#president duda interview

[rightnewshindi]

रूस की पोलैंड पर हमले की आशंका के बीच जो बाइडेन से मिले राष्ट्रपति डूडा, जानें अमेरिका ने क्या कहा

रूस की पोलैंड पर हमले की आशंका के बीच जो बाइडेन से मिले राष्ट्रपति डूडा, जानें अमेरिका ने क्या कहा

Washington News: रुस-यूक्रेन युद्ध के बीच पोलैंड के राष्ट्रपति और प्रधानमंत्री के संयुक्त अमेरिका दौरे ने दुनिया का ध्यान आकर्षित किया है. पॉलिश राष्ट्रपति ने यहां यूरोप के भविष्य पर बड़ी चिंता जताई. उन्होंने कहा कि अगर पुतिन यूक्रेन जीत गए तो वो अपने युद्ध का दायरा बढ़ा सकते हैं. राष्ट्रपति आंद्रेज डूडा ने पोलैंड और अन्य देशों पर संभावित रुसी अक्रमण को लेकर चिंता जताई, जिस पर हिटलर के हमले ने…

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Conversion therapy is still thriving in Brazil

The suicide of a lesbian influencer — who was a supporter of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro — has put the spotlight on so-called ‘cures for homosexuality’ that persist, even though they have been banned for more than two decades

For a third of his life — from the age of 14 to 27 — Héder Bello, now 37, lived in purgatory.

He was engaged in a fierce fight against himself, in an attempt to stop being homosexual. He tried with all his might to eradicate the attraction he felt for other boys, something that — for himself, his family and his community — made him the personification of sin, an abominable being. He suffered every imaginable form of the so-called “gay cure,” including exorcisms, fasting, self-flagellation, prayer sessions, religious retreats, Bible readings and so-called “therapy” sessions with Christian psychologists and Evangelical pastors.

During those infernal years, the sole purpose of his life — what guided his existence — was to stop being gay. He was studying Psychology at the Fluminense Federal University, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, when a Christian psychologist offered him the definitive path forward: electroshock treatment. This scared Bello so much that it marked a turning point in his life. Today, the survivor of brutal conversion therapy is now dedicated to researching and combating practices that have no scientific basis — a phenomenon that persists in his native Brazil.

Four Brazilian therapists have lost their license to practice in the last five years for offering supposed “gay cures,” according to the newspaper O Globo. These “therapies” have been prohibited by the Brazilian Council of Psychologists since 1999. Even further back, in 1990, the WHO eliminated homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses.

When the WHO made that historic decision, Bello was still a child growing up in an Evangelical Christian family in the rural area of Nova Friburgo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. “I lived in an environment with many restrictions. Everything revolved around family, church and school,” Bello explains, in a video interview with EL PAÍS from the city of Rio, where he now lives. In his childhood universe, television, soap operas and everything outside the kingdom of God was considered diabolical. He grew up as a child dedicated to gospel music, without knowing who the TV star Xuxa was — the idol of Brazilian children of his generation, known as the “Queen of the Little Ones” — without sexual education, without knowing anyone from the LGBTQ+ community… and without even hearing the word “homosexual.”

As an adolescent, he left this bubble, when he entered public school. There, they called him “faggot” for the first time. He knew it was an insult, even though he didn’t understand it.

The recent suicide of a lesbian influencer and supporter of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has put the spotlight on conversion therapy. Weeks before her death, Karol Eller, 36, publicly announced that she was renouncing homosexuality after a religious retreat. “Family, triple your prayers for me. I renounced homosexual practice, vices and the desires of my flesh to live in Christ,” she proclaimed, in a message to her 700,000 followers. The entire Bolsonaro clan and the far right sent their condolences to the family. One of her best friends was the legislator who received the most votes in the last Brazilian elections: the ultra-conservative Nikolas Ferreira. The 27-year-old is so homophobic that he was fined for insulting the trans and left-wing deputy Duda Salabert in the Chamber of Deputies.

Continue reading.

[mariacallous]

Use of the Pegasus spyware by the previous Polish government appears to be much wider than initially suspected, according to officials in the run-up to the launch on February 19 of a parliamentary commission set up to investigate the use of such surveillance technology.

Among the many new suspected cases are journalists, one of the commission officials said.

Based on revelations by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, Polish media and a Senate commission looking into this matter, the Polish public is aware of around 10-15 cases of spying with Pegasus, some better documented and proven than others. The Senate has confirmed 14 such cases.

Among the documented cases are those of key politicians in the liberal camp, for example parliamentarian Krzysztof Brejza, who was spied on while heading the election campaign for Civic Platform, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party.

Poland is one of dozens of countries whose governments are believed to have purchased the powerful spyware from the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group and used it to spy illegally on its citizens, including opposition politicians and journalists. An international investigation led by a non-profit media organisation, Forbidden Stories, established in 2021 that it had been used against more than 50,000 phone numbers in more than 20 countries around the world.

On Monday, Tusk said during a meeting of the government with President Andrzej Duda that “the list of the victims of those practices is unfortunately very, very long”. The prime minister said he would send Duda “complete documents” about the issue.

No such list has been made public so far, and Gazeta Wyborcza reported that, based on sources in Tusk’s party, only the prime minister and a few people in his inner circle could be in possession of such a document.

In an interview with Wirtualna Polska on Wednesday, Marcin Bosacki, a Civic Platform MP and vice president of the new Sejm commission, who also headed the previous Senate one, was pressed to specify how many victims of Pegasus he was aware of in Poland.

Bosacki denied being in possession of any full list, but said that, based on his knowledge of the matter, it could include hundreds of people, out of which “over a hundred” were likely surveilled “without grounds”. The list included journalists too, Bosacki added. So far, among the known victims of Pegasus in Poland, there is only one blogger.

Bosacki explained that there were ongoing investigations about the use of Pegasus by the national prosecutor’s office as well as internally at the various intelligence agencies. Bosacki stated that the goals of these inquiries were to determine whether Pegasus was used legally at all in Poland – something he said is unlikely – as well as to identify the victims so they can be informed.

“PiS politicians I speak to on the Sejm corridors are expressing fears that Pegasus was bought, among others, to collect ‘hooks’ [to use for blackmail later] on politicians from the PiS camp itself,” Bosacki said in the interview with Wirtualna Polska.

Further new information presented by Tusk on Monday concerned the purchase of the Pegasus software, which the prime minister said was signed off on by the previous justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, himself.

It has already been established that the Anti-Corruption Agency purchased the spyware in 2017 for 25 million zloty (about 5.5 million euros) using money from the Solidarity Fund, which was established by the Ministry of Justice to support victims of violence but was later proven to be used widely to illegally channel funds to allies of the previous nationalist-populist government.

[eretzyisrael]

by Ben Cohen

‘I’m Sorry for Undermining the Pro-Palestinian Movement,’ Says Norwegian Student Who Shocked World With Antisemitic Sign

Norwegian student Marie Andersen carries an antisemitic sign at an Oct. 21 pro-Hamas demonstration in Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Screenshot

The young Norwegian woman who caused outrage around the world by carrying a viciously antisemitic placard at a pro-Hamas demonstration in Warsaw has defended her behavior in an interview with a Norwegian broadcaster, characterizing the State of Israel as “dirty” and underlining that her main regret was that the furor she generated had “undermined the pro-Palestinian movement.”

Images of Marie Andersen — a student at the Medical University of Warsaw in Poland — carrying a home-made sign showing a Star of David being dumped into a garbage can alongside the slogan “Keep the World Clean” went viral over the weekend. Polish leaders quickly condemned the display, with President Andrzej Duda saying that “any signs of [antisemitism] arouse our deep indignation” and Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski urging that anyone displaying antisemitism “should face legal consequences.”

But in an interview on Tuesday with Norway’s TV 2, Andersen defended the message behind her sign.

Asked why she had designed such a placard, Andersen replied that it “contains an Israeli flag in the bin to illustrate how dirty I think the Israeli government is, both in this warfare, but also by running an apartheid state for decades.”

During a generally sympathetic interview which at no point challenged her contention that her sign was an attack on the Israeli government and not Jews in general, Andersen said she was “sorry that the poster was not clear enough on the point that this applied to the Israeli government and did not represent any religions and is interpreted as Jew-hatred.”

Andersen also claimed that during a media interview she gave while participating in the demonstration, she had made clear “that this poster was certainly not aimed at Jews, and that we support human rights and freedom of religion is an important right.”

She went to say that she was “sorry for everyone who has been affected by this misinterpretation of the message during the demonstration. I condemn antisemitism and any hatred directed against any religion.”

Andersen concluded her remarks by emphasizing, “I also want to express that I am sorry for how this has undermined the pro-Palestinian movement.”

Despite being investigated by the Warsaw police on possible hate crime charges, Andersen said she had gone to the authorities after receiving “several thousand” hostile messages on her WhatsApp account, the details of which had been leaked without her consent, she said.

“I have been misrepresented in the media and because of this I have received death threats, rape threats, and serious sexual harassment. My family and friends have also been harassed,” she alleged.

[head-post]

Ukraine issue at NATO summit turned more toxic than ever

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration is not satisfied with the fact that the country will not receive an invitation to NATO at the alliance’s summit in Washington, Bloomberg quoted a source as saying.

NATO disappointed Zelensky again

Kyiv was not satisfied with the wording on “irreversible” accession to the alliance, which will be included in the draft declaration of the summit. Zelensky’s team is unhappy with this approach, saying that if the country wants anything, it is an official invitation to the alliance.

Ukraine has been asking the White House to lift restrictions on long-range missiles for months – in numerous meetings and phone calls with top administration officials, Politico reported.

The US has been hesitant to grant such permission for fear of provoking a military response from Russia. The US is also reportedly pressuring Kyiv to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries even if it uses its own homemade drones rather than US weapons, fearing higher petrol prices ahead of November’s presidential election.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said he plans to raise the issue again this week in meetings with administration officials, adding that the U.S. may take some more time to reach an agreement.

NATO sets new terms for Ukraine’s membership

US President Joe Biden said in several White House meetings that Ukraine had much work to do to fight corruption before it could become a member of the military bloc.

Biden also voiced scepticism about it during June talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Later, Jake Sullivan managed to secure the American president’s support on the condition that the US would add its own wording – demanding that Kyiv make “significant progress” in the fight against corruption and on the issue of “political accountability.”

At the same time, Biden agreed only to call Ukraine’s path to “Euro-Atlantic integration” irreversible, The Washington Post sources said. Eastern European countries bordering Russia and some other NATO members objected.

In the end, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “at the last minute” managed to persuade Biden to agree to tougher language on the irreversibility of Ukraine’s NATO membership, the sources told WP.

Such discussions are a sign that Biden is concerned about the risk of NATO’s hard-to-ignore corruption problems if he accepts Ukraine into the alliance before it is ready.

According to NATO diplomats, Biden’s approach is supported by Germany and some Western and Southern European countries. From the point of view of France and some Eastern European countries, which are unhappy with the US leader’s position, Biden’s conditions can be seen as a signal that NATO would prefer not to accept Ukraine at all.

Before the summit, US officials were trying to temper Kyiv’s expectations about its path to NATO membership, a senior alliance official told WP.

Washington hopes to reduce the likelihood that the Ukrainian side will again publicly express discontent, as Zelensky did last year. According to WP’s source, the Ukrainian president will be asked not to do it again.

One of the sources, a US official, told CNN that the final communique will reiterate that Ukraine’s work on democratic reforms should continue. The official said the final version of the document is expected to contain such language.

While many Europeans emphasised the need for strong language on Ukraine’s future in the alliance, US and German officials suggested describing a “bridge” to NATO membership for Ukraine. But officials also emphasised the importance of “tangible measures”, in the words of one European diplomat, to support Ukraine in the ongoing military conflict.

Granting Ukraine membership in NATO is impossible as long as the military conflict continues, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview with The Washington Times. The head of state specified that he personally intended to take new actions to include Ukraine in the alliance. Read more HERE

[jobaaj]

ALERT: NATO is preparing for war!? Poland is ready to host NATO’s nukes!! In a surprising twist that caught many off guard, Polish President Andrzej Duda made a startling revelation during a recent interview, expressing Poland's willingness to serve as a host for the nuclear arsenal of its NATO allies, considering its proximity to Russia.

But why? President Duda cited Russia’s escalating military presence in Kaliningrad and Belarus as the primary motivation behind this decision. Arvydas Anusauskas, Lithuania’s Defense Minister, became the initial high-ranking NATO figure to voice concerns regarding Russia’s nuclear deployment in both Belarus and Kaliningrad.

Both regions share borders with Poland and Lithuania as Russia was ramping up its military might along NATO’s eastern front. Thus, President Duda’s comments were in response to Russia’s military buildup near Poland’s borders. "If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready to do so," President Duda said in the interview!! Russian state media has slammed the statement as ‘destabilizing’ and ‘dangerous’ while claiming that NATO was escalating the risk of a global nuclear conflict! Is 2024 the year of World War 3? Who should India stand with?? Follow Jobaaj Stories (the media arm of Jobaaj.com Group) for more.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

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Paris: In a suprising decision, President Macron issued a decree that from now on American actor and film maker Sean Penn is forbidden to enter France ever again. For unknown reasons, Macron submitted a law proposal to the European Parliament to ban Penn forever from entering the European Union or Europe. This decision is backed by Boris Johnson and Andrzej Duda, who thinks about doing the same for Poland. In an interview, Justin Trudeau said that he thinks this is "a very good idea".

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up January 10-11, 2023

Under the cut:

Brokering a deal on a safe zone around Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is getting harder because of military involvement in talks, the head of the U.N nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday. The Soviet-era plant, Europe’s largest, was captured by Russian forces in March, soon after their invasion of Ukraine. It has repeatedly come under fire in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear disaster, Reuters reports.

Fighting is still raging in Soledar, a salt mine town in eastern Ukraine, despite Russian claims that it has gained control of the region. Should Russian troops indeed capture the town, it would mark Moscow’s first gain in the Donbas for months – potentially offering President Vladimir Putin some welcome news after a string of defeats on the battlefield since last summer. The significance of Soledar in military terms is minimal. However, its capture would allow Russian forces, and especially the Wagner mercenary group, to turn their focus on nearby Bakhmut, which has been a target since the summer.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced the delivery of a company of modern German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Duda made the announcement at a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda in Lviv on Jan. 11 as part of the “Lublin Triangle” format, the regional partnership established by the three in July 2020.

Russia’s defense minister has appointed Valery Gerasimov as commander of the Joint Group of Forces leading the country's so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. Gerasimov replaces Sergei Surovikin, who had been appointed to the role on Oct. 8, 2022, and was in charge of Russian forces during their retreat from large swaths of Ukraine’s Kherson region. Surovikin will now serve as a deputy commander, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Brokering a deal on a safe zone around Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is getting harder because of military involvement in talks, the head of the U.N nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Soviet-era plant, Europe’s largest, was captured by Russian forces in March, soon after their invasion of Ukraine. It has repeatedly come under fire in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear disaster, Reuters reports.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi said in an interview with Italian public television RAI:

I don’t believe that (an agreement) is impossible, but it is not an easy negotiation … It has become … a longer and more difficult (negotiating) table.

Grossi added the talks have become more complex as they involve not just diplomats, but military officers as well.

He said:

They are playing with fire. A nuclear accident is in nobody’s interest, not even the Russians.”-via The Guardian

~

“Fighting is still raging in Soledar, a salt mine town in eastern Ukraine, despite Russian claims that it has gained control of the region.

Should Russian troops indeed capture the town, it would mark Moscow’s first gain in the Donbas for months – potentially offering President Vladimir Putin some welcome news after a string of defeats on the battlefield since last summer.

The significance of Soledar in military terms is minimal. However, its capture would allow Russian forces, and especially the Wagner mercenary group, to turn their focus on nearby Bakhmut, which has been a target since the summer.

The town of Soledar in Donetsk has been a target for Russian forces since last May. With a pre-war population of about 10,000, it has little strategic value in itself, but is a waypoint in the Russians’ attritional slog westwards. Moscow has struggled for months to attack Bakhmut from the east, but were it to capture Soledar, Moscow would at least be able to approach the city from a different path.

The Russian armed forces have had nothing to celebrate since the beginning of July, and have had to retreat in both Kharkiv to the north and Kherson in southern Ukraine.

The capture of Soledar, despite its now-ruined state, would therefore be rare progress. But it would be symbolic rather than substantive. The Institute for the Study of War said control of Soledar “will not necessarily allow Russian forces to exert control over critical Ukrainian ground lines of communication into Bakhmut,” the larger prize.

“Even taking the most generous Russian claims at face value, the capture of Soledar would not portend an immediate encirclement of Bakhmut,” the think tank added.

But Soledar is of outsize significance to one man: oligarch and Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. His Wagner fighters, many of them former prison inmates, have taken heavy casualties with one wave after another of ground assaults across what has become a battlefield of trenches and mud reminiscent of World War I. After months in which the Russian Ministry of Defense has delivered nothing but retreat, Prigozhin is keen to show that his men deliver.”-via CNN

~

“Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced the delivery of a company of modern German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Duda made the announcement at a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda in Lviv on Jan. 11 as part of the “Lublin Triangle” format, the regional partnership established by the three in July 2020.

“A company of Leopard tanks will be provided as part of the coalition," Duda said at the press conference. A tank company generally consists of ten to a dozen tanks.

It is not clear which countries Duda had in mind with the term "international coalition." The lack of broader coordination among European partners has been consistently presented by Germany as the reason for not taking the lead with delivering Leopards.

Other European nations had previously signaled their readiness to provide the tanks, but also on condition of coordinated action between European states. On Jan. 6, Finland announced that it would be ready to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine "if Europe starts giving" them.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for U.K Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told media that Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had been given instructions by Sunak to move “further and faster with our support for Ukraine including the provision of tanks”, as reported by the Financial Times.

The only main battle tank in service in the British army is the Challenger 2, manufactured in the U.K. since 1998, of which 227 are currently in service.

On Jan 10, Politico reported that France was putting increasing pressure on Berlin to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine ahead of a Franco-German summit on Jan. 22. Poland also exerted pressure on Germany by publicly calling for a broad coalition among Western allies to hand over Leopards.

Poland currently operates around 249 Leopard 2 tanks. These vehicles were aquired over the 2000s as a replacement for the country's Soviet-era t-72 tanks, of which over 230 have already been sent to Ukraine.

At the Lublin Triangle meeting in Lviv, the three leaders discussed support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, as well as questions of Ukraine's EU and NATO integration.

As part of Lithuanian 40 million euro military aid commitment for Ukraine over 2023, Naseda announced the delivery of more air defense systems, though the exact model was not specified.

After months of negotiations, Germany announced on Jan. 5 that it would provide Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles. The United States jointly announced it would give Ukraine 50 Bradley fighting vehicles on the same day. France said it would provide light tanks.”-via Kyiv Independent

~

“Russia’s defense minister has appointed Valery Gerasimov as commander of the Joint Group of Forces leading the country's so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Gerasimov replaces Sergei Surovikin, who had been appointed to the role on Oct. 8, 2022, and was in charge of Russian forces during their retreat from large swaths of Ukraine’s Kherson region. Surovikin will now serve as a deputy commander, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.

“On 11 January 2023, Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu assigns new leadership of special military operation,” the ministry said Wednesday on its official Telegram channel.

“Chief of General Staff General of the Army Valery Gerasimov has been assigned the commander of the Joint Group of Forces,” it said.

“The deputy commanders are: the Commander-in-Chief of Aerospace Forces General of the Army Sergei Surovikin, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army General of the Army Oleg Salyukov, as well as the Deputy Chief of General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Colonel General Aleksey Kim,” it added.

The ministry said that the changes were necessary because of “the amplified range of tasks, the necessity of closer cooperation between services and branches of the Armed Forces, as well as of improving the quality of all types of maintenance and efficiency of commanding the groups of forces.””-via CNN

[beardedmrbean]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish government announced Wednesday that it is planning to deploy an additional 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus, twice the number the Border Guard agency had requested, as fears of illegal migration rise.

In an interview with state news agency PAP, a deputy interior minister, Maciej Wasik announced the decision and accused the Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal migration.

He said migration pressure on the Polish-Belarusian border area is growing, although it cannot compare to the situation two years ago.

At the time, large numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Africa arrived at the border, their travel there facilitated by flights and visas provided by the Minsk government — something Warsaw considered to be a form of “hybrid warfare.”

“If we had real border guards on the other side and not a smuggling service, these crossings would not exist at all,” Wasik said.

Polish authorities retaliated by building a tall steel wall, which has reduced the numbers of migrants and refugees crossing the border, but did not stop them entirely.

The fallout from Russia’s war against Ukraine has brought other concerns, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.

Earlier this week Belarus also began military exercises near its border with Poland and Lithuania. And last week two Belarusian helicopters flew briefly into Polish air space in what was viewed by Warsaw as a deliberate provocation.

The new troops will be an addition to the 2,000 already at the border. They support the work of hundreds of police and Border Guard officers, according to PAP.

Wasik said the new troops would reach their destination within the coming two weeks.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda announced Tuesday that Poland will hold its parliamentary election on Oct. 15. The ruling authorities that he is allied with have been trying to show voters that they are serious about security and defense as they seek a third term.

[sa7abnews]

Poland probably involved in Nord Stream blasts – ex-German spymaster

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/poland-probably-involved-in-nord-stream-blasts-ex-german-spymaster/

Poland probably involved in Nord Stream blasts – ex-German spymaster

August Hanning has claimed that there appears to have been a secret arrangement between Kiev and Warsaw

Poland was likely involved in the underwater explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, the former president of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has claimed. August Hanning also alleged that Warsaw has intentionally obstructed Berlin’s investigation into the incident. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts, which brought an end to the supply of Russian gas to Germany via Nord Stream 1 and damaged the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which had never entered operation due to EU bureaucratic setbacks. In an interview with Die Welt on Thursday, Hanning said: “The way it seems is that it was a Ukrainian team that, as per the findings of the investigation, operated there.” However, he added, “this was of course only possible with support from the land.” “When we look at the map… pretty evidently, the Polish agencies were engaged here, and I think not only agencies …I think that this was an arrangement between [people] at the top level in Ukraine and in Poland,” the former intelligence chief conjectured. 

Read more

Zelensky gave initial order for Nord Stream attack – WSJ

He alleged that Warsaw might have provided logistical support to the suspected Ukrainian saboteurs.  According to Hanning, “these are decisions that were made at the highest political level. And I think that there was an arrangement between [Ukrainian] President [Vladimir] Zelensky and [Polish] President [Andrzej] Duda to carry out this attack.” He claimed that Polish authorities let one of the suspects leave the country even though Germany had already reached out to Warsaw, requesting assistance in his capture.  Warsaw “didn’t exactly promote the probe. On the contrary, crucial findings were withheld, as I have heard from investigative circles,” Hanning told Die Welt. “In short, Poland had no interest in the success of the investigation, and this is of course due to [the fact] that Poland was massively involved in the preparation of this attack,” the former senior intelligence official claimed.  He concluded that such attacks do not happen without massive state involvement, going so far as to allege that the “Polish and… the Ukrainian military played a big role, and intelligence services as well.” On Wednesday, German state broadcaster ARD, along with the Suddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit newspapers reported that Poland, despite EU inter-state regulations, has failed to respond to Berlin’s request for cooperation after Federal Public Prosecutor Jens Rommel in June issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national identified as “Vladimir Z”. The suspect is reportedly a diving instructor who lived in Poland and had allegedly placed the explosive devices on the pipeline.

READ MORE: Germany issues first arrest warrant over Nord Stream blasts – media

Polish prosecutors confirmed that they had received the arrest warrant, but argued that the man was not detained as he had left the country by crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border, Reuters cited. Kiev officials have publicly denied any involvement in the destruction of the pipelines.

[xnewsinfo]

The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda. Archive | Photograph credit score: AP Poland's President Andrzej Duda is in China on a go to that brings the chief of a NATO member to a rustic that has backed Russia in its all-out invasion of Ukraine."I'm attempting to keep up pleasant relations with China, Poland has at all times had first rate relations with China and I would love them to proceed like this," Duda stated in a personal interview. Radio Zeta The twenty first of June.He was scheduled to fulfill Chinese language chief Xi Jinping on June 24 and has stated peace in Ukraine will probably be mentioned.Requested if he believes China holds the important thing to peace within the Russia-Ukraine battle, Duda stated: "I feel, to a big extent, sure." Whereas China says it's impartial within the preventing, it has blamed NATO enlargement for frightening Russian President Vladimir Putin into launching the invasion and has maintained sturdy commerce and diplomatic relations with Moscow. Poland borders Ukraine and has offered refuge to these fleeing the preventing and maintained a tough line in opposition to additional enlargement of Russian aggression.Duda stated he will even speak to Xi about Belarus' migration stress on the border with Poland, as a type of hybrid warfare that additionally consists of cyber assaults. Duda will even search a visa exemption for Poles touring to China and search for prospects to extend Poland's exports there, to steadiness their commerce relations.Poland's State Statistics stated 13.9% of the nation's imports final 12 months got here from China, whereas Polish exports to China have been solely a fraction of that quantity. In the course of the go to, some business agreements will probably be signed.On Wednesday, Duda will fly to the monetary heart of Shanghai to attend an financial discussion board between Poland and China.

[andronetalks]

Polish President Admits That Major Infrastructure Project Has Dual Military Purposes

Zero hedge By Tyler Durden – April 26, 2024 Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Polish President Andrzej Duda revealed in an interview that the Central Communication Port (CPK by its Polish abbreviation) transportation megaproject outside of Warsaw has dual military purposes. Read more…

[christinamac1]

Polish president: Poland ready to deploy allied nuclear weapons on its territory

by Chris York andThe Kyiv Independent, April 22, 2024 Poland is ready and willing to allow NATO allies to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published on April 22. Speaking to Fakt, Duda highlighted how Russia has already taken similar steps with its own allies, having transferred tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus last year. The…

[mariacallous]

Poland’s new foreign minister has called on European countries to boost long-term plans for military production after returning from his first foreign visit, to neighbouring Ukraine.

“Wars are not decided by tactical engagements but by industrial capacities, and we are behind the curve,” said Radosław Sikorski, in an interview in Warsaw, a few hours after returning from Kyiv on Saturday.

“As the west, we are 20 times richer than Russia, but if Russia puts its economy on a wartime footing and we continue on a peacetime basis, they can outproduce us,” he added. He said governments should offer long-term contracts to arms companies, or fund manufacturing themselves.

Sikorski, who took over as foreign minister this month, met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv on Friday. He also met prime minister Denys Shmyhal and the country’s foreign and defence ministers. His trip came at a time when the mood in Ukraine has been darkening amid battlefield fatigue, the onset of another winter, and the fear of waning support from western capitals, with major funding packages from both the EU and US blocked in the weeks before Christmas.

“It was easy to be enthusiastic for Ukraine when they were taking back territory: the real test of our patience and determination is now, when there is a stalemate,” said Sikorski.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s biggest backers since Russia’s full-scale invasion last February, motivated by its own troubled history with Russia and longstanding Polish concerns about Russian expansionism.

However, in the run-up to a viciously fought parliamentary election in October, relations became strained as the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party sought to capitalise on anti-Ukrainian sentiment in some parts of Polish society.

An argument over grain exports turned into a major diplomatic incident, and Polish lorry drivers also began a continuing blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border.

In the end, the election was won by an opposition coalition led by former prime minister Donald Tusk, but his government could only take over on 13 December, after stalling tactics by Poland’s PiS-affiliated president, Andrzej Duda. Sikorski, who was foreign minister from 2007 until 2014 in the previous Tusk government, was reappointed to the role, and travelled to Ukraine for his first foreign visit.

He said advocating for Ukraine would be one of his main prioritiesas foreign minister. “If Putin conquers Ukraine, all our other issues will become microscopic by comparison,” he said.

Sikorski said he had taken some positive messages from briefings he received in Kyiv on the battlefield situation, including Ukraine’s remarkable success in forcing the Russian navy out of the Black Sea, as well as Russia’s limited ability to make any gains of its own on the battlefield.

“There is suddenly gloom and doom in the west, but since the battle of Bakhmut the Russians have not captured anything except one large village,” he said.

He conceded that there was fatigue in Ukrainian society, but said this should push the west to be more supportive, rather than less. “The Ukrainians are tired, but they are the only people who are entitled to be tired by this war. We in this west are either inconvenienced or bored, but we don’t have the right to be tired, because we are not making any sacrifices,” he said.

The past weeks have been littered with bad news for Ukraine, with the US Senate failing to approve a new package of aid before the end of the year. A €50bn package of EU support has also been stalled after Hungary blocked it. Sikorski said he believed both funding packages would eventually be passed, but that the longer-term challenge was to ramp up military production, which was currently proceeding at “glacial” pace, he said. “It’s easier to make a billion-euro transfer than to manufacture a howitzer barrel,” he added.

Ukrainian officials told Sikorski they were hoping for a quick resolution to the blockade. Polish lorry drivers say the concessions for Ukrainian companies introduced at the start of the war have undercut their earnings. With Ukraine’s airspace closed due to the war, and Black Sea ports also mostly shut, the country’s land borders are crucial to Ukraine’s economy, and the blockade has caused chaos.

On Friday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, described the situation at the border as “shameful and harmful”. Sikorski said: “It’s more complicated than it seems, but I think we found at least a move in the right direction”, adding that there were “rights and wrongs on both sides” in the dispute. He also told Ukrainian colleagues that the turbulence caused by the Polish election should be over.

Tusk’s government has used its first days in office to signal plans for radical reform. Most dramatic was the firing of top management at the public broadcasting company, which had become a bastion of pro-PiS propaganda. The new culture minister used a legal loophole to replace the bosses of public television and radio, leading to a furious response from PiS politicians and Duda.

PiS filled numerous ostensibly neutral institutions with political appointees, and Sikorski said the foreign ministry had also been stuffed with employees who did not speak foreign languages and were not suited to the work. He said he was planning to “restore meritocracy” in the coming months, potentially involving big personnel changes.

[theanamorpho]

Let's see

[head-post]

Lukashenko misquotes Polish minister, claiming that Polish mercenaries helped in Kursk offensive operation

Polish mercenaries fought arm-in-arm with Ukrainian troops during the Kursk offensive, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Russian state television, misquoting Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, Belarusian media reported.

Ukrainian troops crossed the Russian border on August 6 and launched an offensive on the Kursk region. According to Lukashenko, the Kyiv troops included Polish volunteers.

The troops involved in the Kursk offensive “were gathered from the entire line of contact” and “mostly they were people who already had experience of war,” while “the rest were mercenaries, Poles and so on and so forth,” the Belarusian leader said in an interview with a Russian TV channel.

He expressed confidence that the Russian army would defeat the Kyiv soldiers who invaded the Russian territory. The escalation of the conflict could lead to the worst scenario for Ukraine, Lukashenko said. The Belarusian president also added:

“If it continues like Kursk, there will be an escalation that will end with the destruction of Ukraine. Nobody has ever been defeated, and nobody will defeat Russia.”

“How can NATO cope here?” Lukashenko asked rhetorically, saying the Americans had one policy – to turn Europe against Russia. “Let them fight. And then they will deal with the Chinese in the east,” he added.

Closing the border with Belarus

Speaking about Poland, the Belarusian president also commented on the misquoted statement of Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak (Civic Platform, EPP), reported by the Polish private TV station Polsat News.

Siemoniak allegedly said there was a basis for agreements with Minsk “on some difficult issues, such as the opening of border crossings.” Lukashenko commented:

“Well, I would like to know what this basis is. This is a very good statement.”

In fact, in an interview with private radio ZET, Siemoniak was asked about the possibility of closing the entire border with Belarus if Minsk continues its hybrid activities, such as supporting migration, which Poland has accused Lukashenko’s regime of doing since mid-2021.

“We have to take into account our own interests, and we are considering various options,” the minister said, noting that some border crossings have already been closed. He added that Poland expects Belarus to stop hostile actions.

Lukashenko argued that the possible complete closure of the Polish-Belarusian border would not hurt Minsk. He also added:

“It’s the same for both Russia and Belarus. They (the West) have imposed sanctions on us. We don’t go there, which means we don’t export anything. (…) We don’t trade with them. They have decided to close the border. Fine, then”.

The Belarusian president added that Poland should not go to war against Russia or Belarus and should resume economic co-operation with these countries. He expressed his belief that the policy of Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk (Civic Platform, EPP) towards Belarus is rejected by the majority of Polish society.

Lukashenko’s claims are refuted by public opinion polls. 71.8 per cent of Poles believe that Poland should close the border crossing with Belarus to force Minsk to change its policy, according to an IBRiS Institute poll published in July.

Read more HERE