The Latvian Gambit

The following introduction comes from an article I wrote on the Baltic Review

The British politician Harold Wilson once said that “A week is a long time in politics”. For Polish politicians, never has this been truer. At the beginning of the week Poland hosted the Russian first couple with the Polish President meeting the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday. Bronislaw Komorowski, then went to the USA and met with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday. In the midst of these two important meetings came new releases from the Wikileaks website concerning NATO contingency plans, which had the potential to embarrass all three presidents.

Click here for more.

The news that never was

Wikileaks has to my mind made a thing of creating expectation prior to the release of the mundane. In its recent batch of releases we learn that Nato has "drawn up classified plans to defend Poland and the Baltic states from Russian attack" and this has led President Dmitry Medvedev to be a bit perturbed in his recent visit to Warsaw.
Yet forgive me for being a bit slow, but is this really news and are the Russians really shocked or just spinning the story for political advantage? Since the Baltic states inclusion in NATO in 2004 a contingency plan has been lacking, for fear of upsetting the Russians. However, this is like the fire brigade not perceiving of the possibility of there being a fire. The fact that a contingency plan is written does not automatically return everyone to their Cold War positions and were they not to write such a plan then they would be failing in their duty as a defence alliance (as in deed they have done since 2004; it could be argued).
The inclusion of the Baltic States in 'Eastern Guardian' is normal pragmatic military planning.

Dead man's boots

There is an old phrase that means a position/trade is very hard to advance within because you have to wait for the person above you to leave or die in order to take their place, hence 'dead man's boots'.
Why am I talking of some smelly fellas footwear? Well, being the simple Englishman that I am, I naturally understood that when the Mayor (or President) of Lodz was booted out (excuse the over use of foot related vocabulary, but I couldn't resist) that a new one would be elected. Oh how wrong I was.
It is only due to a passing remark of a colleague that the truth was unveiled to this intrepid little explorer. For the best part of a year, Lodz has been in the hands of a prime-ministerial stand-in. PM Tusk simply appointed some bloke to do the job. Problem was that as an un-elected official he does not/did not hold all the powers of a full president.
The up-shot: money from one department can't be re-assigned to another etc... and Lodz remains in a mess. Only now after 9 months do we have a new PO President-elect. Hanna Zdanowska won the run-offs against SLD Dariusza Jońskiego with a roughly 60/40 split of the votes. That said only only 22.34 percent of the electorate turned out to vote and so 60% is not much, but hey!
Let's see what President Zdanowska is able to do with Lodz's often chaotic administration.

Is politics the new four-letter word?

It seems that politics has droped to such a low within the publics perception that politicians are doing everything to dissasociate themselves with their very bread and butter. At the moment it is election campaign time for the municipal elections in Poland and a recent series of billboards bear a bizzare slogan set of slogans. One for example has the slogan "Nie róbmy polityki. Budujmy bioska" which translates as "We don't do politics. We built football pitches." There are others along similar lines with versions saying : ... we build schools...we build bridges... etc. Well although this is all very well, and ofcourse every country needs a good infrastructure; should it be at the cost of politics?

We don't do politics. We build pitches.

This all sounds very familiar to anyone versed in mid 20th century Polish history. In the 1960's, when it was clear that the system was failing, the Party embarked on a program of building 1000 schools to celebrate 1000 years of Poland. A pure distraction; and my house is a result of this. The school and teachers' house (my house now) were opened in 1964 and closed in 1982 when it was finaly admitted that there was no need for a school in a village of 100 residents :) The question is are PO re-useing slogans from 1960s communist Poland?

You may ask what the problem is. Well, for a government and PM to base their campaign upon the principle of deneying their occupationand role in the country, we can asssume that their is a gigantic rift between the rulers and the ruled, so to speak. Only when politicians are able to stand tall and be proud will real politics start. In recent elections the turn-out has been very low ( 53,8% in 2007, an increase of 13,2% from 2005 ) and people have disengaged drom Warsaw. As I said before, roads and infrastructure are obviously important, yet peoples lives consist of more than just this and it is the politicians' jobs to nogotiate a path beween these complex issues. For example issues that need to be dealt with include pension and retirement laws (still based on a communist system) as well as health and medical insurance (ditto).

It is ofcourse easy to poke fun at an advert, and ofcourse that is all it is at the end of the day: an advert. It is not indivative per se of the political climate and attitudes in Warsaw. However, looking at the bigger picture, i would hazard a guess to say that it is somewhat close to the real picture.

HUB or SChAB

Hub or Schab – an exhibition which did not happen.
by Mariusz Sołtysik

participating artists:

Agnieszka Chojnacka (PL)
Christine Mackey (IRL)
Ela Walters (PL)
Wiktor Polak (PL)
Mariusz Soltysik (PL)
Dmitry Strakovsky (USA)

place: Mediations Biennale, Poznań, Poland www.mediations.pl
date: 11/09/2010

The above exhibition took place as part of the Poznan Biennale, however it was organized by Lodz based artists and involved an international cast as the list above shows. The exhibition consisted of six videos simultaneously playing in the same room. The life-size projections told differing stories but rested on the same basic brief: to construct a video in which you talk about a piece of work or your work in general. By doing this Mariusz Soltysik risked bringing together a mish-mash of images in an incoherent deluge, yet this bold stroke on the curators side allowed for true artistic freedom and when placed together the six films created a symbiant whole that more than superceeded its component parts. HUB or SChAb illustrates well the often chaotic competition that exists within many 'curated' exhibitions, where works scream out for attention. These works from six very different artists draw the viewer in, enticing them to discover more about the artist and their work. HUB or SChAB allows us to enter the thought process of the artists.
For more details please visit the artists' websites.

The name calling continues...

Six months after the Smolensk air crash and the leader of PiS has come out with insinuating remarks about President Komorowski. While refering to the First Lady's trip to Russia and a meeting with her opposite number, Jaroslaw Kaczyński expressed surprise that given her husbands position with regards the tradegy, he would have thought she would have refrained from such a visit (free translation carried out her ... But it's the general gist). This basically meant that in the PiS leader's view Komorowski is guilty of something with regards the crash. As usual Kaczyński has said enough to stir his supporters and keep the momentum going without really specifying anything.

Poland calls the bear's bluff!

The deployment of a battery of US Patriot missiles to Poland in May 2010 is the fulfillment of agreements reached under the US/Polish Declaration on Strategic Cooperation signed in August 2008. This was always from the beginning a symbolic act, as one battery is incapable of defending Polish airspace; a fact acknowledged by the announcement Defence Minister Bogdan Klich that the Polish government has started initial supplier selection for the procurement of 10-12 Polish owned batteries costing around $1 billion each. However, the deployment brings US/Polish relations to a new level. A fact not missed by Russia who in Sep 2009 rattled its sabre in Operation West: a large scale exercise with Belarus centred around mock landings on a Polish beach and deployment of nuclear missiles.


While nuclear war may be far from any future reality, Poland treads a dangerous tight rope in its relations with the USA and Russia. The Smolensk air crash which killed the Polish president and many top figures in the country provided a thaw in Polish-Russian relations and many have seen it as a departure point for a new era. However, Poland's continued commitment to plans drawn up with America under the Bush administration may yet prove a stinking point.

While others in central/eastern Europe have trodden more carefully since the region's break with Moscow, Poland built upon its 1999 accession to NATO by staunchly supporting the USA in various cases, from the 2003 Iraq War to the proposed missile defence shield. This, coupled with Poland's vocal support of Georgia in the 2008 Russia-Georgia War has greatly irritated Poland's large eastern neighbour. While not suffering physical attack, Poland has suffered economically with Russia placing a ban on meat imports from Poland; officially for health reasons, although the EU did not feel such a need.

Poland's wish to place itself firmly in the 'western' camp following the end of the Cold War has undoubtedly been achieved, yet Poland continues to pursue policies which further distance itself from Russia. This strategy goes against the geopolitical reality that Poland is faced with, and risks endangering Poland. Although, conflict is not a likely outcome, Poland's economic interests are conceivably at threat. Resource security is paramount in the 21st Century for all countries and Poland receives the majority of its gas (approx 65%) comes form Russia and other ex-Soviet countries. As Ukraine found out, Russia can easily turn the tap off.



It is paramount therefore that as we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, Poland establishes a positive relationship with Russia; one that can foster both economic and military security. This does not mean that Poland must negate its democratic ideals and relinquish its support of countries like Georgia, merely that Poland must find its own middle way: a road that ensures peace and prosperity for Poland and the greater region it resides in.

The Flight Recordings

The tapes have been released concerning the presidential plane's crash (see here:

The Warsaw Voice )

Although I haven't read the publications this article in Warsaw Voice leaves me feeling that we have suffered a white wash. Are we to believe that an experienced pilot ignored ground control advice and then also ignored his own instrument alarms and smoothly flew the plane downwards. Also what about the reference to an "official'? Why is this not included in the publication?

I don't want to sound conspiratorial but this is just ridiculous!

Constidtutional considerations

On Tuesday The Warsaw Voice published this:

Government and Opposition Parties Argue Over Constitution Changes, January 19, 2010
Poland's leading party PO refuses to consider constitution changes suggested by the main opposition party PiS, which includes strengthening the position of the President, the daily Rzeczpospolita writes.

PiS proposal is being criticized by PO as "a return to a state system where the constitution confirms the centralized and ideological character of the state with the President in the role of the First Secretary", PO parliamentary club spokesperson Andrzej Halicki said.
PiS in turn blames PO for lack of constructive collaboration for the common good and failure to present own project.

Well as if in answer to the lack of a PO proposal, on the following day The Warsaw Voice published this:

Polish PM Proposes Weakening of Presidential Veto, January 20, 2010PM Donald Tusk proposes dampening of presidential veto, according to theses send by the PM's chancellery to the parliamentary Speaker, the daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna writes.

Tusk wants the presidential veto to be rejected with an absolute majority and not with three-fifth majority, as it is the case at present.
The PM also wants to make an unambiguous provision that it is the PM who is responsible for foreign policy.

Personally I would go with a simple majority rather than an absolute, as the difference between 3/5 (60%) and absolute (51%) is hardly worth the trouble of changing. An absolute majority takes in to account all parliamentarians; even those not present. Whereas the simple just takes into account the ones who can be bothered to turn up and vote (var more sensible).

These two articles illustrate well the chasm that exists between the two sides. They have fundamentally opposing views, which does not bode well for cooperation.

I am of course in favour of the PO option. Being British I am not used to a division of powers between a PM and President. In theory the Queen can veto (refuse to enact) any law in the UK. She can also simply sack the PM and rule directly. For that matter she could install her butler as PM. Luckily she doesn't do any of these things and we seem to get along quite happily. The last occasion she used such powers was appointment of Harold Wilson as Prime Minister in February 1974; following political chaos. The last monarch to veto legislation was Queen Anne, who withheld assent from the Scottish Militia Bill 1708.

Therefore, please could the President simply open Supermarkets and Hospitals, Present hours and medals and have dinner with distinguished visitors?

Mayoral Eviction

The Warsaw Voice reported on Tuesday that:

Łódź Residents Vote to Recall Their Mayor , January 19, 2010 Inhabitants of the central city of Łódź have voted unanimously to recall their mayor, Jerzy Kropiwnicki, in a special referendum on Sunday.

Over 95 percent of these who took part in the referendum wanted the incumbent mayor dismissed, with the 22.2 percent turnout, which is enough to consider the results binding.

When the referendum results are confirmed Kropiwnicki, who has been the mayor of Łódź since 2002, will be replaced by a commissioner appointed by the Prime Minister.

The referendum was inspired by local Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) politicians, who blame the right-wing mayor for ineffectual investments, expensive and unnecessary business trips, closure of a new theatre complex and faulty infrastructure and transport.

To those who know Lodz this comes as no surprise. There have been a catalogue of bad decisions and people are generally frustrated with his actions.