Royal President

So you must forgive me, but to keep my hand on the Poland's pulse, I sneak a peek at the tabloids. And so I came across this interesting quote from a spokeswoman for President Lech Kaczynski in Super Express (in Polish). Asked why he didn't show up for a key speech by his bro Jaroslaw at the Parliament, she said: "I'm sorry, but the President doesn't have to explain his absence from the Sejm."

Now there's a solid approach. He doesn't need to stoop so low as to explain his actions as president. Nah, that's too provincial. Why would any elected official need to do that?

Freedom to Lampoon - Bush and Blair Don't Care

My sister Nicole sent me this video last night. I wouldn't usually post it, but it provides quite a contrast to how things are becoming in Poland. Could you imagine how the Kaczynski twins would react to something like this? Wasn't somebody sued for something similar? Well, enjoy.
P.S. The song is by Electric Six. Check out another video: Danger! High Voltage

Why I've Always Liked Walesa

Lech Walesa crashed and burned as a president of Poland. He should have stayed a symbol of the Solidarity movement instead of playing politics. Lech could have played a key role behind the scenes. But having said that I must say I still like the man. He is a walking quote machine. He will speak his mind in (very) down to earth terms. And so I enjoyed reading his assessment of the Kaczynski twins, who worked for Walesa while he was a president, before he fired them: "I realized they were destroying more than actually doing something constructive."

Troubled Twins

The negative reaction from foreign press to the Duck Republic continue to flow in. Latest to add its two cents, or two p's, is my favorite weekly, The Economist:

IT IS easy to argue that the Law and Justice party has done disappointingly little in the nine months since it won Poland's parliamentary and presidential elections. But in one respect it has done a lot: once a regional heavyweight, respected in America and around Europe, the country now attracts ridicule and condemnation.

The Financial Times has a more subdued feature about the Two who Stole the Moon. And the Sunday Telegraph returns to the Potato fiasco. Well, at least the Kaczynskis are keeping Poland in the headlines...

And here's something interesting: Poland is about to take over from Spain as the largest recipient of EU funds.

Duck Republic - Beginning of the End?

Is it possible that Lech Kaczynski guaranteed himself a loss in the next presidential election by swearing in his brother Jaroslaw as prime minister? According to a Friday poll, Lech has become Poland's least popular president since the fall of communism, according to Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). Of course this only means that people rate Aleksander Kwasniewski and Lech Walesa higher. But it could show that Poles are not happy with the Kaczynski vendetta-style approach to politics and the family-business approach to government. I have a feeling that this could carry over into the next election, even though it's quite a long time off.

Double the Polish Pleasure with Jon Stewart

Well, I never thought it would come to this, on so many levels. Here's a little piece from the Daily Show on the Kaczynski twins. The Duck Republic, or as beatroot puts it, the Burak Republic, conquers the world. John Stewart doing a bit on Poland. Incredible. Will the Kaczynskis now boycott the next meeting with George W. Bush?

Maybe Poland Isn't So Bad?

A few of my good friends and one person close to my heart have complained to me that I do exactly that: "Chris, you complain too much about Poland." But on one count my opinion is grudgingly shifting a little. Corruption is a huuge problem in my first homeland and I experienced it first hand while living and working in Warsaw. It was so close that it entered my family (at the time).

But now that I've covered a little bit of the federal courthouse in Chicago, I can see that this place is not too clean, either. There is George Ryan, former Illinois governor who spread work/jobs/deals around in exchange for a share of the loot. Just wrote an article on one of his buddies. There's Robert Sorich, who was in charge of giving out city jobs to often less qualified applicants as long as they were on the "blessed list" of supporters of Mayor Richard Daley. I co-wrote a story on this mess last week.

So Chicago is quite corrupt too. It's not a big surprise -- it's always been famous for it. And I'm not naive enough to think that this kind of stuff doesn't happen all around the U.S. But Chicago does have the largest Polish population outside of Poland. Coincidence? Just kidding, friends!!!

Duck Season in Poland - Markets Fall

Not that the reaction of the markets is the only indicator of sentiment, but the main index at the Warsaw stock exchange started sharply down on Monday after the news over the weekend that the Duck Republic will officially commence with the Kaczynski twins as President and Prime Minister. Stocks started down two percent. Currency down, bond yield on government debt up. Not exactly thumbs up.

UPDATE: Stocks recovered later in the day and ended a percent higher. So, looks like there was a scare, but investors collected themselves and figured, they can't do that much bad. We'll see.

Polish Visas - Chicago's Take

The Chicago Tribune is running an interesting, if not quite groundbreaking, story on the controversy over elimination of U.S. visas for Poles. It does a solid job explaining the issues, even including a few local stories about weddings or birthdays that somebody from Poland couldn't make because he/she didn't get the visa.

I have mixed feelings on this (maybe this is normal after law school). On the one hand, Poland is one of America's two best allies in Europe, and its citizens should receive a better treatment than they do now. I hear many stories about Poles going to the U.S. embassy in Warsaw or consulate in Krakow for a $100 a pop, only to be rejected. No numbers on this, but I can bet the stack of rejections greatly outnumbers those that get a visa. One more argument for dropping visa requirements. The number of Poles illegally in the U.S. is tiny compared for illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

But there are some strong counter arguments. According to some estimates, 2 million Poles have gone to work in other European countries over the last few years, becoming very large minorities in countries like Ireland virtually overnight. Two hundred thousand of my fellow countrymen have signed up to legally work in the UK just over the last two years, and who knows what the number would be if it included illegal laborers.

No wonder. Official unemployment in Poland remains high at 20 percent and something like double that among the young. The brain drain, or at least the drain of the most motivated, is tremendous. So, now that I think about it, maybe the visa requirement helps the Polish government in a bizarre way, limiting another avenue of escape for the young. Most of all, immigrant workers are a huge political time bomb in the U.S., with not many politicians wanting to look like they are taking steps to take away jobs from Americans.

In the end, I think U.S. should take away the requirement, but the chances of that are close to zero for now.

Throwing Potatoes - International Mess

Now this Potato fiasco is growing, with Reporters Without Borders, rightfully, condemning the actions by Polish President Kaczynski and his posse. If this mess wasn't so serious, I would say it's just plain ridiculous. If you can't deal with a joke or two from some foreign newspaper, how do you plan to run a country?

The freedom of speech is crucial in a democracy. Unfortunately Polish law has some remnants of the communist approach, making it illegal to "insult" an institution established under the Polish constitution. Of course it's the same constitution that ensures "the freedom to express opinions, to acquire and to disseminate information" in Article 54. And who's to say what an "insult" is? I mean, really, is saying that somebody is a "kartoffel" a serious insult? And what kind of law goes outside of its borders to persecute a foreign newspaper published in a neighboring country? Total silliness.

How far are the Kaczynski brothers and the rest of PiS from the Muslim leaders who threatened Denmark over the Mohammed cartoons? At least Mohammed established a religion. The leaders of the Duck Republic only starred in a silly communist movie back in the 1960's.

The Duck Republic

Some places have banana republics, Poland will now have the Duck Republic. The Kaczynski brothers have already been running the show for months, but with Jaroslaw now taking the PM job, he won't be able to hide behind the scenes. I'm worried and could go on about how this is far from being good news for Poland. But then I can also point out that in the time the news hit, Polish currency dropped versus the euro and dollar. Trade probably wasn't too heavy, but let's see what happens on Monday.

Cult of Free Word and Freedom of Speech

There's nothing much more scarier for a journalist than this quote from a member of Poland's ruling party, PiS:

"This cult of the free word and freedom of speech goes too far."
- Law & Justice deputy Tadeusz Cymanski

Cymanski, that paragon of free speech, was referring to a satire in a German paper that compared Polish President Lech Kaczynski to a potato. Seems like our friends on the Polish Right (also known as the Polish Wrong) are losing their minds. Now the justice ministry is supposed to check whether the paper was insulting Kaczynski. This is after papers speculated that the article could have been behind Kaczynski's last minute cancellation of a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac. Are potatoes this thin-skinned?


You really have to worry about Polish media when these kinds of examples surface. Kaczynski and PiS have already gone after their critics in the press. Instead of concentrating on some serious problems (hello unemployment, failing healthcare system), they are wasting time and resources on silly vendettas. So the justice department should investigate this German article instead of dealing with the gangs and corruption? This is just mind-boggling.

But don't let reason get in the way of this government. Just last week, coalition partner, League of Polish Families, called to take the EU flag off Polish car plates. Man, there must be nothing left to accomplish in Poland.

Jon Stewart Killing Democracy?

The king of political "comedy" may be spreading his disease. A couple political scientist say that people watching Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" catch his cynicism bug, which is bad news for the political system. People who watch his show, according to the academics, tend to be more critical of politicians and the political system and, not surprisingly, are less likely to vote.

That, of course is not surprising for a guy who sells the I'm-too-cool-to-care attitude like candy. I don't take the study too seriously, but it's ironic that Stewart had criticized real political talk shows for their combative approach to politics. Well, at least the viewers of Crossfire (RIP) were also the likely voters, not whiners.

The question, which did not seem to be answered in the Washington Post article, was whether Stewart fans tend to be more cynical than the rest of the populace, or whether they became more cynical through the "Daily effect". I'd guess it's a mix of both.

Polish Foreign Minister to Expats: You Lobby Now

In an Interview with The Chicago Tribune, new Polish foreign minister Anna Fotyga tells the expats to lobby a little harder to help with issue such as dropping a visa requirement for Polish travelers. It's an interesting strategy ahead of meetings with Rice and Cheney. So it won't be her fault if the visas stay in place? I just don't see how the House would back anything that could bring in a bunch of potential workers to the U.S. Keep in mind that about 2 million Poles had left Poland in the recent years to work around Europe.

Europe's Spruce Goose

I have been following the misadventures of the Airbus A380 mega jumbo jet over the recent months and years, amazed that the brainiacs on the Old Continent really thought this gigantic mess would ever make much/any money. In the recent months the jumbo problems with production have made me think of the Spruce Goose, the huge wooden aircraft built by Howard Hughes in the 1940's. The plane missed the war it was supposed to had been built for and flew only once, managing to rise just 70 feet over water for barely a mile (you might remember the climactic scene in the Aviator). Sure, the A380 has already surpassed that feat, but it looks like a much more colossal waste of money and resources. So far Airbus has only 159 orders for the A380 and I wouldn't be surprised to see some cancellations soon. It just shows what a huge pile of public money in the hands of proud "continentalist" politicians can do. Did anybody say Concorde?

So let's recount just a few problems:
- Huge bet on a shrinking segment
- Production problems as different parts are built in different countries
- Delivery of first planes delayed by more than a year
- Wake turbulence issues

No wonder the stock of Airbus's parent company, EADS, lost a quarter of its value just last week (it has recovered some ground). The Boeing folks here in Chicago must be overwhelmed with joy, as they grab more and more orders for the mid-size 787.

New York Times Notices Polish Government

The New York Times is running a knee-jerk reaction editorial on Poland today, complaining about its "bigoted" government. It goes through a list of complaints which makes me think that the paper has not looked at Poland for quite a while. It's basic premise is that the government is homophobic, but also suggests is anti-Semitic and just all around awful. Close, but this laundry list of problems goes nearly over the top in its bell tolling.

The NYT often helps to set the political tone in the U.S., even if the Bush administration is not exactly full of fans of the paper. So, don't be surprised if politicians start to complain about the situation in Poland any day now.

Poland Through a Train Window

Poland is still gray. That's the one impression that hits hard as I sit on a train to Warsaw after visiting my family by the Czech and German border (It's soooo damn far from Warsaw). The country, at least outside of the main cities, is still depressed (maybe the unseasonably cold weather is contributing to my mood). I am now passing through the mining region, even more depressed than most parts. Many of the buildings have not been painted for decades, it seems. Of course, just as I write this, I look out the window and see a 'makro' wholesale store and plenty of billboards. Of course, in this grayness Poland is moving forward, in many ways by leaps and bounds.


My short time with the relatives here was, as always, eye-opening. One side of my family seems to be stuck in the past, the other seems to be moving with the times. On one side, it seemed like all I heard about is their ailments, their woes, their struggles to survive from small paycheck to the next. I sympathize because they do have it rough. But even as I tried to change the subject, we just circled back to the same refrains. I love them all, but I can't take too much of this in one dose.

Many Polish families, it seems, are stuck in gray, like some of my relatives. In an opinion piece in today's edition of Polish financial daily Parkiet, Jacek Fudowicz calls many of these folks "homo sovieticus", who complain and reminisce about the past, seeming to forget how things really worked, or didn't work, under the old regime. I know some people like that, but I'm sure that my relatives, who had always opposed the communists, are not longing for the past too much. But there is this lethargy in the air among the citizens of small cities. Not only have they been thought to be passive by the pre-1989 rulers, they have also been disappointed by the corrupt and usually ineffective governments since then.

So a couple more days in Poland and then back to the U.S.

1L Hell - Over and Done

It wasn't that bad, but there were certainly some rough patches. Now the paper for my favorite class is in and I am done. Few weeks of freedom and back to school in mid June. Looking forward to meeting up with some friends I haven't seen for ages and spending time with my family early next month. You know, maybe I'll do this law thing, after all.

Exams Done, Paper to Go

Well, I have finished my exams. Wait, wait, I'm still not done with my second semester at law school. There's still a paper I have to turn in in a couple of days. So, there's some more pain on the horizon before some rest. You'd think I would enjoy writing these things because I am a journalist. But no, papers just don't provide much joy. And on top of it, I don't get paid for them and instead I go into further debt as the days go by.

This semester was certainly less rough than the first one. I had a better schedule, less demanding classes (Civil Procedure was a killer in the Fall, even though the prof was great). And when you kind of settle in and see that it's not going to be all roses so might as well accept in and enjoy life a little by coming out from behin the books does helps. This time around I took my exams spaced closer together, so it was basically: exam-study day-exam-study day... And this time I figured that last day of studying is not going to make a huge difference, so get a good outline or two and just go over the stuff that you hopefully learned in large part during the semester.


Some people out there still stress quite a bit. My fellow Northwestern blogger at Thrown for a Loop has made some interesting entries over the exam period, sometimes seeming to reach the edge of sanity. But we're all a little on the crazy side out here. I have been out in "the real world" for quite a while before coming back to school and thought I could deal with the pressure. And I have, in large part, but the stress does get to you. My sleeping hours are all out of whack (writing this after 3AM, after all) and I'm a little jumpy, perhaps because I'm drinking even more Diet Pepsi and Coke than usual. And on top of this I've been having some difficult times with a good friend, which hasn't helped.

But I'm almost finished. Now let's get this Entertainment Law done before Thursday afternoon.

Poland Up In Arms Over Russian Pipeline

Poland, always a little touchy over deals between Russia and Germany, at least since that 1939 fiasco, is quite upset over the fact that Germany still wants to go ahead with a pipeline that will take Russian gas under the Baltic Sea. This, of course, will leave their neighbor in the middle in the cold and more vulnerable to Russian whims, similarly to Ukraine and Georgia. The previous German chancellor already got rewarded for playing along with Uncle Vladimir, but looks like Angela Merkel is also not willing to drop the agreement.
The Baltic pipeline doesn't seem to make much economic sense because it will cost more to build. So what's the deal here? Hey, aren't those pesky Social Democrats in Merkel's cabinet? Oh, yeah. And never mind that Poland is now part of the EU and certainly a much more stable partner than the Russians. Good neighbors.