Poland.

[kosmopolak]

www.tanjug.rs/novosti/24213/u-marsu-desnice-u-varsavi-i-srpski-nacionalisti.htm

U mar¹u desnice u Var¹avi i srpski nacionalisti

VAR©AVA - U mar¹u desnièarskih i nacionalistièkih ekstremista u Var¹avi, na dan obele¾avanja nezavisnosti Poljske, uèestovao je i veliki broj stranaca, meðu kojima je bilo i Srba, javili su poljski mediji.


Proslava Dana nezavisnosti poèela je juèe defileom vojnika u istorijskim uniformama u centru prestonice.

Istovremeno je organizovan mar¹ pripadnika levièarskih organizacija, koji su prepreèili put "mar¹u nezavisnosti" nacionalistièkih grupa i pripadnika ekstremne desnice.

Prema pisanju poljskih medija, meðu desnièarskim demonstrantima bilo je nacionalista iz Srbije i Èe¹ke, a autobusima iz Nemaèke i Belgije doputovali su demonstranti levice.

Uèesnici mar¹a mahali su nacionalistièkim zastavama, a mogle su se videti i nacionalne boje Srbije, Hrvatske i Slovaèke, navela je novinska agencija PAP, preneo je AP.

Portparol nacionalne policije Marju¹ Sokolovski izjavio je da je plan da se razdvoje mar¹evi dve grupe bio uspe¹an, ali da su se "razbojnici i huligani udru¾ili i napali policiju".

Vi¹e stotina desnièara, fudbalskih navijaèa i anarhista gaðalo je policiju kamenicama, staklenim fla¹ama i petardama, a na meti su bile i novinarske ekipe.

Policija je saop¹tila da je uspostavila kontrolu nad situacijom po¹to je protiv uèesnika mar¹a upotrebila vodene topove, suzavac i "biber" sprej.

Uhap¹eno je 210 ljudi, meðu kojima je 92 Nemca, po jedan ©panac, Maðar i Danac, saop¹tio je portparol policije Maæej Karèinski.

On je dodao da je u nasilju povreðeno 40 policajaca i uni¹teno 14 policijskih vozila.

Premijer Donald Tusk, koji je imao poseban sastanak sa bezbednosnim zvaniènicima, ministrom unutra¹njih poslova i pravde, rekao je da æe tra¾iti da oni koji su uhap¹eni zbog napada na policiju budu o¹tro ka¾njeni, izjavio je njegov portparol Pavel Gras.

©irom Poljske organizovane su zvaniène sveèanosti kojom je obele¾ena 93. godi¹njica od dobijanja nezavisnosti, 11. novembra 1918. godine.

[TsarSamuil]

Yeah I read about it, wasn't German communists and anarchists? Incredible that they come to another country telling them not to be proud!..

[kosmopolak]

German leftists, yes who came to defeat the "Nazist Polish nationalists". Funny, because in 1944, the grandparents of those Germans were in the Wehrmacht, which wiped Warsaw off the face of the ground.
Yet Warsaw was rebuilt.
Stalin was too soft with the Germans, he should of sent all of them to Syberia and Mongolia.

[TsarSamuil]

Should have given east germany to Poland!

[TsarSamuil]

New Polish gov't sworn in.

WARSAW, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski on Friday sworn in Donald Tusk as prime minister.

A ceremony of swearing-in the new government took place in the Presidential Palace on Friday. Komorowski wished success to the new government.

Key government figures including Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak and Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak have retained their posts.

The ruling Civic Platform (PO) won Poland's parliamentary elections on Oct. 9 with nearly 40 percent of votes. In the 460-seat Sejm, lower house of parliament, the PO got 207 seats.

Having again teamed up with junior coalition partner, the Polish People's Party (PSL), Tusk's government commands a stable majority of 235 in the Sejm.

In his policy speech before the Sejm on Friday, Poland's freshly elected centrist prime minister vowed to use his second consecutive term to introduce sweeping austerity reforms aimed at safeguarding growth amid crisis in the eurozone.

Tusk focused on socio-economic issues and fighting the crisis. Foreign policy was dealt with only very generally.

In an hour-long statement, Tusk stressed that government efforts must be targeted on safeguarding the security and well-being of every citizen. The next year could prove to be the most critical as far turbulence in the world and Europe were concerned.

"The hurricane of financial crisis around us is threatening the security of even the most developed nations," he noted.

"In the next four years and later on, we will prove that Poland can be the best in Europe in many respects, can be a leader in areas that we have never expected it can," the prime minister declared.

Later on Friday, the Sejm will hold a many-hour plenary debate, which is followed by a vote of confidence in the new cabinet on Saturday.

The vote of confidence in any new government is passed by the absolute majority of votes in the presence of at least 50 percent of the constitutional number of deputies which is 230.

Parliament is reportedly expected to approve the 20-member cabinet.

--------------

Parliament approves new coalition government.

TheNews.pl
19.11.2011 16:14

Poland's lower house of parliament has voted to approve the new government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, with 234 MPs voting for the Civic Platform/PSL coalition and 211 against.

The required majority was 224 votes.

Before the vote, PM Tusk replied to questions posed by some 130 MPs last night following his policy statement to parliament on Friday outlining the government's plans for the next four year in office following the 9 October elections.

Towards the end of his address, MPs from the opposition Law and Justice party left the chamber after Tusk made remarks about the street disturbances on Poland’s Independence Day on 11 November, when the prime minister said that the the policemen’s injuries were the result of a “groups of hooligans supported by Law and Justice”.

At a press conference after the parliamentary session Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczyński accused the Prime Minister of lies and asked him to present evidence that he and his party had any links with the actions of the hooligans.

In his policy address yesterday, Prime Minister Tusk outlined a set of austerity measures aimed at protecting Poland from the euro zone crisis.

The retirement age is to be raised in stages to 67 years from the present 65 years for men and 60 for women.

Special pension schemes for miners and policemen are to be phased out.

Mr Tusk said that these measures, which will also include cuts in tax breaks and changes to farmers’ pension and tax status, will make it possible to keep the budget deficit below 3 per cent of GDP next year.

Opposition MPs argued in the debate that the Prime Minister does not have a clear vision for the country’s development. (mk/pg)

[TsarSamuil]

The poor babies!

---------

German anarchists to sue over Independence Day riot arrests.

TheNews.pl
17.11.2011 09:51

A group of German demonstrators arrested during last Friday's Independence Day march is bringing charges against Polish police for alleged mistreatment.

Some 92 Germans were detained on Friday as anti-fascists and anarchists attempted to block the path of a march organised by two Polish nationalist groups, the All Polish Youth (MW) and the National Radical Camp (ONR).

A spokesperson from Antifaschisten Linken Berlin has told Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza daily that the group has already found a Polish lawyer to handle the case.

According to the Germans, the group was heckled by policemen with taunts such as “Heil Hitler.” It is also alleged that officers sung the (no longer used) refrain “Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles” from the German national anthem.

The Germans also cite that they were not provided with food for 32 hours, and one claims that he was denied the opportunity to inform friends or family of his predicament.

However, the parent of one of the detainees has said that the behaviour of the police was “outrageous” during the affair.

“My son and his colleagues have to have therapy after returning from Warsaw,” he said, claiming that they were suffering from trauma.

However, Maciej Karzynski, a spokesman for the police, refuted charges of mistreatment, saying that the Germans' period in detention was observed by representatives of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, as well as Poland's Office for Human Rights.

Piotr Kladoczy from the Helsinki Foundation concurred.

“From what I heard, they certainly could have been treated contemptuously at times, but I haven't heard about any terrible injustice.” (nh/pg)

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrdNKcUpJPg

ACTA Anger: Polish protests grow into anti-govt rage.

RussiaToday on Jan 28, 2012

Protests are raging on in Warsaw against the signing of a new treaty, which enforces intellectual property rights on the internet. Opponents say the international ACTA document is pure censorship, and a violation of human rights.

On Friday, the European Parliament's rapporteur for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement resigned in protest. Kader Arif said drafting of the controversial anti-piracy treaty was accompanied by "never-before-seen manoeuvres" by officials.

In Warsaw, extremely cold weather was definitely not an excuse for demonstrators. Friday's protest culminated a week of mass rallies in Poland. Thursday's signing of the deal by Warsaw drew tens of thousands onto the streets across the country to protest internet censorship.

[TsarSamuil]

Polish PM Caves In, Freezes ACTA Ratification.

Novinite.com
World | February 3, 2012, Friday| 211 views

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has yielded to mass protests, announcing Friday that his government would put on hold plans to ratify ACTA, the controversial international online anti-piracy accord.

"I consider that the arguments for a halt to the ratification process are justified," Donald Tusk told reporters, as cited by international media.

"The issue of signing of the ACTA accord did not involve sufficient consultation with everyone who is part of the process," Tusk said, adding that he would hold broad talks on what to do next.

"The ACTA ratification process will be frozen as long as we haven't overcome all the doubts. This will probably require a review of Polish law. We can't rule out that, at the end of the day, this accord will not be approved," he declared.

Tusk's decision comes in the wake of high-profile protests mostly by young Poles who fear the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) -- aimed at creating international standards for intellectual property protection -- could significantly curtail online freedom.

Despite the unprecedented outcry among Polish Internet users, Poland's government approved ACTA on January 26 with an initial signature of endorsement, but ratification by parliament is needed for it to come into force.

Tusk's center-right government faced particular criticism for signing the accord after talks with record companies and commercial media, but failing to address groups representing Internet users.

In addition to street rallies and online protests, Poland also faced anti-ACTA cyber attacks by "hacktivists" Anonymous and another group called Polish Underground, which took down the websites of the president, parliament and foreign and culture ministers, as well as the national police headquarters.

ACTA was negotiated between the 27-nation European Union, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. Bulgaria's Borisov Cabinet has also come under fire for the secret signing of ACTA.

Even though Bulgaria has seen no street rallies, massive outcry by Internet users and ISPs led on Thursday Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to declare that ACTA will be applied with reservations and will be supplemented by the existing Bulgarian legislation in its part referring to Internet content.

[TsarSamuil]

AP agrees to ban use of 'Polish death camps'

TheNews.pl
16.02.2012 08:04

Associated Press has changed its style sheet with instructions to journalists not to use the phrase “Polish concentration camps” for stories about German Nazis camps in WW II occupied Poland.

President of the Kosciuszko Foundation Alex Storozynski, who has led the campaign against the term being used in US other media has been informed that AP editors will now be told to use the term “death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland”.

AP supplies stories to around 17,000 newspapers and web sites around the world and 5,000 radio and TV stations.

The change to the AP style sheet comes after a petition, put together by the Kosciuszko Foundation and supported by the Polish Foreign Ministry gathered hundreds of the thousands of signatures, including that of President Bronislaw Komorowski.

The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the Internet portal Yahoo have also said that they have instructed journalists not to use the term “Polish camps”.

Prize-winning journalist Alex Storozynski says he will continue the campaign until all US media agree to stop the use of the offensive phrase. (pg)

[TsarSamuil]

Silesian to become official language in Poland?

Thenews.pl
04.04.2012 09:11

A cross-party alliance wants to make Silesian an official second language in the southern Polish region, reigniting debates about the area's identity.



A bill to be put before parliament, supported by the senior coalition partner, Civic Platform – with support from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Palikot Movement - calls for Silesian to be made an official language in areas where 20 percent of the inhabitants declare a knowledge of what some claim is merely a dialect.

Local authorities will be obliged to introduce bilingual street signs.

Silesian may also be used in state offices and on official forms. Citizens would be able to request that their personal documents are written in Silesian.

“We want the Silesian dialect to become a language,” Andrzej Rozenek, press spokesman of the liberal Palikot Movement, the third largest party in parliament, told the Rzeczpospolita daily.

Academics and laymen are divided however on whether Silesian merits being classified as more than a dialect.

The current ruling coalition is itself split over the matter. Silesian MPs from the dominant centre-right Civic Platform party are championing the cause, yet junior coalition partner, the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL) has declared itself against the bill.

In 2011, a survey by the Central Statistical Office (GUS) found that 809,000 Polish citizens declared that their nationality was Silesian, yet half of these said that they also cultivated a Polish identity.

Silesian speakers are divided between Poland and the Czech Republic.

The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has joined the Polish Peasants' Party in opposing the bill.

Law and Justice MP Jerzy Polaczek warned that such initiatives are aimed at “loosening ties with the motherland.” (nh/pg)

[TsarSamuil]

Call for Silesian to be granted official regional language status.

theNews.pl
30.08.2012 11:32

The Silesian Council in southern Poland has passed legislation declaring Silesian the official status of a regional language.

The Council, which brings together eleven organisations from the Lower and Upper Silesian provinces, has requested that Poland's national parliament (Sejm) support the initiative.

“Our support is to show that members think that the law is very important for the preservation of the Silesian language for future generations,” Piotr Dlugosz, chairman of the Upper Silesia province has told Polish Radio.

It is thought that around 65 MPs in the national parliament support the move,

In 2008, the local government in Silesia held a conference, "Silesian — Still a Dialect or Already a Language?" - as part of its campaign to give what some consider a dialect the status of a regional language, on par with Catalan, Gaelic or Walloon.

In the 2011 census, Silesian, a Slavonic language with string Germanic influences, claimed 509,00 native speakers. (pg)

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
rt.com/news/poland-protest-russia-nationalists-551/

Polish nationalists attack Russian embassy during Independence Day march.

RT.com
November 11, 2013 17:10

Police had to use rubber bullets and pepper spray to disperse a crowd of violent Polish nationalist demonstrators during an Independence Day march in Warsaw. Besieged Russian embassy officials say the building was pelted with firecrackers and bottles.

Officers in riot gear formed a cordon around the building, as young shaven-headed demonstrators waving red-and-white flags tried to push through. The crowd shouted slogans directed against Russia, Poland’s eastern neighbor, which the demonstrators blamed for World War II atrocities and occupation during the Soviet era.

Poland's foreign ministry has criticized the action, saying "there is no justification for hooliganism."

Several men managed to burst through the police cordon. They attempted to clamber up on the embassy’s walls and tried to set the guard-post on fire.

In total, more than a dozen marchers were arrested across the Polish capital, and at least two policemen and many others were taken to hospital with injuries.

Several thousand marchers chanted "God, honor, fatherland!" as the group initially proceeded without a hitch through the central streets of the city.

After about an hour, a group of well-prepared radicals pulled on balaclavas, broke away from the main crowd and attacked a left-wing squat. The nationalists then moved onto Zbawiciela Square, considered Warsaw’s gay and bohemian district, setting fire to a symbolic rainbow-colored flower display.

As police stepped in and wrestled back control, the radicals set fire to several cars before attempting to escape through side streets.

The annual procession marking Independence Day is consistently marred by displays of violence against foreign, left-wing and atheist targets.

This year, police attempted to stand back to avoid provoking violence. The nationalists’ own orange vest-clad volunteers were left to control the crowd as police helicopters circled above.

Poland’s official government website describes November 11 as “the most important national holiday”, celebrated following the declaration of independence in 1918, “after 123 years of captivity… under the rule of Austria, Prussia and Russia”. The holiday was suppressed during the Communist era, but has made a strong comeback since the fall of the Iron Curtain.



-----------

Russia demands apology for rioting at embassy in Warsaw.

primetimeru
Nov 12, 2013

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ear6CfNY-Tc

While an apology has been demanded by the Russian Foreign Ministry for the the rioting seen yesterday at the country's embassy in Warsaw.

-----------

Russia demands apology from Poland over embassy attack.

RT.com
November 12, 2013 09:47

Russia has summoned Poland’s ambassador to issue a note of protest over Monday’s nationalist attack on the embassy in Warsaw. It accused Polish police of failing to protect the diplomats from “rampaging brutes.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded apologies from Poland over the attack, which happened on Monday during a so-called ‘independence march’. The nationalist march escalated into an attack by radical demonstrators on Russia’s embassy.

The ministry called the incident a gross violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which demands that the host country ensure the safety of diplomatic staff of a foreign embassy.

Russia noted the “the passive and late response of the police, which played a major part in allowing the rampage of the unruly brutes,” the ministry said in a statement.

The attack “caused damage to the embassy and effectively blocked its normal functioning for several hours,” the statement said.

The outraged response comes a day after the evening attack, in which a crowd of Polish nationalist pelted the Russian embassy with flares, bottles and other projectiles.

Polish police are currently investigating the riot and the security force’s response to it.

“There were incidents that need investigation. An analysis is underway to ascertain how adequate the police response to the events of the march was. If it turns out that somebody failed to perform his duty fully or was slow to intervene, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken,” Polish Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz told a local radio station on Tuesday.

Police also ramped up security in the vicinity of the embassy to prevent a possible second attack.

The embassy attack left the entrance gate and three cars seriously damaged, the embassy’s press service reported on Tuesday. A guard booth next to the fence was completely burned down. The entire territory was littered with burned-out fires, glass shards and other junk. Most of the embassy staff members were absent at the time of the attack, having left the territory before the evening marches started.

Monday’s violence in Warsaw came during the celebration of Independence Day in Poland. It commemorates the creation of an independent Polish state in 1918 after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia.

Throughout the country, some 66 thousand people took part in celebratory demonstrations. Several rallies turned violent as radicals clashed with police forces. At least 19 people, including 12 police officers were injured in the scuffles. As many as 72 rioters have been arrested.

Poland and Russia share a turbulent and often hostile history. Poland, a strong adversary of the Russian Empire in past centuries, was weakened and eventually partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria in the 18th century.

The independent Poland of the first half of the 20th century fell in 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both send their troops to take the country over. Following World War II, Poland remained under Moscow’s control as part of the Eastern Block up until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Many nationalist Poles see Russia as a threatening force seeking to subjugate it again.

-----------

Vid,
rt.com/news/polish-president-apologizes-attack-654/

Polish leaders apologize to Russia for ‘outrageous’ attack on Warsaw embassy.

RT.com
November 13, 2013 11:53

Poland has offered an apology to Russia for an attack on its Warsaw embassy by nationalists on Monday. Both the Polish president and prime minister condemned the incident publicly as “an unacceptable act of aggression.”

A number of nationalist demonstrators hijacked a march of thousands of people on Polish Independence Day and attacked the Russian embassy in Warsaw.

Protesters shouting anti-Russia slogans hurled stones at police and attempted to scale the walls of the embassy building. Police eventually dispersed the mob with rubber bullets and pepper spray and arrested around a dozen people.

President Bronislaw Komorowski apologized to Russia for the “acts of hooliganism” witnessed in the Polish capital and said the incident had been detrimental to the image of Poland on the international stage.

“I need to apologize on behalf of the Polish state,” Komorowski told Polish radio station RaioZet, branding the unrest as an “absolute scandal.” Moreover, he said that some were attempting to use the incident “to create the impression that Poland is a Russphobic” nation.

Komorowski also suggested changing Polish law to prohibit demonstrators from covering their faces during protests unless they have a good reason to do so.

Poland’s PM Donald Tusk followed suit, slamming the riot as an "unacceptable act of aggression."

"We want to express our regret over the incident. Despite the emotions felt by various groups of people demonstrating on Independence Day, these kinds of actions must not take place," he said. Warsaw authorities who initially allowed Monday’s march moved to ban the event in the wake of the violence.

Russia sharply condemned the violence on Tuesday, demanding compensation for damages to the embassy and summoning Polish Ambassador Wojciech Zajaczkowski to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An eye for an eye?

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on Wednesday that three people had been arrested in the center of Moscow for “disturbing the peace” and throwing flares at the Polish Embassy.

However, the Polish embassy’s security team did not report anything out-of-the-ordinary on the premises.

“The situation is normal, we have had no problems, security has not reported any disturbances,” the Polish press secretary told Interfax.

Tensions still run high between Russia and Poland more than two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe. Demonstrators who attacked the Russian Embassy resent Poland’s eastern neighbor for World War II atrocities and occupation during the Soviet era.

[TsarSamuil]

Polish Foreign Minister: We Gave The US A "Blowjob," Got Nothing

The latest leaked recording to rock European politics.

June 22, 2014, at 4:23 p.m.
Ben Smith - BuzzFeed Staff



Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, generally viewed as a leading ally of the United States in Europe, said in a mysteriously-leaked recording Sunday that the alliance between the two countries is “not worth anything.”

“The Polish-American alliance is not worth anything. It’s even damaging, because it creates a false sense of security in Poland,” Sikorski says on an excerpt of a longer conversation set to be published Monday morning in the magazine Wprost, which is reportedly between Sikorski and former finance minister Jacek Rostowski. It’s unclear who recorded the conversation said to be from this spring, and why, though speculation has focused on Russian intelligence, which is believed to have leaked a similarly embarrassing conversation between American officials.

After his interlocutor asks why he’s skeptical of the alliance, Sikorski continues that it is “bullshit.”

“We are gonna conflict with both Russians and Germans, and we’re going to think that everything is great, because we gave the Americans a blowjob. Suckers. Total suckers,” Sikorski says, according to a translation of the account for BuzzFeed.

The recording is one of many made of politicians’ conversations in posh restaurants, and has emerged as a massive problem for the country’s ruling Civic Platform.

Sikorski also employs a racially-charged word in the conversation, describing the mentality of Poles as “Murzyńskość.” An English-language Polish outlet described the phrase as meaning “thinking ‘like a Negro.’”

Sikorski said on Twitter that he hadn’t been to the restaurant in which he was allegedly recorded; Wprost’s editor said the recording had in fact been made in a different location.

-------------

Polish FM's oral sex comment on US 'shows his political realism' – Moscow.

RT.com
June 23, 2014 19:49

Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, has proven his “political realism” by comparing his country’s relations with the US to unrewarding oral sex, the Russian Foreign ministry commented.

In a leaked recording of a private conversation, Sikorski said that Warsaw’s alliance with Washington is worthless and even damaging as it “creates a false sense of security in Poland,” as cited by Wprost which published excerpts from the alleged exchange between Sikorski and Jacek Rostowski, an MP and former finance minister.

“We will get a conflict with both Russians and Germans, and we’re going to think that everything is great, because we gave the Americans a blowjob,” the FM reportedly said.

According to Wprost, he called the Poles “total suckers” for their stance and repeated the phrase “complete bullshit” numerous times during the conversation.

“The essence of Sikorski’s statements indicates his political realism,” the Russian Foreign Ministry later said in a comment as cited by RIA Novosti news agency.

As for the use of strong language, “it’s is probably a kind of a response to the offensive and rude remarks by [Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Victoria] Nuland about the European Union,” the ministry suggested.

Back in February, a leaked phone call revealed Nuland saying “f**k the EU” as she was discussing the shape of the future Ukrainian government with the US ambassador to Kiev.

Sikorski’s words came as a shock for many in Poland as the minister was always known for a critical stance towards Moscow and his passionate support of stronger ties with Washington.

In early June, the FM suggested the US could establish a military base in Poland as the country felt threatened by the Ukraine crisis.

“America, we hope, has ways of reassuring us that we haven't even thought about. There are major bases in Britain, in Spain, in Portugal, in Greece, in Italy. Why not here?” he told the New York Times.

The small American military presence in Poland was recently boosted with the arrival of 300 airmen and a dozen F-16 fighters for joint exercises this year.

But it may be just the beginning as Barack Obama promised to invest an additional $1 billion in stepping up American military presence in Eastern Europe amid the Ukrainian crisis.

Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, said the Sikorski conversation leak won’t lead to any scuffles in the cabinet, calling it an attempt to destabilize the political situation in the country.

[TsarSamuil]

European rights court condemns Poland for hosting secret CIA prisons.

RT.com
July 24, 2014 08:29

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Poland violated an international treaty to protect human rights by hosting secret CIA prisons on its territory.

The Strasbourg-based court [a href="http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/fra/pages/search.aspx?i=001-146044#{"itemid":["001-146044"]}"]ruled[/a] that Poland had contravened articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that cover torture, the right to liberty, and the right to an effective remedy for victims of crime.

The case was filed by two men, Saudi-born Abu Zubaydah, and Saudi national Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who charge they were taken to a secret CIA black site in a Polish forest and subjected to treatment which amounted to torture. The men said at a hearing in December they had been brought to Poland in December 2002 with the knowledge of the Polish authorities. Both are now detainees at the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.

The US government accused Zubaydah of running a terror training camp Afghanistan which was attended by some of the September 11 hijackers. Al-Nashiri, originally from Yemen, was accused of directing an attack on the US. warship Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.

Regarding al-Nashir, the court said Poland had "enabled the CIA to transfer him from Poland to other CIA-run detention facilities, despite a real risk of his being subjected to further torture, ill‑treatment, incommunicado detention, the imposition of the death penalty and flagrantly unfair trial."

Poland was further found to have violated Articles 3 and 13 of the ECHR by failing to conduct an effective and thorough investigation regarding allegations of "serious violations" of al-Nashir's rights being carried out on Polish territory. The court also said the Polish government had failed to produce information and documentary evidence requested in the Zubaydah case.

Poland was ordered to pay al-Nashiri 100,000 euros in damages and 130,000 euros to Zubaydah.

Amrit Singh, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative who acted for one of the men who brought the case, told Reuters the court's ruling established beyond reasonable doubt that Poland-hosted a secret jail run by the US government.

"It's an historic ruling," she said. "It's time for them to own up to the truth."

Poland's Foreign Ministry said it could not immediately comment because its legal experts still needed to examine the 400-page ruling. Ministry spokesman Marcin Wojciechowski said the court ruling had come too soon, arguing it had not given Polish prosecutors time to finish their own investigation into the alleged CIA gail. That investigation has been running since March 2008.

But presidential spokeswoman Joanna Trzaska-Wieczorek said the ECtHR ruling was a black mark on Poland's reputation.

"The ruling of the tribunal in Strasbourg on CIA jails is embarrassing for Poland and is a burden both in terms of our country's finances as well as its image," said Trzaska-Wieczorek.

“The government has done everything possible to protect Poland in these proceedings.” she said. Trzaska-Wieczorek stressed, however, that those who ran the country at the time the program was active should have to answer for their decisions, and not the current administration.

Polish officials have previously denied the existence of a CIA prison on its territory. The United States has acknowledged that it kept Al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside of US jurisdiction, but has been unwilling to identify the exact locations of those facilities.

Knowledge of the CIA black site was first revealed by Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, the former head of Poland’s intelligence secret service, in April 2012. Siemiatkowski said he had been tasked with establishing a secret prison for the CIA in a remote part of the country. Allegedly, foreign prisoners in the detention center were tortured in connection with America's global war on terror.

According to a report released in February 2013 by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), at least 54 countries including Syria, Iran, Sweden, Iceland, and UK had offered the CIA “covert support” to detain, transport, interrogate and torture suspects in the years following the 9/11 attacks.

Thursday's ruling could serve as a precedent for other European states alleged to have hosted CIA prisons, as similar cases have been filed with the ECtHR against Romania and Lithuania. The ruling has no bearing on the United States, which is outside of the court's jurisdiction.

[TsarSamuil]

Poland: U.S. military march outside Russian embassy on Armed Forces Day.

RuptlyTV
Aug 15, 2014

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rSN6zYrbZA

M/S Soldiers marching in front of Russian embassy
M/S Soldiers marching
M/S Soldiers marching
M/S People watching parade
M/S Soldiers marching
M/S Soldiers marching
W/S Soldiers marching
M/S People watching parade
M/S Leopard 2 battle tanks parading
M/S Leopard 2 battle tanks parading in front of Russian embassy, people watching
M/S Leopard 2 main battle tanks parading
M/S WR-40 Langusta parading
M/S WR-40 Langusta parading
M/S Soldiers on top of WR-40 Langusta
M/S Army helicopters flying
M/S Army helicopters flying


Over 1,200 soldiers, 120 military vehicles and 50 aircraft including Blackhawks paraded in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw, Friday, to commemorate the anniversary of the Polish victory over the Red Army in the 1920 Battle of Warsaw. U.S. and Canadian soldiers also took part in the annual parade.