President Trump In Poland 'The West WIll Not be Broken'

President Trump received a warm and enthusiastic welcome when he spoke spoke in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd at Krasinski Square at the Royal Castle in Warsaw at the foot of a statue commemorating the 1944 Polish uprising against German occupiers. He and first lady Melania Trump laid a wreath at its base.

The Polish crowd greeted President Trump with the sort of warmth and enthusiasm the president gets at his rallies, with repeated chants of 'Donald Trump' and 'USA!'

 

And what President Trump had to say to them was almost Churchillian:



Here's a brief excerpt:

"Each generation must rise up and play their part in [their culture's] defense. Every foot of ground and every last inch of civilization is worth defending with your life.

Our own fight for the West does not begin on the battlefield, it begins with our minds, our wills, and our souls. Today, the ties that unite our civilization are no less vital and demand no less defense than that bare shred of land on which the hope of Poland once totally rested.

Our freedom, our civilization, and our survival depend on these bonds of history, culture, and memory, and today as ever Poland is in our heart and its people are in that fight.

Just as Poland could not be broken, I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever, be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph."

Trump's words had particular impact in this time and place. Poland has always been in the forefront of defending the West, whether is was the Mongols, the Ottoman hordes, the Nazis or the Soviets. The monument in Krasinski Square commemorates a heroic Polish uprising against the Nazis in 1944 that saw something like 200,000 people murdered, almost all of them civilians and Warsaw razed to the ground.

And Poland, since its liberation from the Evil Empire has always been a firm U.S. ally, even sending its soldiers to fight at our side in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their reward, of course, was to be betrayed by Barack Hussein Obama and denied them the anti-missile protection they were promised. To add insult to injury, President Obama's announcement came on September 17th, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of eastern Poland during World War II in collaboration with the Nazis.

When Polish President Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, Solidarity leader Anna Walentynowicz,Poland's National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek, Army chief of staff General Franciszek Gagor were killed in a tragic and somewhat mysterious airplane crash over Russian territory, President Obama almost alone among world leaders declined to attend the funerals.

In another context, Trump's appearance in Poland and at the Three Seas summit* marks a major change in the relationship with what former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld presciently referred to as 'New Europe and the United States. What we're talking about is brand new, stronger ties to the Visograd nations and the Balkan countries.

Aside from the obviously much warmer and friendlier climate with a key ally, President Trump put three very important cards on the table:

• Poland and very likely Czechoslovakia and other Visograd nations are going to finally be able to purchase U.S. Arms, particularly missiles and missile defense elements. And security cooperation is going to be vastly improved.

• President Trump reaffirmed his iron clad commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, that an attack on one signatory would be considered an attack on all.

• Poland just received its first shipment of American liquid natural gas. Remember the war between Russia and Georgia? As I pointed out in the story linked above, one big reason for Russia's aggression had nothing to do with South Ossetia but with energy. Russia's biggest 'persuader' when it comes to Europe is the Kremlin's monopoly on the energy export routes to the West from the old parts of its former Soviet empire. The one part the Russians didn't control was the oil and gas pipeline that leads from energy-rich Azerbaijan to Turkey, across Georgia...and it's notable that the Russians bombed it as well as the Georgian port of Poti, neither of which is anywhere near South Ossetia. What President Trump is talking about here is removing a key element of blackmail from Russia's arsenal by all by guaranteeing an alternate supplier to New Europe. And as you'll hear in the joint news conference below, Poland's conservative President Duda has hopes of making Poland a trading corridor for U.S. energy and goods to the rest of the Visograd and Three Seas nations.

• And finally, President Trump is signalling support for New Europe in defying Germany and Angela Merkel on Muslim migrants and even remaining in the EU itself if it comes to that. A recent poll revealed that 70% of the Poles would rather leave the EU that be bullied into importing the same kind of chaos Germany, France, the UK and Sweden among others have brought into  their countries.

Before the speech, President Trump held a joint press conference early Thursday morning in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda.(skip ahead to 51:53 for the actual joint press conference)

I particularly like the part where some idiot U.S. 'journalist' tries to once again tries to resurrect  the old story about Russia hacking the election, and wasn't the president going to admit that? After all, hadn't 17 U.S. intelligence agencies all come to the same conclusion?

President Trump's reply was a gem.He patiently explained that maybe Russia was involved, but it might also have been at least five other countries. And he also let her in on the fact that it was only three intelligence agencies  that thought Russia was involved, although there was no real evidence yet. And a lot of what he called her 'compatriots' had already had to apologize and correct their stories.And then he lowered the boom...

"Here's the question I want the answer to. The CIA told president Barack Obama that there was a possibility of Russian hacking in the election back in August.  Now th eelection was in Novemeber. That's a long time,but he never did anything about it. Why? His people say he choked, but I think it was because he was sure Hillary was going to win the election and he didn't want to disturb anything."

The reporter immediately blurted out a follow up again insisting that Trump say that Russia was responsible, so President Trump  calmly repeated his answer.

Now as you'll see in the video, President Duda had told the press beforehand that there would only be four questions because he and President Trump had to be at Krasinski Square for the ceremony, but this woman paid no attention, which didn't exactly make her popular with the other reporters. She said pretty much the same thing again, after which President  Trump and President Duda exchanged a brief, weary smile , President Duda made slight gesture and the harridan's microphone was cut off so the two men could leave for a far more important task.  




* The Three Seas summit, convened by the presidents of Poland and Croatia, involves nations situated between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas and is designed to strengthen trade and economic ties and energy platforms as well as address joint national security. Most of the nations involved have refused to obey German Chancellor Angela Merkel's diktat to open their country's borders to more Muslim 'refugees.' Many of these countries, like Poland have Euroskeptic governments.President Trump's appearance there after his speech was a major coup for the Poles   and  an excellent opportunity for a lot of the leaders of New Europe to meet President Trump forth first time, a vastly different leader than his predecessor.

Now, it's off to the G-20 summit in Germany, where President Trump is, shall we say, far less popular. and of course, a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin for the first time.  Alpha male meets Alpha male!

US Pressures Israel Out Of $13B Contract For Missile Sales To Poland

Israel has been forced by U.S. pressure to bow out of a contract worth $13 billion to build a missile defense system for Poland.

The Poles were interested in buying David's Sling, manufactured at Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It is an advanced system designed to shoot down heavy rockets and cruise missiles using interceptor missiles.

Since the system uses missiles that  are produced by Raytheon, a U.S. company, the U.S. quietly exercised  an 'export veto'  to force Israel to withdraw and allow Raytheon to get the lucrative contract.

Israel apparently went along with the veto even though Rafael is capable of producing its own interceptor missiles, according to what one of my Notorious Little Birdies told me. Based what a source identified as an Israeli defense official told Reuters, Israel's Rafael will be allowed to have a lesser role in a future U.S.-led arms sale to Poland.

"The Americans will be happy, the Poles will be happy, and there'll be something left over for us," he said.


Why is this story important? I just want the usual Israel haters who whine about 'all that money the U.S. gives Israel' to see some of what that $3 billion, almost all of which is spent here in the U.S. on American weapons buys.

Nor is this the only time this has happened.

Now you know one reason why America's alliance with Israel is one of the greatest U.S. foreign policy bargains in history.

Obama Apologizes To Poland

President Obama finally decided to man up and apologize to the Polish people for his insultingly ignorant gaffe Wednesday:

President Obama has penned a letter of apology expressing "regret" over using the phrase "Polish death camps" in a ceremony earlier this week, which has drawn heavy criticism from Polish officials.

"In referring to 'a Polish death camp' rather than 'a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland,' I inadvertently used a phrase that has caused many Poles anguish over the years and that Poland has rightly campaigned to eliminate from public discourse around the world," Obama wrote in a letter released by the Polish government. "I regret the error and agree that this moment is an opportunity to ensure that this and future generations know the truth."

My sources, including one at the local Polish Consulate told me that they were swamped with calls and e-mails of support from Americans who like me, were appalled at President Obama's ignorant remark and his attempt to sluff it off. I wouldn't be surprised if the White House received a lot of feedback on this as well.

Of course, I can only speculate whether the way this polled ( and in an election year, no less) had anything to do with President Obama's about face. But I commend him for doing the decent thing, for once.

You don't blame a rape victim for what happened when she was helpless.

White House Shrugs Off Poland's Apology Demand For Obama's Holocaust Gaffe

Predictably, the Obama White House simply shrugged off Polish demands for an apology from the president after his insulting reference to 'Polish Death camps' in a speech.

As I reported earlier, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk was livid over the insult, which is just the latest instance of shameful treatment by the Obama Administration of one of our best allies in Europe. “We can’t accept such words in Poland, even if they are spoken by a leader of an allied country,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told journalists in Warsaw today. “Saying Polish concentration camps is as if there was no German responsibility, no Hitler.”

"I am convinced that our American friends can today allow themselves a stronger reaction than a simple expression of regret from the White House spokesman -- a reaction more inclined to eliminate once and for all these kinds of errors," Tusk said.

Members of Poland's Jewish community, including the country's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said in a statement that: "We expect President Barack Obama to personally correct his words."

Remember back during the 2008 campaign, when candidate Obama and his lackeys in the media were railing about 'Cowboy Bush' who had ruined our foreign relations with our allies and how President Obama in his awesomeness was going to make it all better?

From Poland, to Israel, to the UK, to Canada,to Japan, to Latin America, President Obama has, through cluelessness, elementary protocol gaffes, seemingly deliberate insults and amateurish foreign policy ticked off most of our allies while appeasing our enemies and being abused by them like a $5 street hooker.

This is just the latest example.

Let me say this to my Polish readers...for what it's worth, I apologize for our clueless, ill mannered president.Please keep in mind that most Americans value how good an ally Poland has been, and we hope to re-establish our relationship once he's swept into the dumpster of history.

Poles Livid Over Obama Insult, Demand Apology

President Obama put his foot in his mouth again. Big time.

The occasion was the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a unique and heroic individual, Jan Karski.

After the joint Nazi and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, Karski, a Polish officer, collected evidence of exactly what the Germans were doing in Poland at places like Auschwitz and risked his life to bring it to British PM Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt in 1943. His evidence included proof of the extermination of the Warsaw Ghetto, and he and others urged the allies to slow up the carnage by taking steps like bombing the railway leading to Aushchwitz-Birkenau. Roosevelt declined to do so, even though other targets in the area not related to the death camps were bombed by the allies.

In his speech, President Obama made reference to 'Polish death camps', something that deeply insulted the Poles, who lost 6 million people to the Nazis, half of them Jews.

The Polish government has been engaging in a campaign to correct errors like this in the media for over a decade.

“We can’t accept such words in Poland, even if they are spoken by a leader of an allied country,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told journalists in Warsaw today. “Saying Polish concentration camps is as if there was no German responsibility, no Hitler.”

“The president misspoke -- he was referring to Nazi death camps in German occupied Poland,” Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement. “We regret this misstatement.”

So much for President Obama being, in his own words, "a student of history."

The text of Obama’s remarks on the White House website has yet to be corrected as of today.

“The White House will apologize for this outrageous mistake,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on his Twitter account. “It’s a shame that such a momentous ceremony has been overshadowed by ignorance and incompetence.”

Part of what's going on has been the Obama Administration's shameful treatment of one of our best allies in Europe.

The Poles have always appreciated that it was President Reagan's support for solidarity and his work with the Pope that played a major part in destroying the Evil Empire that enslaved them, and Poland's joining of NATO in 1999 only cemented the close ties.

The Poles, like many other ex-Soviet colonies, saw the US as the ultimate protector of Poland's independence from Russian imperialism, something that strikes a deep historic chord in Poland.

It was Poland who was one of a trio of US allies, along with Britain and Australia, who sent troops to take part in the invasion of Iraq.

The Poles and the Czech Republic took a major risk of antagonizing Russia during the Bush Administration by signing on to President Bush's missile defense system in 2008 and allowing bases in their countries.

Their reward was to be unceremoniously sold out by President Obama, who repudiated the agreement in exchange for a Russian 'reset' that was supposed to include additional Russian assistance with Iran but ultimately netted absolutely nothing..since the Russians already had what they wanted and could afford to sit back and chuckle at our naive and clueless president behind his back. And in an amazing display of ignorance and insensitivity, the announcement that the US was leaving the Poles and Czech twisting in the wind came on on September 17th, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of eastern Poland during World War II in collaboration with the Nazis.

When Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, the Polish First Lady, and 94 other senior officials died in a tragic and somewhat mysterious plane crash in Smolensk, Russia back in 2010, President Obama claimed he was unable to attend the funeral..and was later caught out on the golf course.

If the Poles seem like they're being far too critical, all one has to do is look at the record. These scripted remarks, read off the president's teleprompter are merely the latest in a series of insults to an ally that merits far better.

If nothing else, it merits a heartfelt apology from the president, not a formulaic statement of 'regrets' delivered by one of his spokesmouths.

The Fruits Of The Obama Doctrine - Poland Distances Itself From The US

With all the headlines over President Obama's contretemps with Israel, one item that was barely noticed here in America but was noticed much more in Europe was Poland's ex-Solidarity leader Lech Walesa snubbing President Obama and declining to meet with him during President Obama's brief stopover in Poland.

While President Obama will undoubtedly get a polite and friendly reception in Poland, Walesa's feelings on the matter are a lot more indicative of what's really going on. In contrast to Bush Administration, which went out of its way to cultivate a warm relationship with Poland and what ex-SecDef Donald Rumsfeld referred to as 'New Europe', the Obama Administration has essentially them overboard in favor of appeasing the Russians and 'pushing the reset button.'

The Poles in particular had always been close to America. They understood that it was President Reagan's support for solidarity and his work with the Pope that playeda major part in destroying the Evil Empire that enslaved them, and Poland's joining of NATO in 1999 only cemented the close ties.

The Poles, like many other ex-Soviet colonies, saw the US as the ultimate protector of Poland's independence from Russian imperialism, something that strikes a deep historic chord in Poland.

It was Poland who was one of a trio of US allies, along with Britain and Australia, who sent troops to take part in the invasion of Iraq.

The Poles and the Czech Republic took a major risk of antagonizing Russia during the Bush Administration by signing on to President Bush's missile defense system in 2008 and allowing bases in their countries.

Their reward was to be unceremoniously sold out by President Obama, who repudiated the agreement in exchange for a Russian 'reset' that was supposed to include additional Russian assistance with Iran but ultimately netted absolutely nothing..since the Russians already had what they wanted, and could afford to sit back and chuckle at the president behind his back. And in an amazing display of ignorance and insensitivity, the announcement that the US was leaving the Poles and Czech twisting in the wind came on on September 17th, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of eastern Poland during World War II in collaboration with the Nazis.

To add insult to injury, when Polish President Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, Solidarity leader Anna Walentynowicz,Poland's National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek, Army chief of staff General Franciszek Gagor were killed in a tragic and somewhat mysterious airplane crash over Russian territory, President Obama did not attend, claiming problems with an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. But the presidents of Russia, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Georgia along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Horst Koehler,French President Nicolas Sarkozy,Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Norway’s King Harald V and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves,Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, Slovakian President Ivan Gasparovic,Slovenian President Danilo Turkand and South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan all attended and managed to make it in somehow.

The Poles, in consequence, have distanced themselves from the US to a degree. The new administration of Prime Minister Donald Tusk is noticeably more deferential to Russia, who supplies all its oil, and to Germany, one of its chief economic and trading partners.

The Poles simply realize that with President Obama in the White House, a US alliance is not quite what it was, and other countries in the region with the same realization have joined together in a military alliance outside of NATO known as the Visegrád Group, consisting of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The Visegrád Group ( named after a Hungarian castle where the leaders of the medieval kingdoms of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia met in the 14th century to try and put together a similar alliance) has actually been in existence since 1991 after the Cold War. What's different, and almost revolutionary is that for the first time, these countries have agreed to make it a military alliance as well, with Poland, the largest and most prosperous of the four in command.

The decision to create a joint military command is of major significance and shows exactly how these countries now evaluate NATO and the strength and resolve of the man in the White House.

I would not be at all surprised to see other nations join in. Serbia comes immediately to mind, as does Lithuania, but Bulgaria and Romania are possibilities as well if the Hungarians and Romanians ever settle their inherent differences over borders and tensions over the Hungarian minority living in Romania.

This bodes well for members of the Visegrád Group who are showing great wisdom in taking the initiative to provide for their own common defense. It does not bode well for the United States, burdened with leadership that adheres to the Obama Doctrine - disrespecting and distancing itself from its allies while appeasing America's enemies.

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Too Much Ice, Not Enough Vodka

Michal Kawolski had been drinking with pals at the Polish port of Gdansk and came up with a briliant/stupid drunken idea( is there any other kind?).....'Hey, I bet that ice floe in the harbor is strong enough to hold me up.'

"We dared him to do it and it seemed like a good idea after a few hours of drinking," said one friend. I'll bet.

Then the ice floe broke away from the shore and Kowalski floated out to sea, still clutching a bottle of vodka. And Kowalski's buddies started laughing even harder.

"There was a loud crack and then he started to float away. We thought it was funny at first but then he started to scream for help."

Kawolski's buddies ran over to the local Coast Guard station, who had already spotted Kowalski bobbing past one of their observation posts.

"He had drifted about a kilometre out to sea by the time we got him. But we were able to get him to safety and he spent the night in hospital being treated for hypothermia," said coastguard spokesman Captain Adam Taflinski.

Definitely too much ice and not enough vodka.Or something.

So tell me...what's the dumbest thing you've ever done while drunk?

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Poland's President , Wife And Over 90 Dignitaries and Staff Killed In Plane Crash

Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, Solidarity leader Anna Walentynowicz,Poland's National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek, Army chief of staff General Franciszek Gagor were among the dead after their plane crashed on approach to Smolensk airport in western Russia.

The president, his wife and the delegation were on their way to a memorial service for the victims of the 1940 Katyn Forest massacre in which thousands of Polish prisoners of war taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland were murdered by the Soviets. The dead were primarily military officers, but included intellectuals, policemen, and others the Soviets though might pose problems for their planned domination of the Soviet's slice of Poland, part of Stalin's deal with Hitler.

The Soviet Union and Russia continued to deny the massacres until 1990, when they finally admitted to the massacre as well as the subsequent cover-up. However, they have refused to classify the Katyn Massacre as a war crime as the Poles wanted, because that would have forced the prosecution of surviving perpetrators.some of whom were apparently fairly well connected.

Details of how the crash happened are fairly murky. The official story is that pilot error is to blame, after the pilot of the 20-year-old TU-154 reportedly turned down the opportunity to land at an alternative runway in thick fog. Witnesses said the pilot made three or four attempts to land and then failed to make it to the runway on the last attempt, but hit the treetops of some nearby woods, tearing the plane apart.

This strikes me as odd because a pilot good and experienced enough to be flying the presidential plane doesn't seem to be likely to have taken the risk of an attempted a landing in fogged in conditions. Could you imagine the pilot of Air Force One doing it with the president and First Lady aboard?

It's worth considering that Polish President Kaczynski was a firm US ally, at least until Obama essentially hung the Poles out to dry on missile defense.

It's also worth considering Russia's history of attempting to dominate Poland, which it has always considered part of its empire.

It would be one of history's ironies if the Polish leadership, on the way to hold a memorial for the victims of one Russian attempt to eliminate Polish leadership to make dominating Poland easier were the victims of a modern version of the Katyn Forest Massacre.

That bit of speculation aside, My friend Bill over at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion wonders whether President Obama is going to attend the funeral for President Kaczynski and the other crash victims:

Undoubtedly, this will be a monumental event with dignitaries from around the world, and millions of people in the streets.

The statement issued by Obama today was appropriate.

Obama needs to attend the funeral for the leader of a nation which has fought beside us in Iraq and Afghanistan, and whose people have a special affinity for the United States because of our shared history of opposing communism.

I expect Obama to do the right thing as the President of this country. If he can fly to Copenhagen on short notice to try to win the Olympics for Chicago, he can fly to Warsaw to help bury a true friend of the United States.

I think it's far more likely Obama will palm the job off on Hillary or Joe Biden, but I'm certainly willing to be pleasantly surprised.

And for the resilient Polish people who have made numerous sacrifices for their freedom, my sincere condolences on this horrible, horrible tragedy.

UPDATE: Color me pleasantly surprised. According to the AP Robert Gibbs says Obama will attend the funeral.

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