cafebabel.com

Poland, Lithuania, Romania: inside Europe's Guantanamo Bays

('Ems_8674',) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:00:00 -0000

A white horse struggles to drag itself along after abandoning the exhausted body of Vincent Gallo through the snow. The animal is soiled with human blood. Such is the breathtaking epilogue of Essential Killing, the latest feature length film from Jerzy Skolimowski, where the American actor portrays a Taliban deported to a secret CIA base hidden in a forest in Mazovie, Poland. In the screenplay by the Polish writer, the prisoner still has the possibility to escape. Terrorist suspects who land in total secrecy in the airport of Szymany in Poland do not have such luck. An investigation ensues.

Kaczynski crash investigation: Russia blames Poland, Poland sees red

('Sarah Hartley',) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:30:00 -0000

Scandal, mockery, insult. These were the words with which millions of Poles greeted the official report by Russian investigators on the crash of the Polish presidential aeroplane, made public on 12 January. The Russians see Poland as solely to blame for the accident. Warsaw is not issuing denials, but claims the investigation is incomplete

Flying coffins and Polish president plane crash: in search of answers

('Sarah Truesdale',) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:30:00 -0000

Russia and Poland have announced they are taking control of the Polish president Lech Kaczyński’s plane crash under their control. The shared investigation is one of many rapprochement strategies between the two countries, But more than six months after the investigation of the Polish national tragedy began, will the Russians be as transparent as they promised?

World's tallest jesus and crossing out secularism in Poland

('Ems_8674',) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:30:00 -0000

Every country has its own vision of secularism.In late November, a 51-metre Jesus Christ statue was erected in western Poland, 14 metres taller than its colleague in Rio de Janeiro. Though privately funded, the Polish state is still looking for that perfect balance between sacrum and profanum in the public domain - takes its various crossings with the cross

Poland: 'Cold Lech' beer slogan controversy

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Not a good idea to advertise a beer near the Polish Pantheon of Krakow. Especially if said beer has the same name as a Polish former president lying 'cold' in his grave in the Polish pantheon. It certainly gave the opposition party the jitters

Polish elections: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, hamster candidate

('Katharina Kloss',) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:34:15 -0000

A second Kaczynski mandate would be going back to the Middle Ages, warns Artur Kurasinski, owner of Polish new media agency Revolver Interactive. He brings politically incorrect 'hamsters' back to life on his 2005-launched website chomiks.com. The presidential elections take place on 20 June, after late incumbent Lech Kaczynski was killed in April

Polish people: 'united in diversity' in Vilnius

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:14:37 -0000

It wasn't the economic weakness of the crisis but the ideological one that harmed Europe most. Who wanted to be be part of the dominoes in the name of solidarity? Unfortunately, the dominoes of each member state provoked nationalist reactions. The region comprising the Lithuanian capital is one of the fewest cities where two nations claim to be at home

Lech Kaczynski laid to rest next to kings

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:57:52 -0000

Images of mourning in Poland which circulated the international media revealed one quite unexpected crack. After Lech Kaczynski’s family chose Wawel Castle in Krakow to be the president's last resting place, many citizens were outraged. Can you imagine French president Nicolas Sarkozy being laid to rest next to Napoleon in the Invalides? Or Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi finding peace in Rome’s Pantheon?

President dead: what political future for Poland?

('Dave Keating',) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:16:51 -0000

An election for a new president will need to be held in sixty days, but it’s hard to see how Polish society can pull itself together so quickly since their top illuminaries were largely killed in a plane crash on 10 April. Extract from cafebabel.com's Belgium-based American blogger 'Gulf Stream Blues'

Young Poles react: Lech Kaczynski death, 'second Katyn tragedy'

('Hanna Sankowska',) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:13:38 -0000

In the same place where the Polish elite was executed 70 years ago, a new Polish elite dies in a horrid aircrash, that leaves Poles at home and abroad in a state of shock. Young Poles across Europe help demystify the tragedy

News: Polish president Lech Kaczynski dies

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:54:06 -0000

Smolensk, Russia. The Tupolev crashed one morning in April, the 10th. Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and other high-figuring state officials were amidst 88 passengers and eight crew members who died instantly. Having tried to land amidst bad fog, the presidential plane hit the trees on the fourth attempt which tore the jet up

Mandatory chemical castration for paedophiles in Poland

('Annie Rutherford',) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:16:55 -0000

On 22 October, the Polish senate decided on more severe punishments for sex offenders, with only one abstention. Chemical castration already exists as an option for sex offenders in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Sweden, and, more controversially, in the Czech Republic

Tories, Klaus and Kaczyński: EU 'three kings' vs Lisbon treaty

('euro topics',) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:55:20 -0000

The eurosceptic Pole Lech Kaczyński plans to sign the EU reform document in the next few days, Czech president Václav Klaus refuses and British conservative leader David Cameron again promises his country a referendum if he is elected prime minister in 2010 and the treaty has still not taken effect. The Irish, Czech, German and Hungarian press react

Europe 70 years after the outbreak of WWII

('euro topics',) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:55:02 -0000

The German invasion of Poland seventy years ago on September 1, 1939, marked the start of world war II. The repercussions of the war are still felt across Europe today. The Estonian, Austrian, British and Portuguese media comment

Poland in mourning after Kamien Pomorsk hostel fire

('Marysia Amribd',) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:41:11 -0000

On 12 April, a terrible tragedy at a hostel fire in a northwestern Polish town killed 21 people, including 13 children, whilst 23 still remain missing

Palikot, Berlusconi, Sarkozy - politicians sin

('Lydia Bigos',) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:00:54 -0000

Impulsive, inappropriately affectionate, big heads - are politicians full of virtue? Videos

Poles vote abroad in early elections

('Natalia Sosin',) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:00:00 -0000

More than 170, 000 Poles voted abroad in parliamentary elections last Sunday, 21 October. Why did they care? 'We want to go back some day', most said. 'And we want to have something to come back to.'

Nationalism = 'Kaczinski' in Euro-speak

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:00:00 -0000

On the eve of the Intergovernmental Conference, Poland is still raking up the past

Brown, Sarkozy and gang - sceptic fantastics

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Is Europe increasingly Eurosceptic as with the arrival of a new generation of new leaders?

Mission: Possible – Germany and Poland before the summit

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:00:00 -0000

The current crisis between Berlin and Warsaw cannot last – Germany and Poland have too many common interests to make a prolonged dispute worthwhile

In the house of my daughter

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 02:00:00 -0000

In a War Veterans Retirement Home in Warsaw, from among the relics of the past, people are building a present free of a future

My beloved Poland

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 02:00:00 -0000

Many Poles have been forced into exile over the centuries, often because of the sufferings endured by their motherland. This has created a veritable diaspora - both multifaceted and influential.

Poland risks isolation in Europe

('Morag Young',) — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 12:16:00 -0000

The election of the conservative and nationalist Lech Kaczynski as President, coupled with the minority government’s possible coalition with the extreme right, has put Poland’s EU future at risk.

Weak election campaign in Poland

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 01:09:00 -0000

Poland is electing a new parliament on September 25 and a new president two weeks after that. But attention is more focused on the past than the future, as the resignation of the left-wing presidential candidate, Cimoszewicz, shows.

Bronislaw Geremek: an interesting past, an exciting future

('Piotr Kaczy\xc5\x84ski',) — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 18:58:00 -0000

A history professor and Polish freedom fighter who climbed the ranks to become a candidate for the European Parliamentary Presidency, there’s more to Bronislaw Geremek than meets the eye.