Ambassador Wos Delivers Keynote Speech
At PAC Washington, D.C. Metro Division’s Thanksgiving Luncheon
By John Czop
The Polish American Congress’s (PAC) Washington, DC Metro Division held its annual Thanksgiving Luncheon at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia on November 18, 2023. The keynote speech was delivered by former United States ambassador to Estonia, 2004-2006, Aldona Z. Wos M.D., who is president of the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, which was founded in 1990 by Professor John Lenczowski, an expert on Russia and communism, who served on President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council. In photo: Ambassador Aldona Wos and John Czop holding the 2023 Recognition Award with Mr. Tomasz Kolodziej, President of the PAC Washington Metro Division.
The message of President Wos’s speech was: Ukraine must prevail against Kremlin aggression. Putin’s Russia must not be permitted to defy with impunity our rules based world system by using armed force to change internationally recognized borders. This is why the United States and all countries that value freedom must continue to support Ukraine.
The Institute of World Politics teaches its students, most of whom are hired by the federal government upon graduation, with many beginning their careers in the several intelligence agencies, to use the full spectrum of the tools of statecraft to safeguard and to advance the moral values of our American system. The best way to ensure America’s national security and to build a better and more just world is to put power behind our principles, our moral values. Ukraine is fighting for these very principles, and we Americans can NOT allow Russian authoritarianism and aggression to win.
Her speech received received strong applause. President Wos answered several questions from the audience with specifics on Ukraine’s armed forces.
In photo: The President of Friends of John Paul II Foundation, Inc. Washington, DC Chapter, and officer of the PAC Washington, DC Metro Division, Roza Pace, and John Czop
This writer, who served as PAC Director of Policy Planning at the 1612 K Street National Office in Washington, DC from May 2017 to February 2023, received the PAC Washington D.C. Metro Division’s 2023 Recognition Award and delivered an acceptance speech on how Poland’s recent history may be used to build a better and safer world. This writer proposed the organization of a 501 (c) (3) social and educational organization, America and Poland: Partners in Freedom. Unlike the PAC, whose membership is limited to those of Polish ancestry, America and Poland: Partners in Freedom will include all those who want to rededicate themselves to the values of freedom, rule of law, and government by consent of the governed that informed both the American and Polish democratic revolutions of the late 18th century. Unlike the PAC which is a 501 (c) (4) organization, which does NOT allow contributors to claim a tax deduction, those who contribute to America and Poland: Partners in Freedom will be able to claim a deduction. Reaffirmation of these values are essential in the present world political context marked by resurgent authoritarianism based on armed force. This is the time to move forward with America and Poland: Partners in Freedom as we begin to commemorate the sesquicentennials, 250th anniversaries, of the American and Polish democratic revolutions.
