Poland Never Seems to Catch a Break from USA

Polish media have been speculating recently about whether Polish-American negotiations over the missile shield have come to a halt. Poland has demanded long-term military assistance from the United States, in particular the delivery of Patriot air defense missiles, in return for allowing the Americans to set up their missile base there. According to unofficial diplomatic sources, the Polish authorities are not satisfied with what the Americans have offered Warsaw so far.

From the American Revolution to the War on Terror -- Poland has given so much -- without much thanks from America.

Sign of Solidarity

The Solidarity trade union will present Polish athletes going to Beijing with Solidarity armbands, as a gesture of solidarity with Tibet and abused Chinese workers. However, the athletes and sports officials say they're unlikely to wear them. A couple of weeks ago the Tygodnik Powszechny weekly asked Solidarity to grant permission for its globally recognisable logo to be placed on the Polish athletes' costumes.

The petition was discussed by the union's National Council. 'We should have stepped forward with the idea ourselves", said Wojciech Buczak, head of Solidarity in the Rzeszów area. "My proposition is that we print a couple of thousand of the kind of Solidarity armbands that we used during the strikes in the 1980s. We would present not only the Polish Olympic committee with them, but also other committees, from all over the world. Let the athletes wear them during the opening ceremony and the medal-awarding ceremonies. This would be a clear and beautiful gesture of solidarity with the abused Chinese workers and the persecuted Tibetans".

China Doesn't Like Polish Support for Tibet

The Chinese government has voiced annoyance at Warsaw City Council for supporting Tibet's independence and inviting the Dalai Lama to Warsaw. In a meeting on April 11, a diplomat from the Political Section of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw, Ms. Yu Ruilin, expressed her utmost exasperation on behalf of China at the firm and unjustified accusations toward the Government of the People's Republic of China.

Gazeta Wyborcza quotes the Chinese official, who wrote: "The unrest in Tibet was not simply a peaceful demonstration." She criticised the invitation issued by the Warsaw Council to the Dalai Lama and demanded that the Polish state authorities, "influence local authority institutions to abstain from actions discrediting the Chinese government in the future".

In a reply letter, the Polish Foreign Ministry said they had no authority over local governments in Poland. "We're entitled to our own view. I'm not surprised that it isn't popular in China. The invitation for Dhalai Lma is still standing. Nothing has changed there," said Ewa Malinowska-Grupinsk a at the Warsaw City Council.

"The issue of violating the human rights in Tibet deserves attention," agreed Maciej Maciejowski, representing the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party in the Council. At the end of March, the Warsaw Council organized a demonstration outside Warsaw Town Hall, on behalf of Varsovians, deeply moved by 'Tibet's tragedy' and appealed to the Mayor of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz- Waltz, to begin co-operation with the Tibetan authorities in exile, represented by Dalai Lama.

Russian Contract on JPII

The weekly Wprost, shows a politburo document, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev, which appears to warrant a KGB contract killing on John Paul II.

Polish journalist David Dastych brings this to light in a book, "About the Pope: Spies in the Vatican". The politburo document says: "Use all available possibilities to prevent a new political trend, initiated by the Polish pope…" The document, which dates back to November 1979, - one year after Karol Wojtyla became pope - is signed by eight top Party officials including Konstantin Rusakov, who coordinated action with the Polish communist party, and Mikhail Gorbachev. In Rome, Pope John Paul II survived four bullets on May 13, 1981 shot by Turk Mehmet Ali Hagca.

Easy to Swallow

As many as 54 per cent of Poles above the age of 15 take multivitamins, according to a recent study by pollster TNS OBOP.

Multivitamins are more popular with women, who make 61 per cent of those taking them, and relatively young people. Over a half of vitamin takers are people under 40.

According to respondents the products should provide a complete set of vitamins, boost strength, immunity and vitality, as well as contribute to the proper functioning of the organism. However, the study also showed that although Poles eagerly take multivitamins in autumn and spring, when human immunity is at the lowest and Poland is plagued by flues and colds, they fail to do so regularly throughout the year.


Source: thenews.pl

Unemployment Down

Poland has registered the highest decline in unemployment of all the European Union member states. In February, 8 percent of Poles were jobless compared to 11.5 percent last February.

Not too long ago unemployment was 18%.

Gay Activists OK

A Polish court has ruled in favor of an education-ministry official who was fired in June 2006 after for proposing that homosexual activist organizations should be invited to speak in public-school classrooms.

Miroslaw Sielatycki was awarded 20,000 zloty after the court ruled that his dismissal by former former education minister Roman Giertych was an act of illegal discrimination.

I am waiting for straight porn stars to be invited into the classroom, here or there. I hate oppression.

Sex Out of Wedlock

Rzeczpospolita reports the Polish public is moving away from Catholic attitudes toward marriage and sexuality, according to new survey results published in the newspaper.

The poll found that 66% of the respondents accept sexual relations between an unmarried man and woman. Nine percent of the respondents said that they were currently involved in sexual affairs outside marriage.

In the poll, 33% said that a marriage blessed by the Catholic Church is important. Another 32% said that marriage is important in itself, regardless of whether or not the Church has recognized the union.

33% believe that the use of contraception is always acceptable.

New Polish Eatery

A brand new Polish eatery, Pyza, opened Feb. 13 at 46727 Van Dyke south of 21 Mile Road in Shelby Township, Michigan offering authentic homemade Polish cuisine with an old-world European atmosphere.

Pyza is one of the few Polish restaurants in the tri-county area outside of Hamtramck, and it is a must try for anyone searching for the tastes and aromas of a traditional Polish kitchen.

The food is prepared from healthy ingredients, including Amish meats, poultry, eggs and dairy products, and the dishes are based on recipes that have been passed down through the generations.

All dishes are made from scratch and cooked individually, made to order. Owner Tadeusz Baj also created everything in the restaurant, from its design and woodworking to the furnishings of the dining room. For more information, visit the restaurant or call (586) 726-6320.

Ports Expand in Poland

The number of containers handled by Poland's four sea ports - Gdynia, Gdansk, Szczecin, Swinoujscie - increased by 31% last year, giving Poland fourth place behind Russia, Sweden and Finland.

Cargo traffic in the Baltic sea is expected to grow rapidly over the coming years, and all Polish seaports plan major capacity expansion to capture a share of this growth. They stand a good chance as St.Petersburg, the largest transshipment port in the Baltic, which is operating at full capacity, has no possibility to develop further.

The four Polish ports plan to spend 600 million dollars on new capacity over the next five years, taking the total to more than eight million containers per year, up from 1.7 million at present.

Gdansk, in particular, is seeking to position itself as the Baltic's main transshipment hub.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

Ain't Exactly Lionel

High speed rail is coming to Poland with the help of experts from Spain. The head of the Spanish rail infrastructure is headed to Warsaw this week. Spanish companies have great experience in the construction and maintenance of fast track lines. At present, the Spanish rail network has 1000 kilometres, but is planning to build ten times more by 2020.

Still, there is a railroad line in north central Poland that runs entirely with steam.

[Click Here] for earlier post about Quixoticosity of the Old Rails in Poland and several links.

Wolsztyn is the center of steam in Poland. It is home to a wonderful open-air museum consisting of a steam locomotive shed / depot; turntable; and a wide collection of working, rare, mainline Polish steam locomotives. Every day several passenger and freight trains leave Wolsztyn on route to locations in Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie and other parts of western Poland.

These trains will help put off the next ice age, which is rapidly coming
[Click Here] Al Gore.

Veni, vidi, vici

According to the Ministry of Education next year Polish secondary school students will be learning Latin. The new curriculum stipulates that there will be as many as four hours per week of Latin in all Polish high schools.

There will be no problem in large cities, but in smaller towns there may be some difficulties with finding teachers. Currently Latin is a very rare subject in Polish schools.

Latin is commonly on the curricula in Germany, France and Italy.

A universal language ain't a bad idea either. But, what's wrong with

Esperanto? It's easier to learn and was invented in Poland. If you don't know about Esperanto click the link.

The solution to the problem, IMHO, is to enlist the aid of local parish clergy. Seems to me every neighborhood and village has a Catholic Church - and, I'd hope they all are familiar with Latin - the dead language.

I wonder when English will become a dead language.

Drink up.... More

Last year Poles consumed more alcohol than ever before. It's the economy, stupid. Spending on hard liquor is up 15 percent while wages in Poland are up 10 percent.

How much does the average Pole consume? Around 2.56 gallons of pure alcohol annually, compared to 1.74 gallons in 2001.

I wish the stock market and my mutual funds had such an increase.

Muslims have problems with Poles

Muslims in the UK are concerned about the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, and Poland in particular. "Poles work beyond the minimum wage, drink, abuse their women and offend us by putting up stalls with pork sausage everywhere," says a young member of the Muslim community in Luton, near London, quoted by the Polska daily.

According to the newspaper, U.K. newcomers from Eastern Europe are referred to as `Poles', regardless of their actual origin, by the local Muslims.

Meanwhile, however, over 16 Poles living and working in the UK have converted to Islam in the last two years, one anonymous Imam told Polska.

Tasty Polish pork knuckle pictured above to refute the anonymous claim of conversions.

9-12-1683

Solidarity, Again

Poland's top pole vaulter, Monika Pyrek, has called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the summer Olympic Games in Beijing. "The best solution is to boycott the opening ceremony as this isn't a sport event. This would be a manifestation of solidarity."

I support Monika's views. I wouldn't date her though -- she spends so little time in the horizontal position.

What's up Lech?

Lech says he feel like I'm 18 again after his recent heart operation in Houston. The 64-year-old is full of energy, often waking up in the middle of the night feeling he could get straight to work. (Maybe it's just enlarged prostate that wakes him at 3AM).

Walesa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and went on to be president from 1990 to 1995, is shortly to become Poland's representative on an "reflection group" of veterans tasked with producing a vision of the future for the European Union.

Note that Lech came to the USA for heart surgery, not a EU member nation where there is socialized / universal medicine. The reasons and debate should be posted on a political blog - not here.

Walesa also says the crackdown in Tibet is "bad and unwise" and is calling on the world to condemn it. "The world must say we don't agree with what is going on in China and with the Chinese government's crackdown on protesters. We must all fight for basic rights."

Wonder if Lech's family buys things made in China from Polish WalMart stores - nah.... He probably shows solidarity. (Ya think?)

A 'most beautiful gesture'

The Shalom Foundation wants Jews who were expelled from Poland in 1968 to regain Polish citizenship.

Because of the approaching 40th anniversary of what is known in Poland as 'March 1968' - when tens of thousands of Polish citizens of Jewish descent were forced to leave Poland by the Communist government - the foundation issued a letter to President Lech Kaczynski, which states that it would be a 'most beautiful gesture' if all Jews expelled from Poland automatically regained their citizenship on one day.

In 1968 the Communist Security Service took away their Polish passports and gave them a one-way ticket.

The Shalom Foundation is an American-Polish-Israeli organization based in Warsaw, promoting the culture of Polish Jews. The March 1968 events will be commemorated in Warsaw on March 5. Meetings, discussion panels, book promotions and exhibitions connected to the tragic events will take place.

Sorce: Polskie Radio

Canada 1 - USA still ZERO

Canada's lifted visa requirements for Poles. Sunday. Canada announced it would no longer require citizens of Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Hungary to obtain temporary resident visas for a visit to Canada. Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finley said the visa-free status for the four countries takes effect immediately.

America worries about legally documented Poles coming for a visit while illegal aliens pour into the country without any documents, visas or papers. What gives? What is wrong with this picture?

And, where is and what is M.C. Marcy Kaptur doing to promote visa free travel by Poles to our country? Time...way past time for a new representative to replace the 13 term Congresswoman in District 9.

Blood Sucking Taxman

Polish tax officials are offering Poles the chance to pay their tax bills in blood.

Every donation to the local blood banks will allow Poles to write $60 off their tax bill.

Donors have to get a certificate from the hospital for every litre donated that can then be sent to the tax department and written off against their final tax demand.

Regular donor Dariusz Gryka, from Bialystok, said: "I heard about it from an accountant friend and started to give blood last year. "I have only done it three times, but already it has been worth it."

Not sure if the Sejm will make the Blood Tax bite permanent. To stimulate the economy - it's only been a drop in the bucket so far.

Poland Abounds with Entrepreneurs

More than a half of young Europeans are keen to start their own business, according to the 2007 Eurobarometer on entrepreneurial mindset in the EU. And young Poles are in the lead in this respect. Academic Enterprise Incubators report that 68 percent of first year students plan to become an entrepreneur.

Tomek Szczesny and his friends established a Managerial Development Forum, which organizes conferences and training courses for business people. Their idea caught the attention of Tad Witkowicz, a US businessman of Polish extraction, who supported the students financially.

Tomek says that he sees around himself many young Poles who want to become self-employed. Lots of our friends and young people in Poland are thinking of creating their own company. There several reasons. One is that corporate work doesn't give so much joy and opportunities to grow. The best way to learn and to gain experience is to create your own company.

The richest student in Poland is Maciej Popowicz, the brain behind a record popular Our Class website, which enables graduates of various schools get in touch. It started modestly on his PC. Today the firm employs 35 people and has 300 servers. Popowicz earned several dozen million zlotys when he sold a 20 percent share in his website to a German investor.

Specialists say that learning the entrepreneurial attitude should start at primary school level. The Junior Achievement Foundation is targeting both primary and secondary school pupils. Barbara Szymczyk, its PR director, agrees that it is best to start such education early. 'This school year enrollment in our programs is over 700,000 students, so I guess we can be proud of ourselves. This is the stage when you can form one's mind. It is early enough. Probably kindergarten would be too early, but primary school is the perfect time to start teaching about entrepreneurship, about active attitude to life, about creativity, which we do.

One of the main programs realized by the Foundation is the Company. The Company program is the perfect example of our learning by doing approach. Students, ages from 16 to 19, form mini-companies at school. They come up with an idea of a product or service, they elect their managers' team responsible for each department, they produce, they sell, keep records and finally they share the profit. This school year 2007-2008 we registered 344 teams in the program..

It is not easy to start a business of one's own but it's worth the risk, says Tomek Szczesny from the Managerial Development Forum. Of course, it is very hard to start but there are enough capital and business angles in Poland to seek capital invest in our own businesses. I am now observing lots of new businesses in Poland, especially in the high tech sector. The prospects are very good because the economy is boosting, our labor force is rather cheap so now it is a good time to start a business in Poland. In 2007 some 350 firms operating within the framework of the Academic Enterprise Incubators generated a total of 8 million zloty income. This is only a fraction of the whole scene, as every year more than 66 thousand firms are established by people below 30.

Source: Radio Polskie

Maria Lacisz

Maria Lacisz - Polish female version of James Bond - died in Montreal January 2, 2008 at age 98.

Katyn Film - Big Hit

The world premiere of Andrzej Wajda's Katyn at the Berlin Film Festival Friday night was followed by silence and then long applause.

The premiere was attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel, ministers of culture of Poland and Germany and other renowned personalities from the world of culture and politics. The public was visibly shaken by the screening, which tells the true story of the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers by the Soviet NVKD in 1940.



While addressing the public, Andrzej Wajda said that the Europe of today is heading in the right direction. The director also expressed a hope that the film would open a new chapter in Polish, German and Russian relations.

16 Tons

In May, the Polish government will revoke an international convention prohibiting women from working as coal miners. The unions are appalled.

The employing of women as coal miners is prohibited by the 45th International Labor Organization Convention from 1935. The reasons: high air pressure and constant threat to human life.

In February 2005, however, the European Tribunal of Justice decided the convention was outdated and urged the member states to revoke it.

Union leaders don't even want to hear about women miners, arguing no woman would cope with the hard work involved. 'There's no place for horses in the galleries, let alone for women', Dominik Kolorz, head of Solidarity's mining section, said jokingly.

Few remember, however, that until 1958 women were allowed to work at the coalface. Only when a woman miner had an accident and lost her hand did Poland ratify the ILO convention and introduces the ban.

EU Army

The Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, chairman of the foreign relations committee of
the European Parliament is in favor of establishing one common EU military force.

He said this would enable intervention of units from Union countries in conflict situations in which NATO cannot or does not want to engage its forces.

The idea of creating EU units has been presented by the party of French president Sarkozy. Poland could contribute 10 thousand troops to this European contingent. Jacek Saryusz-Wolski reminded Poland should feel an obligation towards this initiative, being part of the G-6 group of the biggest countries of the Old Continent and a country with long experience in combat missions, including Iraq.

This, in turn, should find reflection in Poland's greater participation in the decision making process, according to Saryusz-Wolski.

A new planetary system, very much like our solar system, has been discovered by a team of astronomers in Chile led by a Pole – Profesor Andrzej Udalski.

The international team of astronomers, involving eight Poles, pinpointed a star orbited by two planets, more or less in the same position as Jupiter and Saturn in our system. Until now it was not certain whether our system is an exception to the rule. Professor Michal Szymanski from Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory says that almost all the extra solar planets discovered so far were usually systems with quite a different structure. Almost all had giant planets orbiting their stars on very small orbits. 'This discovery shows that planetary systems, which are similar to our solar system may by quite common in the universe.'

EU Needs to Unify

New Polish PM Donald Tusk has urged the EU to unite in its dealings with Russia and not to let particular interests of member states to dominate (i.e. Polish-German gas pipeline under the Baltic), in a guest column in a German newspaper published Monday.

"The sooner all the countries in the union realize that a united voice in foreign policy is important, the better the relations of the individual countries and of the union as a whole to our large neighbour in the east will develop," Tusk wrote in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Member states and large companies were currently charting separate courses, Tusk said. "There is no question of coherence here. Divergent interests, or even rivalries, are the order of the day," he said.

He warned in particular that the EU could lose the initiative to Russia in the key area of energy policy, with the result that European energy companies and European citizens would pay more for their energy.

Russia had no interest in pursuing the modernizing European model, but was more interested in establishing its own identity, as was shown by the divergent views on Kosovo, Tusk said.

On competition between the EU and Russia regarding Eastern European countries, he said the sovereign will of the countries concerned was not being taken into account. The EU's response to reforms in Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and potentially Belarus, should be to offer the prospect of membership, the Polish prime minister said, pointing to the enlargement of the EU in recent years.

The Treaty of Lisbon, signed last year, called for a strong partnership aimed at solving global problems, such as weapons of mass destruction, climate change and international terrorism, and opened up fresh prospects in relations with Russia, he said. The EU and Russia were more than neighbours, and both sides should have the courage to work out a particular kind of strategic partnership, Tusk said. The prerequisites for this were clear and transparent ground rules, he said.

Source: DPA 2-18-08

Pl vs Ru

Quick Cliff Notes run down of Polish Russian relationships post Communist era.

* 1989 - Poland is the first Soviet satellite to overthrow communism,triggering the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the communist regime in Russia itself.

* 1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin releases secret clauses of the1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thatshows they agreed to carved up Poland at outbreak of World War Two. Yeltsinalso gives Poland documents showing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the execution of thousands of Polish POWs at the Katyn forest.

* 1993 - Yeltsin visits Poland and is feted by the hero of the Polishanti-communist struggle,President Lech Walesa. Walesa obtains Yeltsin's declaration that Russia would not object toPolish NATO entry -- which causes an outcry back in Moscow. The Kremlin backtracks and launches a drive to warn the alliance against accepting itsformer satellites. Last Russian soldiers stationed on Polish soil since World War Two leave.

* 1999 - Despite vehement Russian protests, NATO admits Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

* 2004 - Poland joins the European Union. President Aleksander Kwasniewski meets Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Ties strained over Polish reluctance to allow Russian energy companies buy Polish peers. Kwasniewski infuriates Putin by leading the EU mediation in Ukraine following the rigged presidential election there in December 2004. A re-run results in victory for pro-Western candidate, Viktor Yushchenko.

* 2005 - Conservative Law and Justice led by brothers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski wins power in Poland, taking a sharply anti-Russian course. Moscow imposes a ban on Polish farm imports. In December, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and its German partners agree to built an undersea gas pipe bypassing Poland. Radoslaw Sikorski, then defence minister who is now foreign minister, compares the agreement to theMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

* 2007 - Poland declares it is ready to host a U.S. missile defence system on its soil, sparking a violent reaction from Putin who says the move brings back the Cold War. In May, Poland blocks talks on a new EU-Russia strategic partnership overthe meat ban. In October, centre-right Civic Platform party wins a parliamentary election, with its leaderand future prime minister Donald Tusk promising to improve ties with Russia. In November, Poland lifts veto on Russia's talks to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Russia reciprocates by lifting ban on Polish meat imports.

* 2008 - Foreign Minister Sikorski meets Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrovin January, who says Moscow would not put pressure on Warsaw over its readiness to host the U.S.missile shield.

Compulation from Reuters.

Blogger's Note: Expect things to get worse in the coming years. Russia is a back stabber with Oil and Natural Gas to hold over the EU's head like the 'Sword of Damocles'. If you know anything about the quality of Russian thread -

Tusk to visit Bush 3-10-08

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on March 10 during a visit in Washington. The two leaders are expected to discuss a U.S. proposal to place 10 interceptors in Poland as part of the U.S. global missile defense shield aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from so-called 'rogue states' such as Iran.

Last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said during a visit to Washington that Poland had agreed in principle to hosting the base after Warsaw received assurances that the United States would help Poland strengthen its short- to medium-range air defenses.

Poland's contributions to forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are also expected to be on the agenda. Poland contributed troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and has announced plans to withdraw its remaining 900 troops from the country by the end of October. Warsaw also has some 1,200 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission.

Poland bends over backwards for the US and gets a dime if they're lucky. Romania permits a US military base and gets big cash rewards. Doesn't seem to matter if the Bopsy Twins or Donald Duck is in power.

Not Zimne Nogi

Social scientists study many things -- now this.

People with longer legs may be more attractive according to Polish researchers.

Maybe there's some truth that a 'leggy blonde' has more fun. Polish researchers found that people prefer legs a few inches longer than just plain ordinary average length.

Boguslaw Pawlowski and Piotr Sorokowski at the University of Wroclaw in Poland based their findings on the opinions of 218 male and female participants in a study according to the "New Scientist".

The researchers also measured the volunteers' proportions.

Regardless of the volunteers' height, the most popular model image was the one with leg length five per cent longer than average.

People with longer legs are more attractive. At least in Polish culture.

Iraqis to call Poland "home"

Iraqis who cooperated extensively with Polish troops, like agents, interpreters and guides, will be given the opportunity to move to Poland, and most valuable co-operators will be granted Polish citizenship. Poland was responsible for 1/3 of Iraq territory post war.

Representatives of the Polish army give a ballpark figure of around 30 Iraqis who would be offered this possibility, which may be the only way for them to live a peaceful life. "To terrorists these people are traitors worthy only of being killed for collaborating with the occupant", explains Michal Fiszer, military expert quoted by Polska.

Costs of Employment Up

The shortage of skilled labor is hitting the earnings of domestic Polish enterprises, with almost half admitting that salary emigration is negatively affecting their financial results.

Employment costs for each worker have increased by at least 30% since Poland's accession to the EU. Entrepreneurs are only now beginning to wake up and smell the coffee.

"Ten percent claim that employment difficulties cost them from 4% to 7% of revenue. 5% of enterprises estimate this share at 8-12% of revenue," said Leszek Wroñski. Experts from the employers' organization PKPP Lewiatan believe that not only should companies attract labor by offering higher wages, but also try to activate 1.6 million of those who are currently jobless. At the same time growth in wages should be accompanied by increasing efficiency as otherwise companies will face restructuring in the future. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1)

Economic Boom running out of steam?

The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) indexes have been falling on fears of a recession in the US.

Earlier this week, the WIG20 index of blue chip companies dropped by 4.2%, and bearish sentiments continued. Out of 352 firms trading on the WSE, only six have seen an increase in trade. Twenty six have remained constant, but the other 320 firms, which constitute 91% of trade at the WSE, have taken a dive.

With the WSE other European markets experience sharp losses. Tuesday, the London FTSE 100 index fell 3.06 percent, while the Paris Cac 40 lost 2.83 percent to finish. In Frankfurt the Dax lost 2.14 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares shed 2.26 percent to reach 4140.94.

Warsaw stocks were hit even harder than other European bourses as retail investors, in particular, lost faith in the market.

Buy gold and look on the bright side brothers - Thank goodness Poland didn't finance the sub-prime US markets.

Poland's CO2 Break

EU is allowing Poland to retain higher quotas on CO2 gas emissions. The EU is departing from its ambitious plans of curbing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% the the next decade.

The main burden for achieving this goal has been assigned to members of the Old Fifteen, the more developed countries which were members of the bloc before expansion in 2004. The exact targets for individual countries are yet to be set, even though the document setting out EU energy strategy will be published shortly. Poland complained that the targets originally set were too restrictive for an economy striving for quick economic growth.


Judging by the direction of the US economy - we should get a break too. A country can over spend and over regulate itself to economic death. I think I'll put another log in the fireplace. I thought they said there was Global Warming, but I'm freezing my dupa off.

BTW, the stacks shown here are neither in Poland or the US. These are big, bad communis sacks. Shown only for affect.

New Primate for Poland Soon?

The Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reports that Pope Benedict XVI will name a new primate for Poland sometime this spring.

If the Rzeczpospolita report is accurate-- and it has not been confirmed by Vatican sources-- it would contradict earlier indications that Pope Benedict would allow the current Polish primate, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the retired Archbishop of Warsaw, to retain that title until he reaches his 80th birthday in 2009.

Cardinal Glemp became the Polish primate in 1981, when he succeeded the legendary Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski as Archbishop of Warsaw and of Gniezno. Historically the title of primate was attached to the Gniezno archdiocese. But in 1992, when he approved a restructuring of the Polish hierarchy and appointed a new Archbishop of Gniezno (Henryk Muszynski), Pope John Paul II (bio - news) stipulated that Cardinal Glemp would remain the primate.

Open Border

The lifting of border formalities between Germany and Poland has not led to an increase in crime in the north German state of Mecklenburg - West Pomerania, police there said Thursday.

"The situation is normal just as it was before" Poland joined the Schengen zone.

Since Poland and other Eastern European countries joined the Schengen zone, there had been a total of 28 people detained for entering Germany illegally. On Christmas Day, police stopped five Polish taxis carrying 18 Chechen would-be immigrants and sent them back across the border after finding their papers were not in order. While most politicians welcomed the extension of border-free travel to 24 countries, most of them in the European Union, some warned that illegal migration and crime would increase.

Only time will tell if abuses will become unmanageable.

Poznan Competes for EU Culture Capital title

Ryszard Grobelny, President of Poznan, western Poland, and representatives of local authorities signed an agreement on January 3 concerning cooperation in promoting Poznan in the run-up to the finals of the European Culture Capital 2016.

Local authorities decided to join forces as the winning city will have the opportunity to present its cultural offer to all other member states and will also receive financial aid to boost its future development.

The European Culture Capital title is a one-in-a-million chance to promote not only the city, but the entire region.

In 2016 the title will be awarded to two cities, one of them Spanish, the other - Polish. Poznan will be competing against Gdansk, northern Poland, Lodz, central Poland, and Torun, north-central Poland.

Each year the winner is chosen by the European Council, which takes into account the opinion of the European Parliament and a jury consisting of seven renowned persons from the world of culture.

Damn the EU

Krakow, Dec. 26, 2007 (CWNews.com) - A statement chiding the European Union for failing to acknowledge God will be read in all the parishes of the Krakow, Poland, archdiocese this coming Sunday, the Dziennik newspaper reports.

Father Jan Maciej Dyduch, the rector of Poland's Pontifical Theological Academy, is the author of the statement, which expresses "regret that the European Union's Lisbon Treaty does not contain an invocation of God."

"It is as if Europe -- represented by an influential group of politicians, bureaucrats, and journalists -- fears Jesus and His Gospel," the criticism continues. The Church statement concludes that "Europe risks becoming a spiritual desert."

The drive to include an explicit mention of God, and of the Christian foundation of European culture, was one of the last major public campaigns undertaken by the late Pope John Paul II who was Archbishop of Krakow from 1964 until he was elected
Pontiff in 1978.

Pole is Strongest Man in World

Mariusz Pudzianowski is the strongest man in the world, again. The Polish weight lifter won the title of The World's Strongest Man this year, his fourth title in five years as the king of the guys who drag heavy machinery around on ESPN.

Following the example of bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 30 year old intends to pursue acting after his strongman career (he already played in 6 Polish films so far).

Wild Life in Poland's Urban Areas

The port of Gdynia is having problems with beavers, which have built a network of dams on wetlands in one of the city's suburbs. Local residents worry that in the spring, the rising water will flood the basements of their houses.

Beavers are a protected species in Poland but Gdynia residents hope that with the help of local forestry officials, who could remove some of the dams, it will be possible to persuade the beavers to find other places to settle. The Tricity of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot have occasionally had problems with wild boar, which roamed in some districts, causing damage to lawns and rummaging through rubbish.

While you might not expect it, Gdansk is one of Eroupe's most beautiful cities. Check out some pictures: [Click Here]

See the beautiful resort of Sopot: [Click Here]

See Gdynia Port Live Web Cam: [Click Here]

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