Because Poland

[futon]

 

[urbanoid]

On 10/12/2023 at 1:00 PM, sunday said:

Any comments by our Polish members on this?

 

We have a complicated command structure : President>MoD and then:

General Commander of (Branches of) Armed Forces - general oversight, training
Operational Commander of (Branches of) Armed Forces - operational command
Chief of General Staff > planning for training, education, modernisation of the armed forces etc.

There's been a spat several months ago between MoD and operational commander when MoD accused him of not informing him about the Russian missile that entered Polish airspace and eventually landed deep inside our territory. The operational commander had the paper trail to prove it was bullshit, i.e he refused to serve as a scapegoat. Chief of staff has backed him up. Seemingly the president patched things up, but since then MoD started meddling in the already complicated structure. Allegedly the intel that should have found its way to operational command found its way to general command instead, the command of operations that should have been headed by operational command also was being given by MoD to the general command instead. 

The general commander Kukuła was the only one of the high commanders not in conflict within the MoD, before his promotion he was the commander of the Territorial Defense (which btw. in our structure is subjected directly to the minister of defense and not to any of the 'high commanders') and he mostly was promoted by the current (departing) government (first star 2016, second 2018, third 2021, fourth 2023). There was quite a lot of criticism about his nomination (president was reportedly rather unhappy about it, though he accepted it), as he has never commanded large units, he was a colonel with the special forces.

Going back to Andrzejczak (CoS) and Piotrowski (Operational Commander) - their grievances against MoD were justified. At the same time the timing of their resignations just days before the elections was obviously premeditated and had political motive. Nothing wrong with that, it looks like it was supposed to be a protest against MoD's meddling in command structure and playing political games in an area that should be free from them. 

[sunday]

Thanks, that became quite clear.

[BansheeOne]

Okayyy ...

 

[Murph]

Is he nuts?  Or on something?

[Ssnake]

Is that a serious question?

[BansheeOne]

What drama!

Quote

Jailed former Polish government minister announces hunger strike

JAN 10, 2024

One of the former government ministers jailed yesterday for abuse of power has announced a hunger strike, declaring himself to be a “political prisoner”.

Mariusz Kamiński – who served as interior minister and minister in charge of the security services in the Law and Justice (PiS) government that lost power last month – was detained along with his former deputy minister Maciej Wąsik in the presidential palace yesterday evening following a day of drama.

The pair were in December handed two-year prison sentences but remained at liberty until this week, when a court ordered them to be taken to jail. After being detained yesterday evening, they were transported to a remand centre in Warsaw.

This morning, associates of Kamiński and Wąsik from the national-conservative PiS party held a press conference in front of the offices of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, at which they read a statement by Kamiński announcing his hunger strike.

“I treat my conviction…as an act of political revenge,” wrote the former minister. “Therefore, as a political prisoner, I am starting a hunger protest from the first day of my imprisonment.”

He demanded the release of himself, Wąsik and two other former figures from the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) who were also convicted in the same case.

The quartet were found to have acted unlawfully during an investigation into a corruption scandal at a time when Kamiński led the CBA under a previous PiS government that was in power from 2005 to 2007. Their actions included ordering illegal surveillance and the production of fake documents.

They were initially convicted in 2015 but, while still appealing that conviction, they were issued with pardons by President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally. He did so one day after Kamiński had been appointed as a minister in a new PiS-led government that remained in power until last month.

However, last year a chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that those pardons were invalid because they were issued before a final, binding conviction had been issued. That opened the way for Kamiński and Wąsik’s appeals to be heard in December, when the pair were given binding prison sentences.

But another top court, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), ruled that the Supreme Court has no right to question presidential pardons. Last week, a separate chamber of the Supreme Court effectively recognised the pardons as valid. Both that chamber and the TK are staffed by PiS-appointed judges.

PiS and Duda therefore argue that the pardons remain in force and that therefore December’s convictions against them should not be enforced. They claim the pair are being victimised by Tusk and judges friendly towards him because of Kamiński and Wąsik’s effectiveness in the fight against corruption.

Figures from Tusk’s ruling coalition, however, say that Kamiński and Wąsik’s actions are typical of how figures linked to PiS have violated the law and that the campaign in support of them now is simply an effort to avoid being held to account for their crimes.

“Two politicians legally convicted believe that they are above the law,” said Tusk yesterday while Kamiński and Wąsik were still holed up in the presidential palace. He warned Duda that, by helping the pair, he risked committing the crime of obstruction of justice.

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/10/jailed-former-polish-government-minister-announces-hunger-strike/

[Markus Becker]

Should Poland get nuclear weapons?

https://thespectator.com/topic/poland-get-nuclear-weapons-nato/

 

I'd be surprised if that's actually debated in Poland.

 

[urbanoid]

7 minutes ago, Markus Becker said:

Should Poland get nuclear weapons?

https://thespectator.com/topic/poland-get-nuclear-weapons-nato/

 

I'd be surprised if that's actually debated in Poland.

 

Sure it is. On twitter.

[urbanoid]

ROTFL

 

[urbanoid]

Nice to see the sentiment at least, we'll see what actions will follow.

Autotranslated:

Quote

Prime Minister: the first task of the Polish state is to protect the border

The first and most important task of the Polish state when it comes to the situation at the border is to protect this border, also against illegal migration. This is a matter of the survival of our Western civilization in general,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

During a meeting with the inhabitants of Morąg, the head of the government was asked about the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. “The first and most important task of the Polish state, when it comes to the situation at the border, is to protect this border, also against illegal migration. We will do what we have to do, so as not to break the standards and, above all, that there will be no situation that harms the essence of humanitarianism. It cannot be that people die on the Polish side of the border, in the forest,” Tusk said.

The Prime Minister stressed that his task is to ensure that “pushbacks are not needed at all”. “Pushbacks are illegal from the point of view of international law, but I will not make any decision that ill-considered will lead to our border becoming less tight than it is at the moment,” he said.

He added that the government must “fix these gaps, holes, from the visa scandal to a very non-functional fence at the border.” “But believe me, ‘and I’m also talking about it looking at what’s going on in the U.S. today — it’s a matter of the survival of our Western civilization at all. Or we will wake up and understand that we must protect our territory, our borders, that if we are open to all forms of migration without any control, our world will actually collapse. And I’m not saying that against the people who want to come here, but the truth is very brutal: according to the UN, 60 to 140 million people are planning to get to Europe in the next two years,” Tusk said.

https://radio.lublin.pl/2024/02/premier-jezeli-tysiace-ludzi-decyduje-sie-na-protest-to-nie-robia-tego-dla-przyjemnosci/

Especially liked the bit where he hinted that while pushbacks might be illegal, he's not going to be crazy about some international law.

[urbanoid]

Saw it with caption 'weakest Polish liberal'

 

[Ivanhoe]

Now that Putin has educated the world that Poland caused WWII, you better tighten the borders.

Heck, I might just start a rumor that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because of Polish intransigence.

 

[urbanoid]

8 minutes ago, Ivanhoe said:

Now that Putin has educated the world that Poland caused WWII, you better tighten the borders.

Heck, I might just start a rumor that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because of Polish intransigence.

 

Of course they did? I thought we were forgiven for that already.

On a more serious note we had intelligence cooperation throughout all of WW2, even after we declared war on them - which they rejected. Poor Poland, declares war once in 20th century, gets told off.

[Markus Becker]

15 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

Now that Putin has educated the world that Poland caused WWII, you better tighten the borders.

Heck, I might just start a rumor that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because of Polish intransigence.

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

On 2/12/2024 at 3:29 PM, urbanoid said:

Of course they did? I thought we were forgiven for that already.

On a more serious note we had intelligence cooperation throughout all of WW2, even after we declared war on them - which they rejected. Poor Poland, declares war once in 20th century, gets told off.

We'll never be over the Polish infamy;

 

[bd1]

11 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

We'll never be over the Polish infamy;

 

 

now do the same scene with polish names 

 

Edited February 14, 2024 by bd1

[urbanoid]

High level 'dialogue' between leaders of two biggest political parties in Poland.

"Apparently, President Kaczyński said today that my government is responsible for the low number of births in January. Jarosław, key decisions on this matter were made last spring - if you know what I mean."

 

 

[BansheeOne]

😄

[urbanoid]

[sunday]

That's efficiency!

[Ssnake]

The only way to make it more inefficient would be to load this on a train ferry.

[Ivanhoe]

They stole that idea from the Russian nesting dolls thing.

 

[sunday]

Truckoska!

[Ivanhoe]

5 hours ago, Ssnake said:

The only way to make it more inefficient would be to load this on a train ferry.

Drive the nesting into a Mi-26, then fly the Mi-26 to the rail yard and land on side-by-side flatcars.