Lars P. Syll — Poland’s Law and Justice — now and then

Legislating a lie.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Poland’s Law and Justice — now and then
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Novorosinform — Poles send Ukraine a message: Prison term for calling Bandera, Shukevich, OUN-UPA heroes, or for denying the Volyn Massacre

Poland drops the hammer on Ukrainian neo-Nazism.

For Russ
Poles send Ukraine a message: Prison term for calling Bandera, Shukevich, OUN-UPA heroes, or for denying the Volyn Massacre

Novorosinform, translated by Tom Winter

Warsaw to Kiev — ‘You Won’t Get Into Europe Glorifying War Criminal Bandera’

Former Polish President Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the influential leader of the country’s ruling Law and Justice Party, has some frank advice for Kiev, telling Ukrainian officials that the country would never join Europe if it continued to try to build its national identity on the glorification of notorious Nazi-allied war criminals like Stepan Bandera.

In an interview for the news weekly magazine Do Rzeczy, excerpts from which were published by other Polish outlets on Monday, Kaczynski indicated that he had warned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that Kiev would have no place in Europe if it continued to indulge in the glorification of war criminals like Stepan Bandera, the leader of the WWII-era Ukrainian nationalist organization that collaborated with the Nazis.
Kaczynski said “for years now, we have disagreed with the construction in Ukraine of a cult to people who engaged in genocide against the Poles. They even surpassed the cruelty of the Germans, which was not easy to do.”

“In short, this is a matter of choice for Ukraine,” the politician emphasized. “I told President Poroshenko clearly that Ukraine wouldn’t be entering Europe with Bandera. For me this is an issue that is absolutely clear,” he added, “because we have demonstrated great patience. But this patience has its limits.”

A defining moment.

Defend Democracy
Warsaw to Kiev: ‘You Won’t Get Into Europe Glorifying War Criminal Bandera’

also

TASS
Russia’s Investigative Committee opens cases over rehabilitation of Nazism in Ukraine

John Helmer — In The Canadian Cartoon Dudley Do-Right Can Do No Wrong, Snidely Whiplash No Good. In Real Life Can Robert Fife, David Walmsley, Terry Glavin, Alan Freeman And Scott Gilmore Save The Galicia Gang?

You may recall Scott Gilmore from the link to Paul Robinson's smackdown of Gilmore I posted earlier. today

Why is this important. Because a lot of the Russophobia now is owing to expats, former refugees and their descendants from Eastern Europe that still living in the past and influencing based on their grudges.

The Canadian foreign minister appears to be one of them.

Dances with Bears

In The Canadian Cartoon Dudley Do-Right Can Do No Wrong, Snidely Whiplash No Good. In Real Life Can Robert Fife, David Walmsley, Terry Glavin, Alan Freeman And Scott Gilmore Save The Galicia Gang?

John Helmer

RT — Polish march featuring anti-Ukrainian slogans sparks outrage in Kiev (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Europe is reverting to is old nationalistic behavior, what the EU and EZ were supposed to avoid.

RT
Polish march featuring anti-Ukrainian slogans sparks outrage in Kiev (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

John Helmer — The Red Line Crossed, In The Cross-Hairs, At Trigger Point — Waiting For An October Surprise

Approaching the level of the Cuban missile crisis?

When Putin starts talking publicly about red lines being crossed and crosshairs, it gives pause, unfortunately not to the American and NATO leadership, it seems.

The Russian leadership doesn't threaten, it warns. If the warning is not heeded, then it acts.

First there was the red-line announcement. On Friday in Athens there was the cross-hairs statement. By the month of October, the month before the US presidential election, there will be the trigger point.

The US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are going to war with Russia, accelerating the inevitability that Russia will strike in self-defence. This is what the first and second statements by President Vladimir Putin warn. There will be no statement of warning when the trigger point arrives.

Dances with Bears

The Red Line Crossed, In The Cross-Hairs, At Trigger Point — Waiting For An October Surprise

John Helmer

Also

The Duran
5 Reasons Washington Has Already Decided to Go to War with Russia
Peter Lavelle

Ruposters — Polish PM to John McCain: "You Have No Right to Lecture Us"

Smackdown.

Fort Russ
Polish PM to John McCain: "You Have No Right to Lecture Us"
Ruposters
Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

John Queally — Against Growing Authoritarian Threat of Far-Right, Massive Marches in Poland

Thousands of citizens marched through city streets across Poland on Saturday to protest the right-wing government's encroaching authoritarianism, including a new plan to enact sweeping surveillance measures.…

Common Dreams
Against Growing Authoritarian Threat of Far-Right, Massive Marches in Poland
John Queally

Ekaterina Blinova — It’s Never Wise to Enter Russia Carrying a Sword – Canadian Academic [Michael Jabara Carley]

The Great Game goes on. Geopolitical history of Russia in a nutshell.

Sputnik
It’s Never Wise to Enter Russia Carrying a Sword – Canadian Academic

Ekaterina Blinova

Also

Russophobia: Western Elite's Old Tool to Pressure Russia into Submission

Interview with Michael Jabara Carley | Professor of History, Université de Montréal

Jafe Arnoldski — "Work, not propaganda!": Poles protest US-NATO regime before elections

More natives getting restless.

Mateusz Piskorski, the leader of Zmiana, presented the closing and conversion of Lodz's factories as part of the US-NATO subjugation of Poland since the collapse of the Polish People's Republic and the transformation of the country into a victim of imposed liberal schemes and a semi-colonial reservoir of cheap labor for Western corporations. The situation of Lodz is the same in many other Polish cities according to Piskorski.

Jarek Augustyniak, another of Zmiana's leaders and a long-time resident of Lodz who, like many others, was forced to migrate from the city due to harsh economic conditions, explained that Lodz was a city "built by an extremely exploitative and harsh capitalism in the 19th century, and destroyed by capitalism in the late 20th and early 21st century." Only an industrial, social Poland, with strong industrial cities like Lodz, can be truly independent, Augustyniak emphasized.

Fort Russ
"Work, not propaganda!": Poles protest US-NATO regime before elections
Jafe Arnoldski

Fort Russ — The real reason behind Kiev's coming offensive is to plunge Russia into economic crisis

It seems that the bound for defeat Kiev's intention to attack Donbass has received its justification. They want to disconnect Russia from SWIFT and destroy it, this time once and for all. The Polish Vice-President of the European Parliament, Ryszard Czarnecki has literally said the following:

"As a result of exclusion from the international SWIFT system, the state budget of Russia would lose 10%, while Russia's GDP would decrease by 5% per year."

"The exclusion of Russia from the international SWIFT system", - he said in response to the question of what sanctions mean.

"Due to this decision, the Russian Federation will lose 5% of GDP per year. I want to draw your attention to the fact that for the first two quarters of the year, Russia has lost 4.6% of GDP. For the end of the year, the state treasury would lose 10%, it would be a calamity," - he said.

Ukraine cannot mount an offensive without the go ahead from the US. All major politicians are now US operatives. This raises the possibility of a false flag to create cover for the operation, blaming it on "Putler" and tightening the sanctions.

There are some problems with this scenario, however, such as the US keeping its European vassals in tow. While there are many indications that speak for it, I'm taking a wait and see attitude.

The window of launching an operation and concluding it before bad weather begins is closing. And as winter approaches Ukraine and Europe become more dependent on Russian energy. However, the US military would likely be running the operation behind the scenes instead of the incompetent Ukrainian general staff, so the thinking might well be that this time is different.

Shutting Russia out of SWIFT would almost certainly see a shut down of the pipelines to Europe. That would likely be worse for Europe than shutting down SWIFT for Russia. The question is whether the US cares. But that could have the effect of creating greater demands in Europe for ending sanctions altogether, which are already biting.

Fort Russ
The real reason behind Kiev's coming offensive is to plunge Russia into economic crisis

@Friend, Live Journal
Translated for Fort Russ by Soviet Bear

"Germany's policies pose a danger to Europe for the first time since 1945" — A View From Poland

Having second thoughts.

Fort Russ
"Germany's policies pose a danger to Europe for the first time since 1945"--A View From Poland

Translated from Polish by J.Hawk
Original: "Germany's policies pose a danger to Europe for the first time since 1945"--A View From Poland

RT — Polish President Komorowski concedes defeat to conservative challenger in runoff election

During his campaign Duda – a moderate Eurosceptic - stressed that Poland shouldn't transfer so much cash to the EU. Also he promised a vote on exiting the bloc if the people want it. 

"Perhaps these years have been good, but only for a narrow group," Duda told his supporters on Friday. "Yes, it's time for change, time to end this sluggish, indolent presidency." 

Komorowski, the incumbent president, stands for closer ties with the EU and NATO as the only way to stand up to "the threats of the modern world.”...

RT

Polish President Komorowski concedes defeat to conservative challenger in runoff election

Rujournalist — Supported Sanctions--Lost Election

J.Hawk's Comment: This is a stunner and, frankly, a minor political earthquake for all of EU. Even in January [Bronislaw ] Komorowski seemed unbeatable. A Polish political pundit famously said that to lose the election, "Komorowski would need to run over a pregnant Catholic nun while drunk." Well, close enough! But it's not just the sanctions and apples. Komorowski can also thank his Kiev Bandera-worshipping "partners and friends" for the untimely demise of his political career. The tide of the Polish public opinion turned very sharply against Ukraine in the last few months ("you can't fool all the people all the time"), and Komorowski paid the price... 

As to [Andrzej] Duda, he is as Russophobic as his predecessor, if not more so (he believes, for example, that Putin had the Polish president Kaczynski murdered by staging a plane crash in Smolensk in 2010...), but at the same time he is a Euroskeptic similar Hungary's Viktor Orban and he enjoys extensive support by Poland's Catholic Church which is, well, you can imagine. But Russophobia and Euroskepticism can't happily coexist, not in the Polish state, at any rate, so very soon Duda will have to make a choice. And ultimately Duda's politics are actually closer to Putin's (when it comes to the fundamental beliefs concerning sovereignty, national security, and basic human values) than to EU's.

Fort Russ
Supported Sanctions--Lost Election

Rujournalist

Original Supported Sanctions--Lost Election
Translated from Russian by J.Hawk

John Helmer — So Long Siklebaum – Poland Under US Pressure Over Failure Of War Against Eastern Ukraine, Russia

Anne Applebaum and Victoria Nuland. Polish elections coming up.

Dances with Bears

So Long Siklebaum – Poland Under US Pressure Over Failure Of War Against Eastern Ukraine, Russia

John Helmer

Joanna Stanislawska — Korwin-Mikke: Maidan snipers were trained in Poland

J.Hawk’s Comment: This is part of a longer interview dealing with a whole range of issues—the translation above covers only parts relevant to Russia and Ukraine. I should also note that Janusz Korwin-Mikke was one of the first Polish politicians to openly state that the CIA was operating a torture site on Polish soil, something that the Polish government strenuously denied—until the US itself acknowledged it. Will the “Maidan sniper” story follow a similar path?

Fort Russ
Korwin-Mikke: Maidan snipers were trained in Poland
Joanna Stanislawska
Translated from Polish by J.Hawk

Original
Korwin-Mikke: Maidan snipers were trained in Poland

Sputnik — Euromaidan Was Special Operation by US, Poland – Polish MEP

A European MP and leader of Poland’s conservative KORWiN party said that the 2014 Euromaidan riots in Kiev were organized by the CIA and also by Polish spooks. 

“Yes, it was our operation too… The snipers had also been trained in Poland. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently wrote about exactly who fired the shots in Kiev. The terrorists shot dead 40 demonstrators and 20 police officers to provoke unrest and the truth about this is finally coming out,” Janusz Korwin-Mikke said.

Sputnik
Euromaidan Was Special Operation by US, Poland – Polish MEP

Polish politician Magdalena Ogorek criticized Poland's foreign policy towards Russia and called for lifting anti-Russian sanctions. 

Poland should normalize its relations with Russia, Polish presidential candidate for the Democratic Left Alliance Magdalena Ogorek believes. 

Currently, Polish foreign policy towards Russia is "mistaken" and the confrontation with Moscow has significant risks, Ogorek said.

Confrontation With Moscow is a Mistake – Polish Presidential Candidate

Retired General Waldemar Skrzypczak, an influential figure in the Polish military, says he withdraws all words of support for Ukraine due to the country’s sliding towards nationalism. Earlier he advocated supplying heavy weapons to Kiev.

The angry U-turn in attitudes towards the Ukrainian government was published on Friday in the Gazeta Prawna newspaper. Skrzypczak said he is outraged with a law that the Ukrainian parliament passed hours after Polish President Bronisław Komorowski spoke before the MPs to express support for Ukraine.

The law gave benefits to all people who fought for Ukraine’s independence throughput history. Those include fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which was responsible for mass killings of Polish citizens in 1943-44. The tragic events are known as Volhynian slaughter in Poland.

“I realized that Ukraine has no concern for Polish people. I am talking about what happened in Volhynia, the slaughter of 100,000 Poles by the UPA,” the ex-general said.

There are unconfirmed reports of the contemporary UPA taking responsibility for the recent spate of assassinations in Kiev of opponents of the Maidan government.

Some Poles are having second thoughts.

RT
Polish general ‘calls back support’ of Ukraine over nationalist glorification

But there is also this from Red Pill Times:

From the minute the Euromaidan broke out, Poland was super active in supporting the coup and the illegal putsch government formed thereafter. I was always left wondering why is Poland so crazy in love with Kiev, especially a Kiev government that was openly nazi oriented.

The reason all comes down to land and money.

Poland (a country devastated by nazi ideology, and Ukraine “Bandera” genocide) is now the number one supported of a Bandera/Nazi government in Ukraine, so as to take back land lost as a result of WW2 Nazi aggression.

I don't know that this is the prime driver of Polish support for the Ukrainian Maidan, since Poland is pretty Russophobic. But it is a factor with considerable historical background that is well known to the people there.

Poland supports Ukraine in order to take back land it lost in WW2. EU wheels already in motion to make it happen

Alexrpt

Victoria Parsons — Poland’s Complicity in CIA Torture and Rendition Confirmed as European Court rejects Warsaw’s Appeal

The European Court of Human Rights today confirmed that the Polish government was complicit in the CIA’s secretive programme of rendition, detention and interrogation. 

The Court in Strasbourg today rejected a challenge from the Polish government to a landmark ruling from last July, a decision which now makes that original judgement final.… 

Poland is the first EU member state to be found guilty of complicity in the CIA’s secret detention programme and responsible for multiple violations of the detainees’ rights.…

The European Parliament last week voted to resume investigating the complicity of EU member states in the CIA programme, in the wake of the new information revealed by the Senate’s summary.…

Global Research
Poland’s Complicity in CIA Torture and Rendition Confirmed as European Court rejects Warsaw’s Appeal

Victoria Parsons

Michel Viatteau — Poland Kicks off Unprecedented Military Spending Spree

Looking east to the bloody conflict gripping Ukraine, NATO-member Poland has kicked off an unprecedented military spending spree worth billions to overhaul its forces as Warsaw believes peace in Europe is no longer a given.…

In Euroland, this increase in military expenditure has to be paid for either by increasing taxes or cutting other spending.

Russia Insider
Poland Kicks off Unprecedented Military Spending Spree

Michel Viatteau

Wladyslaw Gulewicz — "Sworn Frenemies", or why Poland supports Ukrainian nationalism

The 21st century is picking up right where the 20th left off. [And the 20th picked up where the 19th left off and so on extending back a millennium] Let’s not forget that the proximate cause of the Maidan had nothing to do with the United States, which exploited the situation rather opportunistically. It began with an effort to bring Ukraine into EU’s (and, therefore, Germany’s) sphere of economic influence through the so-called “association agreement.” If that agreement would not be signed by a democratically elected government of Ukraine, it would be signed by one brought into power by Ukrainian nationalists, while Germany “looked the other way”… So it would be entirely to simplistic to blame the Ukraine solely on the Obama administration (though it had played a very destructive role as well). Certain European powers, including Germany and Poland, had their hand in it too, not because "Washington made them do it," but because of their own long-standing political and economic interests.

History lesson in European nationalism and why it is so dangerous. Most Americans don't understand this since it is foreign to their way of the thinking and their history and cultural aspirations. As a result the US is blithely wandering into a snake invested swamp unawares. The snakes are the demons of history that live in people's mind as cultural memories and aspirations.

Fort Russ
"Sworn Frenemies", or why Poland supports Ukrainian nationalism
Wladyslaw Gulewicz
Translated from Polish by J.Hawk

See also

Europe, not Russia, Pressed Kiev over EU Association – ex-Ukrainian PM

“I’ve never heard neither Putin nor Medvedev saying that if you sign an agreement with the EU, you’ll have a different government. But I’ve heard [EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, Stefan] Fule, repeatedly saying that if you don’t sign then the other government will sign it,” Azarov said at the presentation of his book ‘Ukraine at a crossroads. Prime Minister’s notes’ in Moscow. 

The decision to delay the signing of the association agreement by then-Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, led to Euromaidan protests in the capital, Kiev, which turned violent and resulted in a regime change in February 2014.