October 23, 2007
How Poland’s Twins Gave Back the Moon
As someone with twin brothers of my own, not to mention a few memories of Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the organised crime twins who once terrorised London’s East End, I had mixed feelings about Poland’s Kaczynski twins, Lech and Jaroslaw, right from the start.
But now that Jaroslaw has suffered a crushing defeat in last Sunday’s Polish general election and must give up the premiership, a job he held for just 15 months, only the most heartless of bloggers would crow at his misfortune.
How do you tell the Kaczynskis apart? Well, Jaroslaw is the one who used to carry a gun in the Polish parliament - oh, and also the one without a mole on his left cheek. If you look at the publicity pictures for "The Two Who Stole The Moon", the 1962 Polish children’s film in which the twins starred as the innocent fair-haired brothers Jacek and Placek, you can just about convince yourself that you can see Lech’s mole (but not Jaroslaw’s gun).
José Sócrates, the prime minister of Portugal, which currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, had the chance last week to see Lech’s mole at close range. Sócrates was hosting the summit in Lisbon called to approve the EU’s institutional reform treaty, and a great deal depended on whether Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president who was in the Portuguese capital with all the other EU leaders, would be co-operative or kick up a fuss.
Poland had a big problem over the voting arrangements in the new treaty, especially regarding the rights of member-states to delay decisions for a few months even if they have been outvoted by their EU partners. For Poles, this issue touched a raw nerve: Poland, after all, is the home of the liberum veto, the 17th and 18th century parliamentary device that allowed any legislator to block a measure, even if he was in a minority of one.
Lech Kaczynski’s other doubts concerned a proposal backed by all other 26 countries that was to award Italy an extra seat in the European Parliament. He was eventually persuaded to accept it after a combined private appeal from Jean-Claude Juncker, Romano Prodi and Nicolas Sarkozy - the leaders of Luxembourg, Italy and France.
But even that, it turns out, wasn’t quite enough to ensure that the deal could be made public. Lech wanted to consult Jaroslaw by phone in Warsaw before giving his final approval. Alas, for half-an-hour or more, Jaroslaw was nowhere to be found (perhaps he’d seen the latest opinion polls).
In the end, the twins talked, the deal was done, and everyone went home happy. For 48 hours, at least, the Gruesome Twosome of EU politics had refurbished their image.
As classy acts go, I wouldn’t put it quite in the same category as Romulus and Remus - but where twins are concerned, it is advisable sometimes to pitch your expectations low.
The new leadership in Poland can help unite all in Europe towards Energy Independence: 1) training in new technologies ,2) finding a way to capture carbon dioxide from their natural coal,from which Poland has aprox. 1-3.000 million tons ( i wish i had exact figures from Poland ) ,while the rest of Europe has almost none left at cheap prices, with Polish coal Europe could improve the Fischer-Tropsch method and others of getting liquid diesel from coal by capturing all carbon dioxide and helping the USA,Latin America and Asia where they still have 100.000 million tons each aprox. of the natural coal,offering 50 to 100 million euros tax free to any one who finds a way to capture 95 % of the carbon dioxide, this would also help in learning how to handle carbon dioxide from cement factories, a key ingredient of growth worldwide,all in all,Poland must invest with Europe in new energy,in new trade deals with Russia, in new farming and manufacturing,3) what they don’t need is to become the target of extreme fundamental muslims by installing the proposed “missiles-radar” on its fields,Poland does not need to become a target to feed the “neocons” global chaos plans, Poland and Europe must focus on high tech. assembly,hydrogen fuel-cells systems, components for the new “fusion” technology, http://www.iter.org/ , to make small fusion reactors for trucks,ships,buildings,planes ,etc.,4) as well as giving Europe options for turbofans and turboprop motors,powerful enough to handle and transport the new massive military and construction vehicles like the Cougar and Buffalo and similar size all terrain construction trucks,as well as helping Europe reach full solar panels PV manufacturing capacity and a solid “solar home industry” since poles are very good construction workers among other trades,that’s where Poland’s new leaders can help themselves and the rest of Europe.
the new Poland can also help re-define the new christian european,a practical no-nonsense honest taxpayer and citizen,away from fanatism and hysteria and helping the european culture find its way,Europe and its christian rebellious men were the source of all the Founders of the Declaration of Independence and the USA Constitution, fighting for Free Speech,separation of State from Church, Human Rights and the end of Slavery by breaking with the bankers financing the old establishments,the new Poland and Europe must re-launch the christian men and woman of the future,healthy , smart and free.
Posted by: blogger | October 27th, 2007 at 7:37 pm | Report this commentYeah, yeah Poland can save Europe and the world. Go Poland!, but does the world want to be saved by Poland? That would be the question of the day to the blogger (who wrote above).
Posted by: bloggjob | November 21st, 2007 at 10:29 am | Report this comment@ blogger below,
Posted by: a Pole | November 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm | Report this commentunfortunately I am afraid your hopes for us poles are much too high. a lot of stuff needs to be fixed after the kaczynski’s rule, which showed how fragile our democracy is. Even under the current new government Poland will have serious problems with the separation of state and church, the right to abortion will not be more available and the non-discrimination of minorities will remain a very serious issue. So , unfortunately, ‘don’t expect miracles from us