News Update From Poland – 9/19/24

• PostEagle
• September 23, 2024
• News From Poland
• 0 Comments

Charity operator accuses Polish president of flood neglect
Jerzy Owsiak, a Commiunist-era rock promoter-turned-charity-operator has scathingly attacked Polish President Andrzej Duda for not being with flood victims in SW Poland. He told Poland’s American-owned TV network TVN that he was outraged when he heard Duda was planning a trip to the US and decided to write him a letter: ”Mr President, this is the time you overslept an opportunity. The time overwhelmed you. This was the time you should have been with the people. You should be ashamed of yourself,” Duda explained that he was planning to visit the flood areas after rescue operations had ended so as not to distract rescuers from the tasks at hand.

Torrential rains cause devastating floods in SW Poland The hard, parched drought-bound ground of SW Poland was unable to absorb much of the recent  torrential downpours, causing flash floods throughout the region. Hardest hit were the voivodeships (provinces) of Dolnośląskie (Wroclaw), Opolskie (Opole), Śląskie (Katowice) and Małopolskie (Kraków).  Thousands of flood victims were evacuated to higher ground, and many schools provided makeshift housing for evacuees. PM Tusk declared a state of natural disaster in the most affected voivodeships and pledged one billion złotys (about $250 million) in flood relief. EU assistance is also expected, and the bloc’s German chief Ursula Von der Leyen traveled to Poland to discuss the arrangements.

US Embassy alerts Americans in Poland to flood disaster
Warsaw’s American Embassy has alerted Americans living or traveling in Poland to the flood disaster in the SW of the country. It urges Americans to follow the guidance of local and national authorities regarding possible evacuation. Any impacts of the flooding on American Citizens or US interests should be reported to the US Embassy Warsaw or the US Consulate General Kraków. It also urges all US citizens to enroll in the State’s Department Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and ensure they can be located in an emergency:

https://pl.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/security-and-travel-information/

Impostor spreads false rumors about flood-control plans – Tusk
PM Tusk has cautioned against false reports about allegedly planned demolitions of flood defenses and revealed the identification of a military impersonator spreading them. The disinformer has appeared in army uniform driving a vehicle with false number plates. Panic among local residents has been triggered by the government’s alleged intention of blowing up defective dams and flood dykes. At the same time, flood-relief efforts have to contend with thefts from rescuers and fraudulent fund-raising campaigns.

Poland dismantles suspected Russo-Belarusian spy/sabotage ring
Poland has disabled a suspected ring of Russian and Belarusian spies and saboteurs  engaged in hybrid warfare by stealing information and blackmailing state institutions. Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told a press conference that Poland’s special services had successfully prevented attacks aimed at institutions connected to national security. “The first half of 2024 saw over 400,000 reported incidents and nearly 100,000 interventions by our services, double the number in 2023,” he explained.

Moldova’s and Ukraine’s EU bid will be accelerated –  Tusk
During his visit to the Moldovan capital of Chișinău, PM Donald Tusk assured Moldovan President Maia Sandu that her country’s and Ukraine’s bid to join the EU would be accelerated under Poland’s rotating presidency of the EU Council during the first half of 2025. It will be co-presided by Denmark ad Cyprus. Putin has indicated that he is not opposed to Kyiv’s EU membership but rules out any possibility of it or Moldova joining NATO.

L&J leaders disagree on 2025 presidential candidate
Law & Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński recently said that the right potential presidential candidate would be a “tall, handsome man, speaking English well.” Former PM Beata Szydło publicly disagreed on radio saying: “At this moment that is not what is important for Polish people.  We need to appeal to our base rather than to middle-ground voters.” Szydło has long been popular with L&J’s grassroots voters from small towns,  her “Polish people” for whom a modern international outlook is not important. The key problem is that there is currently no L&J hopeful on the horizon who could beat the ruling coalition’s most likely candidate, Warsaw’s left-wing Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.

Polish Episcopate accuses government of law-breaking
Poland’s Catholic bishops have accused the state authorities of “violating the law” by seeking to expand abortion opportunities, improperly treating prisoners, “spreading hate”, and “marginalizing the importance of religion”. The Episcopate’s document “Concern for the Homeland” said: “Tendencies to atheize public life and eliminate ethics from the political sphere are causing concern.” This has included examples of “state bodies breaking the law,” it added.

President Duda lauds Church’s role in Poland
Speaking at Jasna Góra monastery in Częstochowa, Poland’s holiest Catholic shrine, Poland’s President said said that the gathering of so many faithful was “an answer to those who say that we do not need religion and that it is not necessary to teach it to young people”. The occasion was an annual pilgrimage marking the end of the harvest.  “When someone tries to take this away from us, they are also taking away an important, inalienable part of Polishness that we can never give up. Thanks to that, among other things, we survived the most difficult times. That is where we found support.”

Irate parents greet leftist education minister in Mielec
Hundreds of disgruntled parents turned out to meet Education Minister Barbara Nowacka when she visited the SE industrial town of Mielec at the start of the new school year. They held up a banner that read: “We want God in books and schools!” to protest downsized religious instruction, leftist indoctrination and the removal of classic literature from the curriculum. Nowacka, the unwed mother of two, has said she has no intention of ever marrying her hook-up partner.

To get benefits Ukrainian kids must go to Polish schools
The Polish government has changed the rules qualifying minors for a generous monthly allowance of 800 złotys (about $200) till age 18. Ukrainian refugee children could study in Polish schools or follow the Ukrainian curriculum online. Now only those Ukrainian kids enrolled in Polish schools qualify for the monthly benefit. Intercultural assistants will help them overcome cultural barriers, and additional Polish-language classes will be provided.

Tusk coalition seeks to extradite former L&J official from UK
As part of the ruling coalition’s “revenge campaign,” the former head of Poland’s Government Strategic Reserves Agency has been detained in London after Poland issued international warrants for his arrest. Michał Kuczmierowski is wanted by Polish prosecutors for alleged abuses of his powers for financial gain and could face up to ten years in prison if convicted. He has denied the accusations and suggested he would not receive a fair trial in Poland under the current regime. Former L&J PM Mateusz Morawiecki has called the case an “act of political revenge by Donald Tusk’s gang.”

Intercepting Russian missiles over Ukraine our duty – Foreign Minister
Poland’s foreign minister has said that Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine have a duty to shoot down Russian missile nations have “a duty to intercept” (meaning shoot down) Russian missiles over Ukraine before they enter their airspace. Radosław Sikorski made the statement in an interview with Britain’s influential Financial Times. Some Western nations fear that the Kremlin would regard that as a direct attack by NATO and threaten nuclear retaliation.

Hybrid war against Poland and West predicted back in 2012
The hybrid warfare being waged by the Kremlin against Poland and the West was first formulate by Russian military expert Gen. Aleksandr Vladimirov in a monograph titled “Fundamentals of the General Theory of Warfare.” A year later, Valery Gerasimov, the Russian Army’s Chief of Staff, announced that non-military methods were equally effective in destabilizing enemy nations. These can include economic pressure, political blackmail, corruption and disinformation as well as weaponizing illegal migrants to destabilize EU and NATO countries.

Detained Warsaw University students, lecturer return
Six Warsaw University students and their lecturer have returned to Poland from Nigeria where they had been detained during anti-government protests. Their release was facilitated through Poland’s diplomatic intervention. The freed Poles were warmly welcomed home by family and friends at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport. They had been held in detention by African authorities for a month. Polish authorities had consistently argued that the students were in Nigeria under an academic exchange and had inadvertently found themselves in the wrong place.

Polish youngsters less fit than 15-20 years ago – sports minister
The results of tests carried out among Polish school children have shown a significant decline in their physical fitness compared to 15-20 years ago, Sports Minister Sławomir Nitras said recently. The government is therefore planing to revamp the nation’s physical-education curriculum. The question arises: what can the government do about kids staying home after school with their junk snacks and smartphones rather than going out to play or being increasingly driven places by parents.

Poles hard-working but none too effective – EU’s statistical unit
According to Eurostat, Poles are in the top three of the EU’s most hard-working or, more precisely, long-working nations. In first place is Greece, whose employees are on the job nearly 40 hours a week. Next are Romanians (about 39.5 hours), followed by Poles (roughly 39.2 hours). But Poland comes 23^rd of the bloc’s 27 countries in work efficiency, calculated in terms of GDP per person per hour. Beyond Europe, the world’s most labor-effective countries are: the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Israel.

Germans lack Holocaust knowledge – Pilecki Institute
Germans have significant gaps in their knowledge about the Second World War, a poll conducted for Poland’s Pilecki Institute has shown.  59% of Germans believe  German Jews were the primary Holocaust victims while only 28% gave the correct answer – Polish Jews.  54% said Germans and their collaborators in occupied countries were equally to blame, 34% replied mainly Germans and 9% said only Germans. The Pilecki Institute was named after Witold Pilecki, an underground officer who deliberately got himself sent to Auschwitz to witness what was going on there and set up a resistance group at the camp.

Polish Paralympians bring home 23 medals
Poland’s Paralympic team won a total of 23 medals – eight gold, six silver and nine bronze – at the Paris competition of the handicapped. Polish Paralympians particularly shone in table tennis, athletics and fencing. The event was held following the Paris summer Olympic games. With the assistance of artificial limbs, wheelchairs, crutches and canes amputees compete with fellow-disabled athletes. China dominated the games with a staggering 220 medals, including 94 golds. The United Kingdom came second with 124 medals, while the United States secured third place with 105.

26-year-old Pole now running from NY to LA
Nicknamed the “Polish Forrest Gump” for his ability to run for days on end, 26-year-old Tomasz Sobania has already completed several ultra-distance challenges including the 18-day, 756-km Run Across Poland from the mountain resort of Zakopane to the Baltic Port of Gdynia, and a 90-day, 3,600-km run from Poland to Greece and back.  At present, Sobania has successfully cleared NY state, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and made it to the Midwest in the second half of September. His cross-country route measures 4,490 km (2,790 miles). Initially the charity run was to raise funds for the hearing impaired, but Sobania says they should be redirected to aid victims of the current devastating floods.

Polish 13-year-old is world youth snooker champion
Poland’s Michał Subarczyk has won gold at the World Under-21 Snooker Championships. the sport’s premiere youth competition. It was held in Bangalore, India. In the final, Szubarczyk defeated 20-year-old Alexander Widau from Germany. In his career to date, the Polish teenager has already won 14 medals in national competitions.

Candy-bar-shaped chocolate museum opens in Warsaw
Warsaw’s cultural landscape was recently enhanced by the Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum. At the nearly $53 million facility resembling a giant chocolate-covered wafer bar,.  visitors can admire, enjoy the fragrance, sample the sweet delicacies and see how they are made. Polonian favorites include Torcik Wedlowski (chocolate-covered wafer torte), Ptasie Mleczko (chocolate-covered marshmallow creams), Delicje (chocolate-covered, fruit-filled sponge biscuits), wafer bars, boxed chocolates and liquor-filled chocolates. The company was set up 170 years ago by Polonized German immigrant Karl Wedel (pronounced: veddle).

Taylor Swift seen wearing Polish fashions in New York City
Polish “Swifties” have reported the mega-star was spotted at an event in New York City wearing the attire of Polish fashion firm Undress Code. Earlier this year, Swift brought down the house when she gave three performances in Warsaw. Undress Code, which was set up six years ago by Iza Godkewska and Kacper Zieliński, has already made an international impact. It specializes in female apparel that is stylish, ultra-comfortable and providing minimum body coverage.