in Helsinki to hammer out a new partnership agreement. This “landmark” agreement was meant to strengthen the EU-Russia relationship, though exactly how was unclear.

Poland, however, had other ideas. Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga has made use of Poland's veto on the mandate necessary to launch negotiations. The move has officials in both Brussels and Moscow apoplectic with rage – and accusing Poland of blackmail, settling scores, and putting narrow national interest above the interests of the EU.

Forget that other more powerful EU nations have already committed those same sins – I wouldn't defend them either – the reality is that Poland's veto was the right move against a trading partner that is trying to manipulate the energy market for political gain, as well as sow disunity among EU members.

Poland has demanded that before it lift its veto, Russia must first either sign a transit protocol of the Energy Charter Treaty, which would open up Russia's gas pipelines to foreign competition, or ratify the treaty altogether, which would end state-controlled Gazprom's monopoly. Additionally, Poland demands that Russia finally lift its unjustified ban on Polish agricultural goods.

Both are issues on which the EU should support Poland. The food ban is little more than a thinly-veiled political slap in the face, as for a year Poland has made every effort to satisfy the Russians on the supposed “hygienic” criteria Russia says Poland's products do not meet. It's well-known that Russia's food-hygiene standards are far lower than the EU's, and yet Polish food products are exported to, sold in, and eaten in every EU member state. What is it about Polish food that isn't good enough for the Russians?

Window of opportunity

On energy, the EU has a slim window of opportunity now to force at least some movement on Moscow's obstinate stance on its gas market. The Kremlin, through Gazprom, has a stranglehold on all of Russia's gas exports, leaving those supplies open to political manipulation. At the moment, the EU is relatively immune to that manipulation, as it isn't yet totally dependent on Russian gas – but it soon will be. Russia hoped to bring that reality closer at the Helsinki talks.

Conversely, without the EU market to sell its energy to, Russia would be unable to fund its shaky economic recovery. By the time another chance to negotiate another “partnership agreement” rolls around, China may be just as big a customer as the EU, making Moscow better able to dictate terms. If the EU wants a dependable supply of gas free of political interference, it ought to insist on energy liberalization.

The current partnership agreement expires soon, but can be automatically extended. Moscow has much to gain from a closer relationship (it's hoping for endorsement of its WTO bid), the EU very little. The EU ought to take this opportunity to make sure Moscow treats each EU member with the same amount of respect, and diversifies its gas market, before it's too late.

U.S. politics

2006-11-08T21:15:00.000+01:00

Democrats win House

Rumsfeld aside, is this going to change anything? I foresee gridlock.

Rummy resigns

Finally.

Is there anything more to say?

Final scores, game 3

2006-11-06T11:14:00.000+01:00

Warsaw Eagles 19 : Pomorze Seahawks 6

Wrocław Crew 20 : Poznan Fireballs 0

Standings after regular season:

1. Warsaw Eagles: 3 wins, 0 losses
2. Pomorze Seahawks: 2 wins, 1 loss
3. Wrocław Crew: 1 win, 2 losses
4. Poznan Fireballs: 0 wins, 3 losses

The championship and thrid-place games will be held this Sunday at 12:30 pm and 9:00 am respecitively, at the RKS Marymont Stadium on ul. Potocka 1, in Warsaw. It's Poland's first-ever American fooball championship. So come along, have some fun, and be a part of history!

Final score, game two

2006-10-30T02:02:00.000+01:00

Warsaw Eagles 25
The Crew Wrocław 6

PLFA League standings

Team

PTS

PCT

1.	Warsaw Eagles	2	0	4	1.000	91	12
2.	Pomorze Seahawks	2	0	4	1.000	77	28
3.	The Crew Wroclaw	0	2	0	.000	28	51
4.	FireballsWielkopolska	0	2	0	.000	12	117

Next Games:

November 5, 2006

Crew @ Fireballs
Eagles @ Seahawks

Shame on Ireland and the UK

2006-10-25T16:33:00.000+02:00

The UK and Ireland have decided that they like cheap construction workers, doctors, nurses, hairdressers, dentists, mechanics, and yes, even plumbers. They just don't like the fact that those cheap workers are coming from another country. Out of fear of... well, I'm not sure what, these two countries have decided not to leave the door open for laborers from Romania and Bulgaria.

Thankfully though, somebody is setting an example.

Final score

2006-10-09T11:43:00.000+02:00

Warsaw Eagles 66 - 1.KFA Fireballs Wielkopolska 6

Link (Polish): http://ww6.tvp.pl/350,20061008405063.strona

What's in a flag?

2006-10-05T13:26:00.000+02:00

or

?

Another diplomatic meeting, another hilarious faux pas

If the government was trying to convince the Russians that they want a relationship of mutual respect, they failed miserably - again - as the Foreign Ministry's employees hung the wrong flag - that of the Czech Republic- in the Ministry building today for the official welcoming of Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

Before the meeting took place, the workers were caught on tape scurrying around changing the flags at the last moment.

What more do Poles need to be convinced that this government is incompetent?

The NFL in Poland?

2006-10-04T23:37:00.000+02:00

Well, not exactly

But we hope some day -- maybe I'll even get to see it -- the league whose games begin this weekend will be spread across the country, drawing large crowds to watch top-quality games with top-quality players, maybe even ones who are paid.

Poland's first (American) football league begins play this weekend, as the Warsaw Eagles face off against the Wielkopolska Fireballs. The two other teams in the league are The Wrocław Crew and the Pomorze Seahawks. All the teams will play each other once, and then meet up for a championship tournament in Warsaw on November 12.

Read the Warsaw Business Journal article or listen to the Radio Polonia report.

So if you're in Łódź this weekend, why not come out, have some fun, and maybe watch a little bit of history? (find time and location here)

Oh yes, and by the way:

Go Eagles!

Renata=Fiona?

2006-10-02T20:31:00.000+02:00

You be the judge

Back where it belongs

2006-10-01T05:34:00.000+02:00

Listen for yourself

2006-09-27T14:03:00.000+02:00

Renata Beger negocjuje z Adamem Lipińskim

hat tip: the beatroot

I'm beginning to wonder whether PiS won't find a way out of this one. The fact that Lipiński is offering positions in the government - which we hear here - is hardly surprising. In fact, it's to be expected. From this American's point of view, this seems to be how parliamentary politics works.

What is on the second tape (yes, there was a second, and WS is working to bring it to you) is much more serious. There, Lipiński says he could find a way for the Sejm to pay the "penalty" (worth several hundred thousand zloty) that the deputies leaving Self-defense will have to pay for desterting their party. (Earlier this year, Lepper forced all of his party's members to sign "promissory notes" - in Polish: weksele - obligating them to pay this exorbitant fine if they left the party. Perhaps the most interesting story here is Lepper's political foresight!)

But PiS opponents are on much shakier ground here. In the transcripts, Lipiński says several times "I'm not a lawyer" and only promises that he thinks "something could be worked out" by which the Sejm would pay the owed money until a court decided whether or not the promissory notes were legal in the first place. From my reading, it is implied that if the court finds against the Self-defense deserters, they would have to pay the fine themselves, or somehow reimburse the Sejm - though this is not explicitly said.

It's certainly corrupt. But we're not exactly talking about secret transfers from Swiss bank accounts here. Lipiński is certainly finished - but PiS may yet find a way to worm out of this one.

Then again, maybe not. As I write, news organizations are reporting that around 200 people have gathered in front of the Sejm to demand PM Kaczyński's resignation and the dissolution of the Sejm.

They plan on being there for a while, too - They've pitched tents (Polish link).

PiS decides to drop corruption crusader image

2006-09-27T09:53:00.000+02:00

A high-up Law and Justice (PiS) party member has been caught on tape trying to bribe a member of another party to break away and join PiS

From The International Herald Tribune:

Late Tuesday, TVN television broadcast footage of a chief aide to the prime minister offering a high government position and financial support to a prominent lawmaker of the former coalition partner Self-Defense in exchange for crossing over to the ruling Law and Justice Party.

Opposition parties quickly condemned the alleged vote-buying, and the Polish Peasants Party on Wednesday said it would not hold talks with Law and Justice scheduled for later in the day.

"The coalition talks won't be happening today. The prime minister can say he didn't know about what happened, but anyone who saw the tapes can see... it's simply corruption," Jaroslaw Kalinowski of the PSL told Tok FM radio Wednesday morning.

It's difficult to see how PiS can hold off new elections - or even how they can hold off a vote on the dissolution of the Sejm until October 10, as they had planned.

It's also much more likely now that Civic Platform's planned anti-government demonstration will be successful.

Whatever credibility PiS had left, it has now lost.

Are elections on the way?

2006-09-23T14:28:00.000+02:00

Are we back to...

And what good would they do?

The coalition is broken (I can't bring myself to say "dead"). Lepper and Self-defense (SO) are out. Gilowska is in. PiS finds themselves in the same position they were in almost exactly one year ago - trying to cobble together a coalition.

But last year PiS was negotiating with PO to form a grand conservative coalition. Now, after banishing Lepper for his unwillingness to adopt the PiS' budget proposals, PiS is looking for ways to tack on bits and pieces to get the 48 votes it needs to hold onto a majority in parliament.

Monster's and Critics:

PiS was on Friday was scrambling to gather a voting majority of 231 seats. Together with its junior coalition parter the League of Polish Families (LPR), it commands 183 seats. With 25 seats, the Polish Peasants Party (PSL) was in coalition talks with PiS Friday.

Meanwhile the ousted Andrzej Lepper accused PiS of using bribes to lure Samoobrona MPs away to support what is now the PiS-led minority government. Several Samoobrona MPs have already left.

The populist farmers' party, which has now crossed over to the opposition, commands 49 seats in Poland's 460-seat parliament. The liberal Civic Platform (PO) with 131 seats is Poland's largest opposition party. It is considering launching a no-confidence motion against the PiS government. Also in the opposition is the 55-seat ex- communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

If PiS doesn't manage to nab enough Self-defense deputies, new elections are likely. And it doesn't look like they'll manage.

"Fresh elections are just a matter of time," according to Professor Lena Kolarska-Bobinski, head of the Warsaw-based Institute for Public Affairs independent think-tank.

But what would new elections achieve? Recent opinion polls have shown that PO could come out victorious. But the polls famously predicted a PO win this time last year as well. 365 days later, they are in the opposition. It's equally as likely that PiS would win another plurality.

It's also unclear that Self-defense would gain. Though the base must love Mr. Lepper's spunk, some of its members are defecting, which may actually bring votes to PiS.

One party could lose big - LPR. If they fail to win five percent of the vote they could find themselves out of the Sejm. This would be good news. However, recent amendments to the election law make it possible for LPR to form a bloc with PiS, which the ultra-conservatives hope will increase their chances. The Polish Folk Front could also have trouble meeting the five-percent requirement.

The Leftist parties, led by SLD, have recently joined together as a bloc for the upcoming local elections, but polls haven't shown them gaining traction with the public.

So new elections could prove helpful in ejecting small and extremist parties from the Sejm - though it's far from certain. What is nearly certain is that the two largest parties will remain Civic Platform and Law and Justice, and that Self-defense and the Leftists will remain the smaller players.

Some combination of these four groups will form the next government. But not a single one of those groups can any longer find the will or the energy to cooperate with any other.

Elections will not change that.

Is defense Poland's big-gun issue?

2006-09-19T00:46:00.000+02:00

Seriously. Don't start laughing yet.

I saw this yesterday and it got me thinking about some discussions we've been having about Poland-US relations, and where Poland fits in as an ally of the US in Europe.

Now, we all know that Europe is doesn't hold it's own when it comes to defense. The Americans have been nagging their allies across the pond to spend more on their militaries, but the Europeans (save Britain) seem reluctant to do so. There is wide agreement that Europe ought to have at least some sort of common fast-reaction force, but it is as-yet nowhere to be found. Europe would rather concentrate on just about anything but defense.

However, Poland is a different story. Due to their difficult history, Poles are especially defense-focused. Though unwilling to break the budget for teachers' and police officers' wages, Poland will be sending a full 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan, with the deployment starting this year and probably ending in February. That will cost money, but the tab will probably be picked up by NATO. Regardless, it shows you where Poland's priorities are. And while the Polish military may not be the world's finest, it's gaining experience - and technology - fast. They just picked up the keys to 48 brand new F-16 fighter jets, with all sorts of state-of-the-art, hi-tech gizmos inside.

Poland's Defense Minister Radosław Sikorski is a huge asset in this area. He's well known in both Europe and America: He graduated from Oxford and has British citizenship. He was an advisor to Rupert Murdoch on investments in Poland, was a resident fellow at the conservative think-tank the American Enterprise institute, as well as executive director of the non-partisan New Atlantic Initiative. He is married to American journalist Anne Applebaum. It is rumored that while he was a war correspondent in Afghanistan in the 80s, he was actually there spying for all sorts of Western governments. He's articulate, educated, and some would even say handsome.

Can a better pedigree for coordinating Polish defense policy and cooperation with the Pentagon within a European framework be imagined? Maybe. But this is darn close to as good as it gets.

Poland doesn't pull much weight on any other issue. Britain can't get the continent to take defense seriously. Maybe a two pronged assault - with Poland the second pincer - could get Europe to think more seriously about defense? Could defense be the issue that gains Poland the international heft it craves?

It's that good

2006-09-17T02:57:00.000+02:00

Oh yeah. I think they made a statement.

Polish-American relations getting better and better

2006-09-13T12:08:00.000+02:00

But has the American public noticed?

With the British public becoming more and more dissatisfied with their country's partnership with the US administration, the British-American "special relationship" seems to be losing traction. However, another European country - Poland - continues to strongly support American policy in Europe, and it seems ties are growing closer by the day.

American diplomats here express gratitude for Poland's unwavering support, and relief that they don't experience the same kind of problems that their colleagues in Western Europe face. "We see eye to eye on just about everything," a fairly-high up diplomat told me recently.

But being here in Poland, it seems the US is consumed with political strife - both sides of the political divide attacking each other, and not noticing that despite much of the bad press that the US gets, an extremely strong ally is growing in Central Europe.

Is this perception accurate? Has the American public forgotten Poland? I'd like to know what you think.

Wisely, it seems the Bush administration has not:

From Monsters and Critics.com

Poland's PM to focus on missile defence, Iraq in US

Warsaw - Making his first trip to the United States since taking office in July, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski was expected to focus on the possible basing of missile defence in Poland and his country's role in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Kaczynski, who heads the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) coalition government, is scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney.

President George W Bush and Kaczynski are not scheduled to meet as the US president has in the past met with Lech Kaczynski, Poland's president and brother of the prime minister. Jaroslaw's aides have suggested Bush might, however, drop in on the meeting.

Kaczynski will also meet with House Speaker Dennis Hastert Thursday before meeting with John Krenicki Jr, the chief executive of global energy goliath General Electric Co.

Energy security is a top item on the agenda of the Kaczynski government, which is currently seeking to diversify suppliers and wean Poland from its heavy reliance on Russian fuel supplies.

Insisting energy security is a crucial part of national security, Poland is also spearheading a drive within the EU to frame a common energy security alliance for the 25-member bloc and beyond.

Kaczynski, 57, will also meet with heads of the large Polish community in Chicago Thursday and then fly on to visit the Fort Worth US military base in Texas on Friday. Kaczynski is due back in Warsaw early Saturday morning.

Prime Minster Kaczynski will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers including Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Foreign Affairs Minister Anna Fotyga.

As ardent anti-communist activists throughout Poland's pre-1989 communist era, President Kaczynski and Prime Minister Kaczynski both have a fondness for the late Ronald Reagan.

Reagan is still seen as a hero by the country's Solidarity opposition for his strident anti-Soviet politics and support for the Polish movement, which succeeded in peacefully toppling communist rule in Poland in 1989.

The law and order agenda of Prime Minister Kaczynski's PiS party in many ways resembles a US Republican approach. The party has promised to crack down hard on crime and corruption in public life and is also stridently anti-leftwing.

It is particularly critical of Poland's ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance party (SLD), which it blames for much of the corruption in public life.

The SLD lost both the presidency and government in elections held last autumn. The party's four-year term in office had been plagued by a string of high profile corruption scandals involving senior politicians.

Reagan and the Kaczynski brothers also share a personal history of being actors before becoming politicians. While Reagan was a Hollywood cowboy hero on the silver screen, the Kaczynski twins are famous in Poland for playing two very naughty boys in the children's' Polish cinema classic 'About Those Two Who Stole the Moon.'

After narrowly winning Poland's September 2006 general election, the PiS eschewed a long-promised coalition with the runner-up liberal Civic Platform (PO), instead allying itself with the populist Samoobrona farmers' party and the Catholic-nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR), Poland's equivalent of the fundamentalist elements of the Christian right in the US.

Recent polls show the LPR is rapidly losing public support, to the point where it would fail to re-enter parliament should elections be called. Support for Samoobrona remains steady at around 10 per cent, while the ex-communist SLD is also in danger of exiting parliament and slipping into political oblivion, less than a year after leaving government.

Surveys, however, show the PiS and PO running neck-and-neck enjoying roughly 30 per cent support each.

Some political observers in Warsaw have suggested the Kaczynski brothers are intent on creating a two-party system in Poland, along the lines of the Republican-Democratic divide of the US rather than the more volatile multi-party constellations which can be found in European politics.

The next true test of party popularity is expected November 12, when Poles will vote in local government elections.

It may not have made the papers in the States, but there were also several touching ceremonies commemorating the September 11th attacks on Monday. Largest of these was the unveiling of a monument in Kielce which expresses solidarity with Americans.

Cross-posted at Redneck's Revenge. Check out the comments there to see what conservative America thinks.

Sunday Vista Blogging XV

2006-09-10T19:16:00.000+02:00

EK for WS

Kazimierz Dolny

Gus for WS

Ski Jump in Zakopane

Warsaw Station turns two

2006-09-09T12:21:00.000+02:00

I've officially been blogging for two years now.

I must have an awful lot of free time on my hands.

Gilowska cleared

2006-09-06T20:41:00.000+02:00

But not quite "innocent" either

So what?

The judge presiding over former Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska's vetting trial has concluded that there is not enough evidence to declare that she lied about not knowing that she had provided information to a communist security agent.

From the International Herald Tribune:

[Judge] Mojkowska said the documents available in the case were not complete, making the court rely on circumstantial evidence, which did not prove that Gilowska intentionally passed any information on to secret police during communist times.

However, the judge had her own suspicions. The court said Gilowska had been "extremely talkative" with the security agent who registered her as an informer.

The verdict clears the way for her to rejoin the government - but it might not be so easy.

From Easybourse:

Presiding Judge Małgorzata Mojkowska pointed out that a new law recently passed by the Polish parliament would require Gilowska to submit to a new vetting procedure if she rejoined the government.

Mojkowska said the revised procedure, based primarily on analysis of surviving interior ministry archives, could automatically classify Gilowska as an informant and thereby bar her from public office.

So - those who want to believe she was an informer now can continue to believe it. Those who want to believe she wasn't can also continue to believe that.

She can try to join the government again, but if she does, she'll have to undergo another vetting procedure, which could, possibly disqualify her - again.

Months of political wrangling. Endless rumors. An expensive and humiliating trial. A politician's reputation dragged through the mud. What has it all achieved?

Not a damn thing.

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right

2006-09-05T23:25:00.000+02:00

Here I am, stuck in the middle

Is Civic Platform full of political pussies?

For those of you with your fingers not quite glued to the pulse of Polish political news, you should know that some very clever political maneuvering has been going on.

The jokers

The ruling coalition recently railroaded through a law (and when I say "railroaded", I mean that in order to get the law out of committee for a vote in the Sejm, they added 30 members of their own coalition to the committee and then forced the opposition member heading it to resign), which makes it highly advantageous for parties to team up and form coalitions for this autumn's local elections.

This was done mostly to save a member of the governing coalition - the far-right LPR (League of Polish Families). LPR had a very slim chance of winning anything in the elections, and by joining in a voting bloc with the two other parties in the governing coalition, they just might have a shot at a couple of city councils.

Importantly however, if LPR still fails to garner five percent of the vote, the two other coalition members will be able to absorb LPR's vote, and count it towards their own vote totals.

Still with me?

The clowns

Since the governing coalition is mostly right-wingers (in the "conservative moral values, high-spending big government, neo-con" sense), the left immediately went out and formed a coalition of left-leaning (in the "liberal moral values, barely-fiscally responsible, post-communist" sense) parties. This included the corruption-ridden ex-communists with a new face (SLD), the supposedly not-so-corrupt ex-communists with an old face (SdPl), the ex-partners of the ex-communists (UP), and the social/economic liberals with 0 chance of winning anything.

This group won't win a great deal - but these parties' power is certainly strengthened put all together, and they take on political clout as a large opposition group that they couldn't boast seperately.

Stuck in the middle

This leaves Poland's largest opposition party - Civic Platform (PO) - without any coalition at all. Not wanting to sully themselves by joining the populist Kaczyński faction, but also shying away from getting into bed with former communists, PO has no political friends. Rumor has it that a bizzare coalition with the agrarian-based PSL might be in the works, but the ideologies don't mesh at all, and PSL is tiny - barely making it into the parliament itself in last year's polls.

PO will still win a large number of posts in the upcoming local elections, but their strength as an opposition party has been diminished. Those who lean further to the left but still previously voted for PO because they were the "anything-but-Kaczyński" party, now have a viable alternative.

In these elections the Left will do much better, and PO worse, than would have been the case if all the parties had run seperately.

Some PO supporters have been critical of the party, saying it simply refuses to get its political hands dirty - a necessity on Poland's current political landscape. Warsaw Station has learned that PO's candidate for the Warsaw mayor, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, has been repeatedly accosted in the streets by her own supporters, all making note of her opponents' attacks and demanding: "Why don't you do something?!"

This is not a new accusation. PO has been particularly ineffective as an opposition party despite a deeply unpopular governing coalition.

So on Saturday, PO launched a new ad campaign (Polish link), which - according to some - very harshly attacks PM Jarosław Kaczyński. Borrowing from the masters, PO's commercials mimic some used by George Bush two years ago (Polish link). It depicts the Prime Minister, well, yelling a lot - So much that it upsets a baby.

PO considers this tough campaigning:

PO is hemorrhaging support in the form of the student exodus. It can't form any effective political partnership. It is unwilling to hit the opposition hard. If it doesn't grow some jaja pretty soon, its days on the Polish political scene are likely numbered.

Sweetening the deal

2006-09-04T12:01:00.000+02:00

(Grey lines: Existing pipelines; Blue line: Under construction; Red line: proposed by US)

Polish daily Rzeczpospolita (Polish link) reports that the US will offer to build oil and gas pipelines from central Asia to Poland in return for building an anti-missile shield on Polish soil

The idea of building an anti-missile rocket base somewhere in the Tatra mountains has been mooted for some time now, with Poland and the Czech Republic tussling over who would get it. The Polish government believes it could protect the country from all sorts of nasty missiles coming Poland's way from the east, and would probably mean a significant injection of US funds into the economy.

As the beatroot reports however, the idea isn't very popular with the Polish public. The government also has some reservations, as the US would want "extraterritorial rights" (registration required) - read: complete control - over the base and the land it sits on.

Serendipitously, information was leaked by Polish diplomats to "RzP" that the US government, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, has floated a deal to have US oil companies such as Chevron and Texaco build pipelines from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan through Georgia and Turkey (see picture above), to Poland, in return for accepting the domestically unpopular missile base on Polish territory. According to the paper, the project will be a major issue of discussion when Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński makes his first trip to the US next week, and meets with US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The US could also announce its decision to build the base in Poland during the PM's visit.

Due to energy-security fears resulting from Russian dominance of Poland's oil and gas supplies, the Polish government has wanted such pipelines for a while now – work is being done to extend a pipeline carrying Caspian Sea oil from Brody, in Ukraine, to Płock, in Poland. But Ukraine has just taken a sharp political turn towards Russia, and after last month's Mazeiku refinery incident, there is no guarantee that such a pipeline will be free from Russian meddling.

Interestingly, a very rich Polish businessman, Ryszard Krauze, signed several deals last month giving his oil company, Petrolinvest, drilling rights in Kazakhstani oil fields. Petrolinvest is part of the Prokom Group, which is run by Krauze and majority held by the Polish government. The pipelines complete the infrastructure gap from a Polish company doing the extraction in Kazakhstan to Polish refineries and finally to Polish customers.

And thus – so the thinking goes – Polish energy security is guaranteed.

The US' proposal to build that missile base in Poland just got a whole lot sweeter.

Sunday Vista Blogging XIV

2006-09-03T22:20:00.001+02:00

Gus for WS

Białowieża
(This is Poland for miles and miles)

Gus for WS

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Białowieża

Duck and Brussels sprouts

2006-08-31T00:12:00.000+02:00

Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński is using his first trip to Brussels to set the record straight

You might not know it, but there are some nasty rumors going around about Poland in the EU. Whispers in the halls of Brussels and Strasbourg can be heard accusing Poland of xenophobia, homophobia, and even anti-Semitism.Yucky stuff.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Kaczyński flew into Brussels yesterday to tell those nasty Brussels bureaucrats that all of that is absolutely, 100% untrue!

From theparliament.com:

"Don’t believe in the myth of anti-Semitic, xenophobic Poland," Kaczynski told a Brussels press pack.

"There are homosexuals in Poland who have very high positions in politics and even on the right of politics. This is a media thing, it is not real."

Well. That clears everything right up.

As promised

2006-08-30T21:59:00.000+02:00

Solidarity activists are defending Deputy Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz

As I mentioned below, Deputy Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz has been in some pretty hot water recently over statements he made accusing Poland's former Foreign Ministers of spying for the Soviets.

In response to heavy criticism of Macierewicz's un-supported accusations in the media, some of his former Solidarity colleagues sent an open letter of support to Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński. It read thusly:

The authors of the letter express their trust in Minister Macierewicz, a Solidarity activist and one of the most eminent leaders of the Polish independence movement. We also have trust in the information that he said he possesses about the influence former [Soviet] agents have on the country’s current affairs and national interests.

The attack on Antoni Macierewicz is an attempt to halt actions aimed at eliminating those spies from public life and plays to the benefit of the all enemies of independence.

Eek! They're everywhere!

The information Minister Macierewicz has indicated he has, will not undermine Poland’s credibility in the international community. Countries which undertake efforts to clear their political apparatus of untrustworthy people deserve respect.

Absolutely. Say, what was that evidence again?

It is worth noting that Poland’s most influential media outlets have not bothered to analyze the minister’s statements, but instead called the information he presented untrue.

Ah, yes. I knew it. Once again, it's all the media's fault. Tell me, what were they to analyze? The accusation was simple: Most of the former Foreign Ministers were "agents of the Soviet secret services." (większość dawnych ministrów spraw zagranicznych była "agentami sowieckich służb specjalnych". ) The statement is either true or it is false. But since no evidence has been presented, how are we to analyze any further than that?

Oh yes, and isn't it the burden of the accuser to prove guilt?

The general public in Poland has the right to know the dramatic truth, so we believe that what Minister Macierewicz did was an act of patriotism intended to stress the good character of the country.

The dramatic truth: Macierewicz has no proof, and simply let loose with reckless accusations that would score him points on a politically friendly television network (Father Tadeusz Rydzyk's TV Trwam).

The same people who, back in 1992, opposed the cabinet of Jan Olszewski for its efforts to reduce the influence of post-Soviet agents, are now attacking Minister Macierewicz who is merely trying to fulfill the same goals.

The media attack against Antoni Macierewicz is in reality an attempt to halt the vetting and liquidation of the Military Information Services and to replace them by new special [secret] services.

[signed,]
Andrzej Gwiazda, Anna Walentynowicz, Joanna Duda-Gwiazda and Krzysztof Wyszkowski,

These are deeply, deeply frightened people.

Even Radio Polonia isn't safe

2006-08-30T12:39:00.000+02:00

Is the current PiS government so power-hungry that it has even begun bending English-language state media to its will?

There aren't too many websites where someone interested in Polish news can go for reliable English-language reportage. The Warsaw Voice, is, quite simply, crap – and only comes out weekly. The Warsaw Business Journal doesn't make many of its stories available to those who refuse to register, and except for their news digest service (also restricted) only comes out weekly. Poland Monthly is full of old news. The best source – at least what used to be the best source – is Radio Polonia.

I've been going there recently to read what they say about a particular scandal that's been getting much play in the news here, but very little internationally. Antoni Macierewicz – a very conservative politician and one of the leaders of the Patriotic Movement party (Ruch Patrioticzny), who was recently appointed as Deputy Defense Minister, began speaking to the media without thinking, it seems. A week or so ago, he claimed that most Foreign Ministers of Poland since 1989 have been Soviet spies. He provided no proof for his claims.

This caused a political uproar, since naturally the accused wanted to see what evidence Macierewicz had which would lead him to publicly defame them. Many were also upset because the statements, understandably, riled Russia at a time when Russo-Polish relations were beginning to get a tad warmer. Andrzej Lepper, Minister of Agriculture, complained that this was not helping to convince the Russians to lift their ban on Polish meat and plant products.

The media had a field day with the story, mostly because Macierewicz continually refused to present any proof whatsoever. Calls from every end of the political spectrum called for his resignation, while the Twins-in-Chief remained conspicuously silent. The calls grew so loud that Macierewicz finally apologized, saying that his statements were an “inappropriate mental shortcut” – whatever that means – but never once producing any evidence.

In response to the furor, four old allies of Macierewicz from his Solidarity days wrote a letter to Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński supporting the Deputy Minister.

The letter reads like the ravings of a madman who's watched too many conspiracy-theory films, and is full of errors of logic. In short, it's hogwash, and is so flawed that I'm forced to devote an entire upcoming post my comments on it, rather than enumerate them here.

The worst part, however, is that I found the letter, unabridged, uncommented upon, hardly even introduced, on the website of the once-neutral Radio Polonia. The station's English service reaches folks from all over the globe, and has a large following. A search of the site's archives for any information on the scandal produces only this letter, as well as another short article, written earlier, reporting that the letter was sent.

These two articles give credence to the government's position, without presenting any opposing view. There is little mention on the site of criticisms of Macierewicz's extremely irresponsible statements (if “causing a political storm”, and “many in the media have called for his resignation” - can be called mention of criticisms). This type of unbalanced presentation of a story has the fingerprints of PiS – which, make no mistake, is now in control of Polish Radio – all over it.

Has PiS now strongarmed so much of the public sector that even the formerly balanced Radio Polonia is becoming a mouthpiece of the government? No analysis, no opposing views, just a cut and paste job hoping to spice up the news cycle with a bit of pro-PiS propaganda?

Radio Polonia ought to be ashamed of itself.

--- UPDATE ---
It seems Radio Polonia - in the interest of reporting actual news - has published a story reporting that former Foreign Minister Wladysław Bartoszewski has resigned from his chairmanship of the council of the Polish Institute of Foreign Affairs due to Macierewicz's statements.

Sunday Vista Blogging XIII

2006-08-27T19:45:00.000+02:00

EK for WS

Tulum, Mexico

Gus for WS

Off George Town, Grand Cayman

I'll be going to jail any day now

2006-08-24T23:18:00.000+02:00

In case you didn't know, it's a crime in Poland to insult the head of state.

Think they'll give me three years for calling the duck a dunderhead?

Putting on their election hats

2006-08-23T01:38:00.000+02:00

Who's the biggest populist in Poland?

You know election season has started in Poland when populists start promising the moon. With local elections just a couple of months away, the three parties in Poland's ruling coalition have begun a game of political one-upmanship, each seeing which can promise more voters an election gift with the biggest bow, and which can portray previoius fiscal reforms as a more outrageous pillaging of the state.

The pit-bull and the bugbear

We start off with Law and Justice (PiS). This week the party sicced its pit-bull Artur Zawisza on that bugbear of all Polish anti-reformists, central-bank chief Leszek Balcerowicz. Zawisza heads the Banking Investigative Commission – PiS' pet project – which was created with all but the express purpose of publicly hanging Balcerowicz for all of Poland's economic woes since the transition from communism to capitalism.

Just as the commission was gearing up to have its first meeting, Zawisza suggested the existence of “notes” written by Polish Special Services alleging that Balcerowicz had cheated the state during the privatization of Bank Pekao in 1999.

Balcerowicz's head on a platter is just the kind of gift the ducks would love to give their constituents in the runup to the elections, and evidence that he had cheated the state out of billions would have piled up the votes for PiS. But when Balcerowicz threatened legal action against Zawisza, the pit-bull backed off with his tail between his legs faster than you can say “spayed and neutered”, whimpering that he had only pointed out a conflict of interest.

The damage may be done however, as the insinuation of these notes' existence is enough to convince those who want to believe Balcerowicz pilfered state coffers. And since Balcerowicz is expected to undergo a long, nasty interrogation by the commission in front of TV cameras for the whole country to see, PiS may gain the political capital they're looking for yet.

Balcerowicz, who can always be counted upon to shoot off an inflamatory quip whenever there's a microphone nearby, is so exasperated that he compared the government to that of Iran, and said it was causing Poland's democracy to “degenerate”.

“There is a competition among the coalition partners as to who will be a bigger populist,” Balcerowicz told public radio yesterday morning.

Back to the future

Which brings us to the League of Polish Families (LPR), the ultra-conservative reactionaries who are in danger of not winning anything at all this election season. To pump up the poll numbers, the party has pledged to become even more hardline - and began that campaign two weeks ago with a proposal to re-introduce the death penalty in Poland.

Monday, the party's Frankenstein-in-chief, Roman Giertych, said that his party would work to enact a law allowing the government to retract the privatization of any previously state-owned firm that his party deemed unlawful, and demanded the support of the coalition partners. Which firms would be targeted, and whether the state would pay compensation to those it snatched these companies from is as yet unclear. No worries though. “The value of seized assets would be higher than potential compensation,” LPR deputy Wojciech Wierzejski guarantees.

Getting this law past a little thing called the Polish Constitution would prove a herculean task, but that matters little, as the proposed law has no chance of ever seeing the light of day. However, simply proposing it just might get enough LPR voters to the polls to keep them present in some local governments.

Not to be left out, Poland's premier pugi-populist, leader of Self-defense Andrzej Lepper, has decided to buy his votes the old fashioned way: with direct handouts from the budget. He wants the government to spend more than the zł.30 billion ceiling they've set for themselves on things like miners pensions and fuel subsidies for farmers. If they don't, he's threatened – again – to leave the coalition and force early elections.

“If there is not a pro-social budget...we will not approve it and this means early elections,” Lepper told public radio yesterday.

Of course, nobody actually expects him to go through with this plan. He's just making sure all the farmers know whose side he's on when it comes time to head to the polls. Seriously, how can anyone believe a word he's saying anymore?

How can anyone believe a word any of them say anymore?

And why do the Polish people keep falling for this?

Poland “Exporting Criminals” - European News Review

2006-08-21T21:12:00.000+02:00

Is Poland using Western Europe as its own personal Australia?

In an article entitled “Why Polish Emigration is bad for Europe but good for Poland” an author writing for the European News Review accuses the Polish government of refusing to stop the flood of emigrants from Poland because it is helping them in the polls.

With lower unemployment there is less competition for jobs so this makes those who are actually looking for work in Poland happier. At the same time the Polish Government is able to use the lower unemployment figures to show that its policies are having a positive effect on the Polish economy.

The net result is that more of the Polish people are happy with the way the Polish government is running the country.

Many troublemakers and criminals have left Poland for Western Europe. The crime rate in Polish cities is down. See

The author cites an unavailable (just click on the link) article from the Irish Examiner to back up these claims. Regardless of the source's unavailability, from the wording of the sentence and link, it seems that rather than proving the outrageous claim that Poland is sending its worst seeds to contaminate the Western European lands, the author uses the Irish Examiner article to more back up the claim that crime in Poland is down.

Crime wave

This is true – but hardly because Poland has been “exporting its criminals”. The numbers have been turning that way for a while now: There have been more police on the streets for the past couple of years, and employment is up. Please remember that a rise in employment does not necessarily correspond to lower unemployment. As the author claims, unemployment has dropped partly as a result of the exodus. But the employment rate has also been steadily rising. Last month it was up by 3.3 percent (registration requred).

Certainly, there have been incidents of crime by recent Polish immigrants documented in Western Europe, but it's hardly the crime wave you would expect if Poland were using the UK and Ireland as its own personal penal colony. The violence against Poles since borders in the UK, Ireland and Sweden were opened in 2004 has been arguably larger in scale than crimes committed by Poles (Polish link).

Homebodies

In my experience, Poles by nature and culture are very reluctant to leave home – one of the reasons so many young, talented Poles chose to remain unemployed in small cities rather than move to Warsaw where a job (albeit low-paying) was almost sure to be found. They aren't leaving Poland because they've become bored with committing crimes here. They've left only because they're guaranteed to earn more than they could here, doing jobs they can bear.

I know an Irish recruiter personally. The men he recruits to send to Ireland for various construction and building jobs are not simply shipped off at the drop of a hat. Their backgrounds are checked – previous employers are interviewed. They are sent over to fill specific places in specific construction firms. These are semi-skilled workers that have been working most of their lives. Many are over 35. Most have families. These are hardly hardened criminals.

The youths that go tend to go on more capricious terms – but these too are hardly the criminal type. Most are university students with skills companies in Poland can't find a use for. Their skills (and yes, wage demands) are a perfect fit for the economies they have moved to contribute to. They are computer programmers, electrical engineers, nurses, young doctors, or dentists. Why lead a life of crime and risk being sent back to Poland, where little waits for them?

I wonder if the author has even visited Ireland or the UK since Poles have been allowed to work there without hindrance. They are generally considered skilled, honest and hardworking. So where are the criminals?

The crime example is the only evidence the author offers for the current wave of Polish emigration being “bad for Europe,” but the proof the author provides for it being “good for Poland” is equally as questionable.

Glass houses

For example, the author confuses the economic forces acting on the housing market here, first by saying that the exodus has put less pressure on the housing market – apparently making housing more available to Poles – thereafter citing two reasons why the housing market is so expensive as to keep flats out of the reach of the average Pole [emphasis mine]:

Once again Polish emigration is helping. By exporting Poles to the West there are fewer people who will be available to buy houses and that will take pressure off the housing market.

The housing shortage is partially due to the lack of government action to make the process of land acquisition and the obtaining of building permits easier for developers. With less of a demand for housing there is less pressure on the government to take action to make it easier to build flats. See

Western Europeans are also helping the government by buying those flats that they can find available. The demand by these European investors has increased the price of housing in Poland. See

Despite the enormous “pressure” the author sees lifted from the housing market by the loss of a few hundred thousand Poles (a great number of whom keep their residences in Poland), prices in the Polish housing market are spiraling upward with no relief in sight – partly for the reasons the author was good enough to point out. The emigration has not done a thing to make it easier for Poles to obtain housing.

Good for everybody

However, I would still agree with the author that the emigration is good for Poland, as I've argued here earlier. But not for the reasons the author cites (S/he seems to mean it's good for the Polish government). Rather, emigrees are giving the economies they go to an economic boost (those countries that have allowed in the most Poles have benefitted the most economically), which allows those economies to buy more Polish products. With the tightening of the job market, Polish businesses must raise salaries to keep skilled workers here. As Poles go abroad, they gain experience and skills that will help them in their future careers. Since the UK or Ireland are so close (getting closer every day with cheap flights cris-crossing the continent), and since Poles are so strongly tied to their homes (as I mentioned above) we can expect a large number to return, bringing those skills and know-how back to Poland one day.

The Polish emigration to Western Europe is good for Poland, good for Western Europe, good for Europe as a whole and, I would contend, good for the world economy. From the tone of the ENR article, it seems the author is simply taking the opportunity to attack the current populist government – positive developments (like lower crime) in the country be damned. While I'm no fan of the current government, I'm willing to give them their due on the crime front. Crime has dropped on their watch – but was dropping before they took office. So not even much credit can be given them.

Unpopular populists

But the author seems to think these developments have led to some magnificent swell in the government's popularity:

“The net result is that more of the Polish people are happy with the way the Polish government is running the country.” One wonders more than what exactly.

Yet again, the author errs. A poll released just today (the same date as ENR's essay) shows a full 36 percent of the country says it is “against” the Kaczyński government (Polish link), 31 percent have no opinion, with 28 percent – the lowest result – “for” the government. On top of that, some 48 percent believe the actions of Kaczyński's cabinet will not make Poland's economic situation any better.

One wonders if someone with such incomplete knowledge of Poland, its politics, and its place in Europe ought to be making inflamatory claims that the country is “exporting its criminals”. Such claims are sensationalist, dangerous, and ultimately – lies.

Buy stuff you don't want to save Detroit

2006-08-16T19:11:00.000+02:00

If he loses his pension, it's because you wouldn't buy an SUV

Is the American consumer to blame for Detroit's woes?

In a column featured in Monday's Detroit Free Press, Stephen Schiavi, a graduate of the University of Detroit and a retired teacher, says that Americans' unwillingness to buy gas-guzzling American-made SUVs and trucks is the equivalent of stabbing the Detroit blue-collar worker in the back.

His column mostly seems to be based on his experiences in a return visit to Detroit for a wedding, where he met several retired workers who were worried that their former employers wouldn't be able to meet their pension commitments. His concern for these folks' future is admirable, but his analysis of the problem is – to put it mildly – unadulterated protectionist nonsense.

The crux of his argument is this (emphasis mine):

In our quest to find cheap labor elsewhere, we have supported other countries becoming more productive, and that has advanced them economically. Therefore, we helped to implement the decline of our own economy.

A common affliction

Though he graduated from a good university, Mr Schiavi is quite clearly no economist. He suffers from a common affliction, however: believing that economic growth in one country necessarily corresponds to economic downturns in another.

The facts, of course, belie the problems of his argument. The US economy has been clipping along at a pace faster than developing economies like Poland, where GM, Ford, and associated manufacturing companies like Delphi have made significant investments over recent years. Most importantly, both economies were growing at a healthy rate of over five percent simultaneously. Poland's gain (for example) did not correspond to the US' loss.

Referring to American carmakers' problems with funding their pension commitments, Mr Schiavi notes, "This is not happening to the foreign automakers." Indeed. One of the biggest reasons for this difference is the fact that foreign auto makers moved more quickly to offset growing labor costs by moving production to countries outside their home market. I hope that he wouldn't deny American carmakers the opportunity to do likewise and remain competitive long enough to pay off those pensions.

Mea culpa

Admittedly, the US economy's growth took a dip this month that few were expecting. Could this have come as a result of Americans not buying enough Detroit cars?

As Detroit thrived, so, too, did America. Not anymore. As Detroit now suffers, so do we. Any industry associated with the manufacture, or lack thereof, of American cars and automobile equipment or accessories, will also suffer.

It's true enough that industries solely associated with the manufacture of American cars would take a hit due to the woes of Detroit's big car manufacturers, but few such industries exist. Let's please remember that car companies which we generally call "foreign" such as Toyota or Honda, actually produce many cars in America. As a result, the smart auto-parts producers have diversified their client base, and make products for "foreign" and domestic cars alike. Though their "American" clients may be buying less, their "foreign" clients are buying more. The Americans that these companies employ have secure jobs.

The figurative finger

Which brings us to another problem with Mr Schiavi's argument: By buying a Toyota or a Honda, American consumers are actually supporting American (though admittedly, not Detroit) workers. If by buying a Honda made in Alabama is showing the Detroit worker that "we don’t care about each other anymore," then isn't someone who buys a Ford Fusion – as his daughter plans to do – giving a figurative finger to that poor Alabama worker? What is a patriotic American-job supporting protectionist to do?

(Indeed, it seems from cursory research that Honda has an emissions lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan. What would happen to the high-tech jobs there – just the sort Michigan needs, by the way – if Americans were to stop buying Hondas?!)

No regrets

Mr. Shiavi trumpets that ever since being berated by Detroiters for driving a Honda, he has turned to American brands, specifically Ford, and has “never regretted” his purchase of an F-150. He implores others to do the same.

But the Ford F-150 is a gas-guzzler that damages the environment and is expensive to drive. Being retired, Mr Schiavi probably doesn't have to worry about commuting to work, nor driving the kids to school or soccer practice. That he chooses to spend more on gas is fine, but should he expect tight-budgeted families to take on a hugely expensive purchase in order to "support the Detroit worker"? Should he expect environmentally- conscious families to contribute to global warming in order to "respond to others' problems"?

In fact, the money these families save on things like gas when they buy "foreign" does not disappear. It is spent elsewhere – even on other American-based industries. It went, perhaps, towards buying a home computer – something which would have contributed to the recent boom in America's computer industry. Maybe it went towards buying more healthy locally-grown vegetables. Maybe it went towards a cafe latte from Starbucks, or Florida orange juice. Maybe it was invested in a local small business.

What goes around

By buying cheaper – or more efficient – goods, Americans earn more money to spend elsewhere and support different sectors of the economy. When American companies move jobs to Poland, it gives Poles a better opportunity to buy American goods – like the Opel make of GM cars here, which is becoming increasingly popular. Ford and GM planned poorly and produced products of little use to the American economy. Americans quite rightly invested their money better. Ford and GM have suffered for their mistakes, and let’s pray they’ve learned their lesson. Detroit will live on, the Detroit worker will live on.

As for the retirees who are caught in the crossfire, better to invest in better pension guarantee schemes and promoting private investment, than to throw our money away carelessly in the pursuit of a romantic economically patriotic ideal which hamstrings us from investing in something that would actually improve our lives.

Leaving the past in the past

2006-08-11T11:15:00.000+02:00

German politician Erika Steinbach

... is an idea conservatives here in Central Europe sniff at

Yesterday evening an exhibition opened in Germany which focuses on the plight of Germans exiled from Central and Eastern Europe in the aftermath of World War II. The event was organized by German CDU politician Erika Steinbach, whose father who was a Silesian-born non-commissioned officer in the Luftwaffe. Steinbach is the head of the German Federation of Expellees, which has been demanding for some time that now-Polish lands confiscated from Germany by the Soviets be returned to German hands. Very few, except for the odd tooth-gnashing Polish politician, has ever paid them much heed.

One of those tooth-gnashing Polish politicians is the Prime Minister of Poland, Jarosław Kaczyński, who, as soon as he heard about the offending exhibition, took time out from his vacation at the Baltic seaside to visit nearby former Nazi concentration camp Sztutowo (Stutthof) where he told reporters, “It's important to remember who were the murderers and who were the victims.”

Another is former Prime Minister and current acting Mayor of Warsaw, PiS' Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, who has cancelled a trip to Berlin today in response to the opening of the exhibition (Polish link).

For her part, Mrs. Steinbach has said that she hopes the exhibition is the first step towards the creation of a permanent center recording the suffering of the expellees. That idea has been mooted for some time, and infuriates most Poles. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said such a center ought to be considered.

Making a point

Poles believe by portraying some Germans as victims of WWII, such a center would gloss-over or even challenge the idea of Germany as an aggressor during the war.

Steinbach's group believes the suffering of people who were forced to leave their homes as a result of the political machinations of post-war Europe ought to be documented.

Both have a point. Certainly some Germans who were exiled from western Poland at the hands of Soviet Russia must have been unsupportive of Hitler but were powerless to stop him. That Stalin forced them to leave their homes was cruel and unjust.

But the suffering of those few cannot be allowed to overshadow the crimes committed by the German state during the war. A center documenting the plight of expellees might be another useful reminder of how war tears lives apart – but it should not gloss over Germany's ultimate responsibility for WWII, and emphasize that it was Stalin, not Poland, who forced these people out of the land of their births.

Out of the question

Giving formerly German lands back to Germany however, ought to be out of the question. It would set a dangerous regressive precedent. If Silesia were returned to Germany, oughtn't Poland demand western Ukraine back? There would be a downward spiral of territorial disputation, and it's hard to see what good that would achieve.

My own personal view is that Europe started over at the end of World War II. That war was as cataclysmic for this continent as the Biblical Great Flood. When the water receded, it started from scratch. There is no use focusing on the wave-tossed past – though it ought to be remembered. Europe's gaze ought to be set on the future.

It's good then, that nobody important really takes the Federation of Expellees' proposal for reclaiming of German lands very seriously.

Nobody important, except, of course, the ruling party in Poland and some prominent politicians in Germany - all of whom, because of their fixation on Europe's past, are unable to look towards the continent's future.

Breaking the bank?

2006-08-09T18:23:00.000+02:00

Are Poland's finances on the verge of unravelling?

Poland's finances seem to be going from bad to worse without Zyta Gilowska at the helm, though it's questionable as to whether she could have held up to the immense pressure from the populist elements of the governing coalition to spend public funds on everything from toddlers to tractor fuel. Since she's been gone however, the fiscal irresponsibility has become uncontrollable, with the Finance Ministry issuing a plethora of warnings that Poland won't be able to meet its budget commitments.

Budget blues

Yesterday, new Finance Minister Stanisław Kluza warned that Poland's budget deficit would exceed the 3% of GDP limit required by Europe's growth and stability pact by 2009 but would rather come in at 3.5%. This is important because the later Poland hits that target, the farther back Poland's entry into the euro zone will be pushed. Poland is still the only new EU member without a set target date for adopting the euro.

The government is having even more trouble than it expected covering this year's expenditures since all privatization activities have come to a virtual standstill. In today's Puls Biznesu, Deputy Treasury Minister Paweł Szałamacha revealed that privatization revenues for this year will equal around zł.1.2-1.5 billion – some four times less than last year.

Making up the difference

Without money flowing into the government's coffers from the sale of state assets, PiS had planned to make up the difference with dividends paid out from the profits state-owned companies. The state looked to collect a bumper crop of dividend payments this year, what with the banking sector (PKO BP), the oil sector (PKN Orlen), the IT sector (Prokom et. al), and the metals sector (KGHM – whose dividends the government forced higher, rather than allowing the investments the management wanted) all turning in fantastic profits. Unfortunately, with PKN Orlen's buyout of Mazeikiu for about zł.2 billion, the government is frantically trying to figure out where it will get the zł.530 million it had expected to squeeze out of Poland's largest company.

The government is now repositioning its rhetoric on the issue. Whereas earlier Treasury Minister Andrzej Jasiński had contended that "the" lost revenue from the slowdown in privatization would be made up by state-firm dividends, his deputy, Szałamacha, is now saying that the dividends will cover "part" of the lost income.

Where will the other "part" come from? We are left to presume that the state will simply take on more debt.

Ugly outlook

With continued unfettered state spending and wages being forced up due to the exodus of skilled workers, the złoty is bound to end its happy run of low inflation very soon. When that happens, Poland's biggest source of income – its exports – will slow significantly, and Poland will become less attractive as a low labor-cost investment destination. At that point the government will be forced to sell off state assets, now worth much less, since it will have hung onto them as long as possible, milking them of every last penny of profit. The deficit will continue to exceed 3% of GDP, keeping the euro – with its stability and trade-enhancing effects - far out of reach.

A dirtier-than-usual oil spill

2006-08-08T12:53:00.000+02:00

Russia is punishing Polish oil giant PKN Orlen for barging in on what it sees as its energy-market turf

You may have overlooked it with all of the excitement over this week's shutdown of the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, but there is actually another pipeline in need of repair that is holding up supplies and pushing up prices - on the other side of the world, in Russia. But while the reasons for BP's shutdown seem transparent enough - after a spill in March the Transportation Department demanded the pipeline be inspected, corrosion was subsequently found, and it was determined the pipeline must be replaced - the circumstances of the Russian spill and subsequent pipeline shutdown are altogether much more suspicious.

On July 29 a leak sprung from the Druzhba oil link near the border with Belarus. The leak occurred on a part of the pipeline which branches off toward Lithuania, delivering oil to the Maziekiu refinery, which Poland's PKN Orlen very recently bought after a hard-fought bidding war in a tender contested by Russia's TNK-BP, Lukoil, and Kazakh national oil and gas company, KazMunaiGaz.

The leak was stopped, but according to the International Herald Tribune, Russian authorities now say that the entire section of pipeline - 70 km (about 44 miles) - will have to be replaced entirely. That's not so surprising. What is surprising however is the timing and the placement of the leak, as well as the fact that that Russian officials expect the repairs to last at least 21 months. In contrast, BP estimates it will be able to replace most of the 22-mile section of the Alaskan pipeline in question within two to three months, reports the Associated Press.

From the International Herald Tribune:

"The timing of this accident is very strange," said Arunas Jievaltas, a senior diplomat at the Lithuanian Embassy in Warsaw. "It happened as Orlen was wrapping up negotiations to buy [Mazeikiu] Nafta refinery. Some would say that Russia is trying to show Poland that this is the price it must pay for obtaining [Mazeikiu]. It seems that every step which is taken by a Russian energy company is motivated by politics."

Some history is needed here. The stake in Mazeiku refinery which Orlen bought was originally owned by Russian-government Enemy Number One, Yukos, which sold the plant to free up capital to pay off back taxes owed to Moscow. Russia has long wanted to get its hands on Mazeikiu, as it would further strengthen Russian control over oil and gas to Europe, consolidate its power over energy supplies to former Soviet Union and satellite countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and push its energy empire even further into the West. When Yukos bought the refinery in 2002 those hopes were dashed, only to be raised again after the Russian government's harassment forced Yukos to sell.

It seemed Russia would have its cake and eat it too, by forcing Yukos to sell Mazeiku, pocketing the proceeds as owed taxes, and also gaining de-facto control over the refinery when earlier this year KazMunaiGas (which is heavily dependent on Russian-state-owned companies for investment in many of its most important projects) was tipped to win the tender. Later, the Lithuanian Prime Minister vowed that his government would make use of its pre-emptive right to buy Yukos' 54% stake before allowing it into the hands of Orlen.

"Orlen is not well known to us. Most doubt is caused by the ability of this company to supply oil to [Mazeikiu]. Some Russian oil companies clearly stated that no more oil would flow in this direction," - thus eliminating millions in tax revenue for the Lithuanian government, the Warsaw Business Journal reported back in March.

When Orlen upped the ante with a $1.5-billion offer for Yukos' shares in May, it seemed nothing could stop the deal, though the Russian government tried its best to delay the purchase indefinitely in New York courts. Finally however, Orlen's offer was too strong, and now the Lithuanian government is actually also in negotiations to sell its 30% stake to Orlen too.

Russia was incensed, and it now seems those "clear statements" referred to by the Lithuanian PM have become a reality. Russian officials insist the leak is just a wacky coincidence.

The shutdown has already taken a significant toll, however. Last week, Morgan Stanley sold its 2.6 million shares in Orlen, leading to a two-percent drop in Orlen's share price. The longer the refinery has to get its crude oil by ship rather than pipeline, the less competitive it will be.

So the questions that remain unanswered are: What caused this leak? Why will it take so long to fix it? And how long will Western governments allow Russia to distort the energy market in its quest for revenue, prestige, and power?

We're all going to Hell

2006-08-05T00:46:00.000+02:00

Check this out.

At first I thought it was a parody. I just found it searching around for oldies songs when I found this corny animation. For a laugh I followed the links at the bottom.

Wow. Has it come to this? When did this become what it meant to be a Christian?

The counter to the side is ticking off the number of people who have died since you opened this webpage. The vast majority of those people are entering Hell. Christ commanded his followers to share the Gospel with those who are perishing... who have you shared with today?

Widening the gap

2006-08-04T11:08:00.000+02:00

At the beginning of this month the former director of EU affairs in Poland's foreign Ministry, Pawel Swieboda, caused a stir by claiming that the current government was causing Poland to lose influence in Brussels by focusing too much on internal politics. For the government, “EU affairs are a distant question,” Swieboda told the EUObserver.com website.

Later that week President Lech Kaczyński seemed to prove him at least half wrong with a sudden dive into EU political debate by voicing support for re-instituting the death penalty within the European Union. The statements have put Poland front and center on the EU's political agenda – but for all the wrong reasons. Rather than engaging the bloc, the President's proposal has widened the gap between Poland and the rest of the EU.

European Union officials took Kaczyński's suggestion as an affront of the highest order. “To suggest that [the death penalty's] reintroduction could in any sense represent a positive development would be a direct attack on our common values, which are founded on respect for the basic human dignity of every person,” said Rene van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in an open letter to President Kaczyński.

As Mr. Swieboda might have predicted, the uproar had its origins in a domestic political affair. The right-wing League of Polish Families (LPR), realizing that it has negligible support in the country heading towards this autumn's local elections, decided to set off a media storm by pledging to put a referendum on the death penalty on this fall's ballot, hoping that the resulting hoopla would help boost poll numbers.

President Kaczyński may be playing LPR's game because he fears a breakup of the coalition if he doesn't, or he may genuinely believe the EU needs to reinstate the death penalty. Either way however, he knows full well that bringing back capital punishment would fly in the face of Poland's EU accession treaty, and that with such fierce opposition within Europe, the chances the for the success of his proposal were next to nil. So he must also have known that his words could have only driven the EU and Poland farther apart.

Though it is doubtful that this will have a negative effect on Poland's robust economic growth in the short term, isolating Poland from Europe will certainly not help the country when it comes to negotiating future aid packages or tax legislation in the EU. Moreover, at a time when Poland ought to be cultivating its tourism attractiveness, the President's proposal had the effect of giving foreigners yet another reason to consider Poland backward and reactionary. And it's hard to see how that serves Poland's interests either internationally or domestically.

August 1st

2006-08-01T11:57:00.000+02:00

Today, a history lesson

Polish government in crisis

2006-07-08T03:07:00.000+02:00

The twins have now created the situation they, but nobody else in Poland wanted. The question now is: Aren't the Kaczynski brothers just as much power-hungry and corrupt as they claimed those they replaced were?

Thank you, Stevie Y

2006-07-04T07:07:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Detroit's greatest sports hero decided to hang up his skates for good

It's quite a claim, I know. After all, in the annals of Detroit sports he has to compete with such names as Ty Cobb and Joe Louis. Magic Johnson and Barry Sanders graced our stage. In hockey alone, Detroit history reverberates with names like Abel, Sawchuck, Lindsay and of course, Howe.

But in my mind, Stevie beats them all.

The claim could be made based on the statistics alone. Take a look at the hockey record books and youll find the name Yzerman falls into the top 10 of just about every record that counts, nipping at the heels of the great one more consistently than Lemieux, Lefleur, or Messier.

There was more to Stevie's hockey career than the scoring records though. He won the Selke trophy, the prize for the best defensive forward, in 2000, but could have won it many more times. After leading play up the ice, setting up a scoring chance, and rushing toward the net to poke at a rebound, he would fly back to his own end of the ice faster than the rest of his teammates only to save a goal by putting his body on the line to block a shot.

He did all of this with an aching back and rusty knees. He came back after "career-ending" surgery after surgery after surgery. He did this despite rumor after rumor that he was on the trading block. He did this despite fading hopes that the team that he captained for 20 years -- longer than anyone else in NHL history -- would ever win a Stanley Cup.

His name now appears on that cup three times. For one of those campaigns he was deemed the most valuable player to his team in the playoffs.

Don't forget to add an Olympic gold medal to that array of trophies and awards, all of which put together still don't do him justice.

Yes, there is still more to Stevie's storied career than a work ethic and a loaded trophy room. Stevie was an example of how hard work can beat pure talent (though he had plenty) or dirty play, in an age when talent trumps experience and more and more folks believe you have to play dirtier than your opponent to win.

Stevie was unlike any other. Unlike M.J., He never whined. Unlike Kobe, he let his teammates take the credit. Unlike Beckham, he was great on both sides of play. Unlike Montana or Gretzky, he remained with a single team throughout his career.

In an age of sports heroes who continuously let their fans down, Stevie never disappointed. Each time he stepped onto the ice, he gave everything he had. Each time he stepped off the ice, he had a good word for his teammates.

In a city that found little to brag about from 1983 to 2006, Stevie gave us something to be proud of in words and deeds, on and off the ice. He led by example, not only for his team, but for an entire city, teaching me and many like me how an athlete should behave, on and off the rink, field or court. He played with dignity, and with honor. He typified what it meant to be a man.

That is why it's clear to me that Stevie Y, as we know him in Detroit, is this town's greatest sports hero. He gave us much more than great play and great memories. He gave us back our pride.

So today, less than 24 hours after his career comes to an official end, more than anything, The Captain deserves our thanks.

People blogging about Stevie

Your taxes at work

2006-06-14T15:55:00.000+02:00

Courtesy of Grooveking:

click for larger image

Depressing, innit?

New p3

2006-06-05T12:21:00.000+02:00

P3, the blog about Poland from a decidedly expat/foreigner/globetrotter point of view, has moved from its blogger site to its new-fangled wordpress home. You can now find it at http://polishstyle.net/.

Although a picture may be worth a thousand words, our launch of the new p3 begins with a picture and 100 words more from each of our contributors. Enjoy!

Just a coincidence?

2006-05-29T10:29:00.000+02:00

Forbes.com:

Poland's chief rabbi was punched and attacked with what appeared to be pepper spray in downtown Warsaw in what police said may have been an anti-Semitic attack.

...

"The fact that it happened just as the pope is visiting Poland and going to Auschwitz means the attack could have had an anti-Semitic motive, that it was meant to tarnish the image of Poland," Interior Ministry spokesman Tomasz Sklodowski said.

...

Schudrich said he did not believe the attack was connected to the pope's visit. Instead he linked it to what he said was a rise of intolerance connected to a new governing coalition that includes the League of Polish Families, or LPR, a small right-wing party with ideological ties to a prewar anti-Semitic party and a radical youth wing.

"With the LPR in the government, ultra-rightists who felt somehow constrained in their behavior now feel they can do whatever they want," Schudrich said.

I guess I'm back :)

A well regulated Militia ...

2006-03-22T09:53:00.000+01:00

The Guardian:

Larry Mugrage, a popular hard-working and clever schoolboy, added his name to a high and persistent death toll. A child is killed by a gun every three hours in America. According to the latest statistics, nearly 1,000 children under 19 are shot dead every year. Another 800 use guns to commit suicide, and more than 160 die in firearm accidents.

Forty per cent of American households own guns, but those guns are 22 times more likely to be involved in an accidental shooting, or 11 times more likely to be used in a suicide, than in self-defence. On average, more than 80 Americans are killed by gunfire every day.

...

Mr Martin had every right to his .410 (11mm) bore shotgun. Ohio does not require anyone buying any firearm to have a permit. Nor does the state require gunowners to have a licence, although some inner city municipalities have stricter rules. Most state legislatures considering gun legislation are seeking to relax the remaining controls. Last year, Florida introduced a law giving its citizens the right to "stand their ground" and open fire, even in a public place, if they feel threatened, and the gun lobby is trying to pass a bill in the state that would allow workers to bring guns into their workplace with or without their employer's consent.

Under pressure from the NRA, the Republican-run House of Representatives is investigating the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for "abuse" of its power for cracking down on rural "gun shows" where controls on sales are generally looser.

Larry Mugrage will be mourned in Union Township as another victim of inexplicable rage, but the means used to kill him are unlikely to raise many eyebrows. Controls on shotgun ownership have never really been on the table in the debate, and that has been over for more than a year on the national stage. Mr Martin would have been within his constitutional rights to guard his lawn with an AK-47.

USA 1 - Poland 0

2006-03-01T21:59:00.000+01:00

Heh.

Why opposing P&O's takeover by DP World isn't racism

2006-02-21T19:24:00.000+01:00

P&O SHAREHOLDERS

Schroder Investment Management Ltd: 9.7%
PRUDENTIAL: 6.34%
HBOS: 4.84%
Threadneedle AM Ldt: 4.67%
Legal & General Investment Management: 3.54%

Democrats are once again bungling their argument, as Congressman after Congressman comes out against the proposed takeover of P&O by DP World, a port management company majority-owned by the Emerate of Dubai.

Democrats have turned this argument into one primarily about whether a foreign-owned company can be trusted to run America's ports, allowing voices in the Arab world to accuse them of racism, pointing out that America's security was not questioned when its ports were run by P&O, a British company.

However, there is one striking and very important difference. While DP World is a state-owned firm, P&O is privately owned - or so cursory research would appear to confirm.

I do not oppose a foreign-owned company taking control over management of such important security points. Whether based in Dubai, Britain, Poland or China, every business has one goal: profit. Their aims are not politics-based. If they were to let a terrorist attack occur, it would most certainly hit their bottom line, and that is not in their interest.

But state-owned firms are a different bird altogether. I was unfamiliar for the most part as to how state-owned firms worked until I came to Poland, where there are - literally - hundreds.

The scandals, affairs, and shady dealings of these companies are common and well-documented. Politicians gain control over these companies, and use them to achieve political goals. That's something different from the corruption you can find in privately-owned companies, where the goal is financial gain.

Is it not conceivable that any company owned by a foreign government - be it the UAE or Canada - might look to use its control over such a powerful tool for leverage in political disputes?

Yes. The UAE has, up to now, been a good partner for America in terms of trade, as well as battling terrorism. But that's not the point. The point is that companies owned by governments necessarily have secondary (and often primary) goals, which are political, rather than financial. Giving DP World control over America's ports doesn't put those harbors in the hands of foreign shareholders, it puts them in control of a foreign government.

And that is a risk not worth taking.

Speaking of labor mobility

2006-02-21T00:56:00.000+01:00

Chicago Tribune:

Each month, Poland loses about 30,000 workers, many of them young and well-educated, to Britain, Ireland and Sweden. The three countries were the only members of the European Union that did not impose restrictions on immigration from the 10 new member states when the EU expanded in 2004.

Instead of flooding the market with "Polish plumbers,"--the European catchphrase for cheap, low-skilled immigrant labor--the tide of migration from Eastern Europe has fueled economic growth in Britain and Ireland. The unemployment rate in Ireland, already the lowest in the EU at 4.2 percent, dropped a further 0.2 percent with the arrival of 160,000 Eastern European workers over the last 20 months.

So, Poland is experiencing a brain-drain. But it might not be so bad. After all, the skills of the highly-trained programmers and computer technicians heading out of Poland are next to useless here - at least this gives them the chance to earn a bit more money, maybe sending some back to Poland. Who knows, maybe they'll return to Poland and start up a business in 10 or 20 years.

On the other hand, when it comes to doctors, Poland needs all the good ones it can get. But can we blame them for going to the UK when here they have to take on a second job to make ends meet?

Finns show common sense

2006-02-10T21:38:00.000+01:00

Today Finland joined the UK, Ireland and Sweden as one of the only countries in the European Union to understand basic economics.

Xinhua:

The Finnish government and labor market organizations agreed on Friday to relax the restrictions on the free movement of workers from new member states of the European Union.

After Estonia and other nine countries joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, Finland applied restrictions to the free movement of workers from eight new EU member states by two years as a transitional period.

The Finnish government and labor market organizations agreed on Friday that Finland as a whole would stand to gain from foreign labor and that an extended transitional period would have increased the size of the gray economy.

All parties agreed not to renew the transitional period limiting the free movement of workers from new EU member states. Finland will lift labor restrictions from May 1, and opens its labor market to new EU member states.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, urged on Feb. 8 more western European countries to open their labor markets to workers from new EU member states.

Dubya and the Duck

2006-02-10T00:33:00.000+01:00

It seems not much notable occurred at today's meeting between Polish President Kaczyński and President Bush, though we did get another nice little lesson in friendship from Dubya - one that we've had before.

"I asked the president his advice on Ukraine," Bush said. "That's what friends do - they share information and share strategic thoughts."

There was no change in stance on the visa issue, and even little discussion of it, despite the Duck telling a Polish radio station before he left for the US that if Poles wouldn't get visa-free travel to the US, he'd work to make visas a requirement for Americans coming to Poland.

However, Kaczynski did take the olive branch extened by Vladimir Putin two weeks ago, when he said that Poles and Russians were "cousins", and that they should look to the present rather than squabble over past differences.

"There have been certain signals that might lead to an improvement of relations between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation," Kaczynski said. "We have no certainty yet, but these signals we have received, and we're hoping for an improvement in relations between Poland and Russia."

The sincerity of Putin's words remain to be seen, but many political analysts believe this could lead to a warming of relations.

PiS cuddling up to Putin? They're adopting his strongarm tactics, isn't it only natural that soon they start sharing strategic thoughts?

After all, that is what friends do.

Twisted

2006-02-07T22:37:00.000+01:00

Family values in Poland: Disable mothers

Worthy

2006-02-07T18:16:00.000+01:00

From Mitch Albom:

If there had been any question that Detroit could host the world's biggest party, doubts were erased. If there had been any question the spirit of this town outshines its struggles, it is gone now.

...

Someone wrote this week that Detroit was "auditioning for acceptance," and I guess that's accurate, hard as it is to hear, because you wonder sometimes why we care so much what the rest of the country thinks.

But if we suffer a wee inferiority complex, it manifests itself in good ways. Everyone had a bit of Chamber of Commerce in them last week. Time after time, when visitors were asked their impressions of this city, they said, "I can't believe the people are so nice."

And as they head for the airport this morning, let's think about what they saw while they were here:

They saw Aretha Franklin, they saw Kid Rock. They saw the spacious lobby of the Renaissance Center looking out to Canada. They saw Canada. They saw The Henry Ford. They saw the Max M. Fisher Music Center and Seldom Blues restaurant. They saw the Fox and State and Woodward Avenue under the lights. They saw Ford Field and Comerica Park. They saw our best manners and our welcoming attitude. They saw us deal with snow. They saw a football Sunday with a downtown heartbeat.

But here's the thing.

They saw things we can see all the time.

So maybe what we showed the world, we also showed ourselves.

Coming down Woodward on Sunday, I saw a man with a cup, tapping the loose change inside it, looking for cash.

"Collecting for next year's Super Bowl," he said. "Next year's Super Bowl, anybody?"

Back to business. Today is the first day of the rest of Detroit's life. Let's hope we make as much of the weeks ahead as we did of the week behind. And we remember the biggest lesson learned from this whole, crazy experience.

Worthy.

Don't let anyone ever say otherwise.

Is Poland winning with brinkmanship?

2006-02-03T00:59:00.001+01:00

The government will tell you it is; European diplomats and legislators will tell you it’s digging itself deeper into an isolationist black hole

Over the past few months Poland has made itself infamous in the halls of Brussels for its outlandish brashness, it’s willingness to break deadline after deadline, its stubborn resistance in the face of the harshest EU threats, and its seeming desire to stand alone and spit in the face of 24 other member states. Ah, Europe. You didn’t know what you were getting when you signed on to Poland’s membership, did you?

The stances Poland has taken on two recent issues in particular have raised the hackles of European lawmakers, who are now beginning to think that every difficult EU negotiation from now on will come down to a standoff between Poland and the rest of Europe.

In the first case, Poland was the last holdout to approve a deal extending beyond 2005 the ability of ‘old’ EU member states to charge lower VAT rates on labor-intensive services such as shoemaking, window-washing and … selling home-improvement goods. The details can be found here.

In the end, Poland got what it wanted, the EU got what it wanted, but the Union was brought to the verge of crisis. Similar concessions were obtained by holdouts Cyprus and the Czech Republic, without such melodrama.

In the second case, Poland yesterday announced that if within three months UniCredit (formerly UniCredito Italiano and HVB) doesn’t sell the Polish branch of HVB it obtained when the companies merged last year, it will look to annul UniCredito’s original takeover of Polish Bank Pekao.

The issue here is that the government doesn’t want Pekao and HVB merging, because it would create a private bank larger than the state-controlled dominant player in the market, PKO BP. But UniCredit, realizing that owning the biggest bank in the biggest new EU member state might be a profitable asset, will never let go. Find the IHT report here.

How Poland could legally annul the earlier deal is a mystery, as experts call the idea “a fantasy”.

All EU institutions have cleared the UniCredito-HVB merger, as has every other EU member state – except Poland, who by itself is holding up consolidation in the EU’s banking market.

This has the rest of the EU fuming. They remember late December’s toil to reach a budget agreement the Poles would accept. They remember Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz, after finally winning the amount of promised structural funding he needed to finance his government’s plans, standing in front of the cameras and jubilantly exclaiming, “YES!” – clenched fist and all.

That’s beginning to lose Poland a lot of political capital in EU circles. Now, newer member states are becoming reluctant to stand by Poland in these disputes as they had earlier, and some suggest that Poland is risking its natural role as a power and regional leader in the Union with such abrasive tactics.

"Poland is missing a great opportunity. Instead of being one of the large members that give the direction to the European Union policy, the government is taking on a role of a defender of its own and others' interests, even against their will," Cornelius Ochmann of the Bertelsmann Foundation in Berlin told Reuters.

And that risk is perhaps the most dangerous: Without influence, Poland will be isolated and left out of decision-making, and lose the ability to defend its citizens’ interests. While a semi-win on EU VAT rates and a tough stance against mega-banks may give it the appearance at home of a scrappy mutt that won’t be bullied by the bigger dogs, in Europe, it is very fast becoming the runt of the litter.

Ain't no party like a Detroit party

2006-01-23T12:35:00.000+01:00

From Mitch Albom

Now it's Detroit. Nice. I know it's just a sentence, but a crown is just a crown, too. It's still the difference between looking at a king and being one.

So the guests of honor have been announced for a Motown party that has been scheduled for years. It will be original. It will be unpredictable. It will be the franchise that once gave us Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Franco Harris against the franchise that once gave us, uh, Jim Zorn.

And in a nice twist of geographic fate, the most celebrated player likely will be a beefy running back who went to Mackenzie High School and spent part of his televised news conference answering questions about our hometown -- and his.

"What's great about Detroit?" he said. "It's a great city. It's a great city, and you all will see when you get there in two weeks."

Couldn't have said it better ourselves.

If you want to know more

2006-01-18T20:37:00.000+01:00

about how politics is affecting the Polish economy, check out this report by Radio Polonia.

When cabbage met chow mein

2006-01-17T18:21:00.000+01:00

Poland’s most prominent populist is in China this week despite the current political crisis here at home

Polish politics is experiencing an unprecedented period of crisis. The current minority govenrnment led by Law and Justice (PiS) is grasping for any political straws that will bring them at least a temporary coalition before a critical budget vote, which, if it fails or is delayed, could trigger new elections. Yet another set of negotiations with the party that was considered to be its natural coalition partner before last autumn’s elections, Civic Platform, broke down (again) last week, leaving PiS little choice but to renew coalition negotiations this week with the populist farmer’s party Self-defense (SO).

However, SO’s leader, the wily former pugilist Andrzej Lepper, isn't interested. He flew to China Sunday at the invitation of the youth communist party there, and was received in Beijing yesterday by Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress. Lepper's goal, according to Gazeta Wyborcza (Polish link) is ostensibly "getting to know the mechanisms of the Chinese economy." Apparently, Lepper wants Poland follow China’s example, since "through its own finances, through its own national loan policy, [China] achieved development of industry and agriculture." Interestingly, when Self-defense invited the youth organization to Poland last year, the group’s leader said that Lepper’s program was "similar to our communist one."

While Lepper’s policies are undoubtedly of a commie hue, it’s surely the Chinese government’s tight control over the value of the yuan which Lepper finds most intriguing. He is perhaps most famous for his calls for Poland’s top central banker, Leszek Balcerowicz, to be removed from his position, and for matters of monetary policy to be put in the hands of the state.

Of course, the Economist-dubbed potato-thrower has no influence over monetary policy now. So why this sudden trip to the Orient at the behest of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, when the right-wing government at home is gaining in popularity and itching for new elections?

Lepper knows that as long as PiS and PO are at each other’s throats, he is the kingmaker in this country. After the failure of a coalition with PO, every other conceivable coalition government with PiS at the helm must include SO. While PiS may do well in an election after a successfully-passed budget (since October PiS has gained a 10-point lead in the polls over PO), failure to pass the budget would confirm the incompetence of the PiS government, who in three months in office have still not formed a coalition, and whose first choices for Treasury Minister and Finance Minister have both resigned in humiliation.

That leaves Lepper in a tremendous position of power. In order to go into early elections (which now seem a foregone conclusion) with a strong record behind them, PiS will need the support of Lepper’s party on the budget. Self-defense, on the other hand, has very little reason to support PiS’ budget, which would put PiS in a position to gain an outright majority (hence neutralizing SO) in the early elections.

After last week’s farse in which PiS leaders in the Sejm attempted to delay work on the budget for weeks, it’s clear that PiS likes the poll numbers it’s seeing, and wants early elections as soon as possible. However, PiS knows those numbers won’t hold if it can’t even pass a budget for this year, leaving only three choices for PiS: 1) Honor PO’s demands, and form a coalition with them (now highly unlikely); 2) Honor Lepper’s demands (whatever they are), and form a coalition with SO; or 3) Call early elections with no budget, and blame the failure on PO and SO.

Since both parties know that only PiS would benefit from early elections, 1 and 2 look increasingly unlikely, unless some major concessions are given to Lepper – which would be extremely bad news for Poland. The third situation is most probable, which is even worse, since despite all of their foul-ups and backtracking, PiS still seems to have a stranglehold on a majority of the Polish public's trust.

So Lepper might as well go ahead and spend a week in China, observing their "economic mechanisms" - He's got Poland's whole political future waiting on his return, and if PiS makes a bad bet on early elections, he just may find an opportunity in the future to put what he learns this week to use.

Sunday Vista Blogging XII

2006-01-15T18:53:00.000+01:00

I'm still here, I promise...

Gus for WS

Trees in Plac Narutowicza, today

So is this kissing ass or showing spine?

2006-01-05T13:47:00.000+01:00

Polish press reports that the current government has promised the US support in any future attack on Iran

Recently, discussions on WS and elsewhere have centered around whether Polish military support of the US in Iraq has more to do with self-interest of the enlightened or not-so enlightened sort. Some argue that Poland's presence in Iraq is driven by a will to "help the Iraqi people" - despite the fact that survey after survey shows that Poles want nothing to do with Iraq.

However, today Rzeczpospolita (Polish link) reports that Poland is chomping at the bit to get involved in another of the US' military campaigns, this time of a much less altruistic nature.

The WBJ sums up the Rz article:

Wayne Madsen, a former US military intelligence officer who is currently an independent analyst, stated that Poland has fully backed the administration of George W. Bush and the potential decision it might make to attack Iran. Madsen backed this announcement on anonymous sources from Polish intelligence, and went on to say that during recent visits of Defense Minister Radosław Sikorski, as well as Foreign Minister Stefan Meller, both ensured their counterparts in the USA, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice respectively, that Poland will support a possible attack. According to Rzeczpospolita, the Foreign Ministry denies these allegations, and states that the issue of Iran during the past visits was not even touched upon during the talks.

It's widely agreed that if the US indeed were to attack Iran, the campaign would not be an Iraq-style governmental overthrow, but rather a systematic bombing of believed nuclear weapons-making sites, so "helping the Iranian people" is excluded. A bombing campaign would inevitably produce "collateral damage" (heavy loss of innocent Iranian life) for which the US and any of its partners would be roundly criticized. There is no reason to believe that Poles would be any more supportive of an Iranian military adventure than the current Iraqi one, and there is some question as to how much military support Poland could actually give the US in such a situation.

So, if as reported, these promises were indeed made, what in the world could be the Polish government's motivation for making such pacts?

This is about staying on the good side of the guy with the biggest wallet and the biggest guns. Kaczynskis and Co realize that the US is a good partner for a small country which often angers its allies and neighbors to have on its side.

Kissing ass? More like irrigating.

Let freedom ring

2006-01-04T10:10:00.000+01:00

Rhode Island has become the 11th state to legalize medical marijuana.

The House overrode a veto by Gov. Don Carcieri, 59-13, allowing people with illnesses such as cancer and AIDS to grow up to 12 marijuana plants or buy 2.5 ounces of marijuana to relieve their symptoms. Those who do are required to register with the state and get an identification card.

The US' new (old) best friend

2005-12-27T18:26:00.000+01:00

The Bush administration received two late Christmas presents from Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz's administration today. Despite pressure from the EU on the two issues, Poland has both concluded its investigation into the "secret torture gulags" (with no result) and has announced that it will extend its troop deployment in Iraq until the end of 2006.

These moves run counter to the policies of some of Poland's biggest trading partners, France and Germany, who both opposed the war in Iraq and have led the charge in the EU for deeper investigation into recent claims that the CIA has secret prisons in the territory of Poland.

The question is whether all of this ass-kissing will get Poles the inclusion into the Visa Waiver Program they demand.

Or perhaps the populists over at PiS believe they're just "doing the right thing"?

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T12:09:00.000+01:00

Gus for WS

Lech Kaczynski takes office today

2005-12-23T02:12:00.000+01:00

Couldn't Santa just have put a lump of coal in my stocking instead?
In lieu of burning an effigy I think I'll just have roast duck for Christmas.

Your reactions?

Happy Holidays!

2005-12-21T01:42:00.000+01:00

(EK for WS - apologies for the late credit)

(and Merry Christmas)

I'm in heaven

2005-12-08T09:53:00.000+01:00

Just found this. Awesome

Too bad the season is over. There's always next year though...

The bravest woman in Poland

2005-12-01T21:53:00.000+01:00

Is Henryka Bochniarz trying to commit political suicide or is she the only sane person in Poland?

In August this year, outgoing President Aleksander Kwaśniewski signed a very controversial bill which gave miners extremely favorable retirement benefits. The bill was controversial for two reasons: Firstly, it concerned only miners, and no one else. Shipbuilders, foundry workers, and farmers – all very powerful groups here in Poland, and all of which who work very hard under difficult conditions, were left out.

Secondly, the bill would cost Poland zł.18 billion in just the next 4 years. That’s over half of Poland’s projected budget deficit for this year – yes, that includes ALL of the government’s costs. Law and Justice, who control the current government, supported the law, which will cost Poland over 70 billion by 2020 (Polish link). That, as you can imagine, would significantly impede Poland’s progress toward joining the euro zone (not that Law and Justice cares anyway), and hamper Poland’s economic growth for years to come.

The amendment, although supported by the SLD, was not supported by the SLD Prime Minister at the time, Marek Belka. Belka is a technocrat economist who just recently lost out on the job to become president of the highly-regarded economic think-tank, the OECD. Belka decided to challenge the law in Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, roughly something like The US’ Supreme Court.

No verdict was ever handed down in the challenge. The Constitutional Tribunal never decided whether it was just to have the country pay with its future economic growth to provide for better retirement benefits to workers in extremely difficult conditions. The current government had already made that decision. This week, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Belka’s successor from Law and Justice, withdrew the challenge, meaning the bill passed in August could officially and finally be considered law.

The Leviathan

That is, until Henryka Bochniarz (Polish link, Wikipedia), who ran for the position of President of Poland this year from the Democratic Party (not the US one, but durn close. Think DLC) stepped into the mix. Bochniarz is a respected business leader who not only is a member of several management boards of some of Poland’s largest conglomerates. She’s also a social liberal and former member of the communist party. She was also the Minister for Industry under the government of Jan Bielicki. She is now the President of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers, also known as Lewiatan (Leviathan).

Her group, one of the top business-advocacy groups in Poland, sees the new miner’s bill as a disaster that will ruin Poland’s finances and keep Poland hobblingly poor for a generation. Thus, when PM Marcinkiewicz announced that his government would be withdrawing from the Constitutional challenge, Lewiatan – with Bochniarz at the forefront – brazenly declared that they would continue to support the challenge legally and financially.

According to Bochniarz’s arguments against the law (found here in Polish) the current miners’ retirement scheme costs every Polish worker zł.400 ($120.75 – just less than half the average monthly wage here) per year each, and is twice as high as the average state pension. According to Lewiatan, if the challenge is defeated, the new law will bring miners’ pensions to the level of four times that of the average state pension.

A just demand?

On the other hand, the average state pension (as anyone who knows anyone on a pension here can tell you) is meager. Most elderly cannot survive, or can barely survive, on it, and often work part time in awful conditions (many of them do not have marketable skills) to supplement their income. Miners have extremely difficult and dangerous jobs. Years of breathing in dust leaves them vulnerable to an early death caused by emphysema, at the very least (if they survive the accidents).

Should miners be punished for the ineptitude of the communist government which mismanaged the sector and didn’t train them in any other skills so that they would have some kind of economic mobility?

To be honest, this is a very difficult question for me, and I don’t know which side to come down on. On the one hand, I don’t think the rest of Poland should have to pay the price of economic stagnation, on the other, I do think miners deserve special consideration when it comes to their retirement.

Tough as tack

One thing’s for sure. Henryka Bochniarz is one hell of a brave lady (she was the only woman to run for President this year). As the law was being debated in the Sejm this summer, miners held a violent demonstration in which 37 police officers were injured. Miners are hugely powerful in this country, and as a political debate program on television showed yesterday, where she was incessantly attacked by both the participants and the audience, most of the establishment (powerful activist groups and mainstream politicians) is against her.

Still, she’s a voice of sanity in a loony and extremely aggressive political environment. Right or wrong, this lady cares about the future of Poland, and come hell or high water, she stands on her principles.

It’s a shame she didn’t become President. Poland needs more like her.

Fire the owner

2005-11-29T12:51:00.000+01:00

In order to ease back into the post-vacation routine, I'll stay away from politics for the moment and just post this interestsing tidbit from Mitch Albom:

Fire the owner: Well, this doesn't happen. It is true, that Ford, unlike some pro sports teams' owners, doesn't need the Lions to make money. It is true that the seats in Ford Field are largely sold no matter how badly the Lions play. It is true that Ford has never been a good judge of football personnel, that he hires people for the wrong football reasons, and that he sticks by them too long. It is true that he seems to lack the passion and involvement that other owners display.

It is true. It is all true. And you know what? There's nothing you can do about it. That's also true.

Of course, he's right. But until it happens, the fans in Detroit will suffer, and suffer, and suffer, and suffer...

Thanksgiving hiatus

2005-11-20T20:51:00.000+01:00

I'm in the States for Thanksgiving, enjoying all of the football and hockey I miss when I'm in Poland.

So far things aren't going so well, UM lost to OSU, the Wings lost to St. Louis, and the Lions are losing to Dallas (arrgh...) - but there's still a half left to play.

Not that we are ever optimistic about the Lions.

Happy Turkey day to all. Sunday vista blogging will be back in two weeks.

And, while I'm at it, here is Mitch Albom's take on Thanksgiving. Should put you in a good holiday mood.

Also - don't forget to check out p3 - contributors will be posting all week.

New p3 url

2005-11-17T23:38:00.000+01:00

Pijemy po polsku has moved to its new, permanent web address.

The new url is: http://polishstyle.blogspot.com

Please update your links and bookmarks.

This thing is just heating up.

A blog is born

2005-11-15T01:09:00.000+01:00

"So Gus, why has there been no p3 minutes? We were scared that p3 had not taken place, or worse yet that you hadn't taken your usual copious notes!

Why the delay?"

The last p3 was as successful as the previous few. Few important things were said, and much brew imbibed.

However one major decision was made: That the collective blog begins, and it begins NOW.

Therefore we introduce Pijemy Po Polsku! - the new expat-and-other-interesting-perspectives-on-Poland blog.

We have high hopes for this thing, and really, most of the biggest names in Poland blogging are already there - the beatroot, Rebecca Steel, Aaron Fowles, Jeronimo, and yours truly - with a few others hopefully to follow.

Hence the delay. Pijemy Po Polsku has officially been opened for discussion, which means that now I can finally reveal its existence to you.

Happy blogging.

As long as we've got their prisons...

2005-11-14T02:10:00.000+01:00

why not their rockets too?

The US' next project in Poland?

Gazeta Wyborcza is reporting that Poland and the United States have been holding secret negotiations since last year as to whether to build one of three anti-rocket bases in Poland.

Poland's involvement in the US' anti-rocket shield program was revealed in an section of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz's roadmap for government. Wyborcza says that the previous government had also attempted to attract the program to Poland, but always unofficially, for fear of angering European partners. Poland is competing with, among others, Hungary and the Czech Republic for the base.

In another article Gazeta reports that Dominique Moisi from the French Institute of International studies, says: "Did Poland consult its decision with European allies? Poland sees itself in the EU as a bridge between NATO and Europe. Together with this new government the question arises: Hasn't she already gone to the other side of the bridge?"

If Poland completely disregards Europe in matters like these, is it any wonder that countries like Germany go and completely disregard Poland (and Europe) when they sign reckless gas pipeline deals with the Russians?

How can Poland insist it has the right to make an individual decision about whether to allow a new US military installment on European soil, and then ask for a "common position" on Russia?

Europe is not a pot-luck buffet.

Sunday Vista Blogging XI

2005-11-13T21:55:00.000+01:00

EK for WS

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

EK for WS

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Air Force One for the Kaczyńskis

2005-11-11T20:09:00.000+01:00

The ball keeps rolling

2005-11-11T15:32:00.000+01:00

It's confirmed. "Pijemy Po Polsku" is on for Saturday evening, 8 pm, at Tortilla Factory.