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2024-09-25T00:34:00.001+02:00

CAN REPUBLICANS ENDURE THE COST OF NOT SUPPORTING UKRAINE?

Randy M. Mott[i]

Orignially written in October 2022

At this point in time, the Ukrainian army is humiliating Putin’s army and dramatically reversing his invasion. Displaying incredible courage and at the same time patience, the Ukrainian soldiers have quickly learned mastery over NATO and especially American weapons that have made the difference on the battlefield. Long-range precision artillery and rocket fire have offset the Russian advantage in the number of guns, then have overwhelmed their command-and-control centers, ammo dumps and now troop concentrations. Stingers have negated Russian close air support. HARM missiles have neutralized Russian air defenses. Russia is not just withdrawing; it is frequently being routed.

Despite a clear victory brewing over one of American’s most persistent opponents, many in the American conservative movement are pushing back on U.S. military assistance to Ukraine. Social media is filled with allegations of Ukrainian corruption, neo-Nazi allegations, and isolationist impulses, mostly from people who would describe themselves as MAGA voters.

This reflexive negative reaction of some to the Biden Administration’s aid efforts threatens to totally undermine Republicans at the polls in future elections, beginning in 2024. Virtually none of the criticism of the support is directed at any factual situations. Ukraine’s historical corruption and occasional neo-Nazi inconsequential figures are used to try to discredit the whole defense of Ukraine. Both are major Russian propaganda lines being aggressively pursued by America’s enemies. Photoshopped pictures have been found in virtually all the “neo-Nazi” posts. The superficial charge has been thoroughly debunked, but MAGA supporters keep posting them.

Special efforts have been made to track aid and assure deliveries for the intended purposes. The Inspector General of Department of Defense, emphasized that NATO representatives "seem to be confident that sufficient security measures have been taken for the supply of weapons.” MAGA folks should remember that Trump stalled aid in 2019 to assure that corruption issues would not divert any help. He was confident and released that military aid package.

Most MAGA voters only know Ukraine from the Hunter Biden scandal, mistakenly attributing the behavior of the prior Ukrainian government to the current one. Zelensky was elected on an anti-corruption platform and defeated the prior president who was heard on leaked phone calls talking about Hunter Biden covering for them. And, of course, there is a new bit of “Biden derangement syndrome,” which holds that anything Biden does must be corrupt and wrong.

Before detailing the frailty of these arguments, I want to advance forward to 2024. Ukraine is then free and celebrating. Epic stories emerge of the heroism of the people and the depravity of the Russian occupiers. There is already enough confirmed material on both these narratives to do multiple TV specials, online movies, books, and hundreds of personal interest news stories. This will evolve into a global celebration by 2024.

On a more substantive level, Ukraine’s victory will mean that Putin has been declawed. His military has been reduced to a shadow of its former self with no ability to rebuild due to sanctions. No piece of modern Russian equipment (generally underperforming in combat) can be now produced without Western technology. Politically, Russia has never been more economically and politically isolated. War crimes cases will be ongoing and trigger disgusting news. The United States, for supplying the key weapons and training to win the war, will be riding high. NATO will be stronger with new members in Sweden and Finland and a strong ally in Ukraine. Having frequently blocked U.S. NATO initiatives, Germany will see substantially reduced influence in Europe, both due to its slow walk on military aid and its foolish dependence on Russian energy sources.

Democrats ironically will claim a great victory and will assume full credit for fighting to get the necessary aid to win the war. Ironic in the sense that Biden’s first impulse was to fly Zelensky out of Kiev, achieving a key Putin objective early in the war. The Democrats resisted sanctions before the invasion to respond to the build-up. Obama and Biden refused to provide lethal aid in 2014, despite Congressional authorization. What changed the situation was Zelensky’s brilliant leadership and very effective public opinion campaign. Only after the public opinion shifted did Biden get on the train. Once on board, this became a major feature of his foreign policy and the source of many headlines. This will grow to a crescendo by 2024 with a Ukraine victory.

How will MAGA be perceived by 2024 on this issue? The Ukraine story will be a major feature in the public spotlight. Quotes by Republicans from Donald Trump, Rand Paul, and others will be used to create a new paradigm: a new Russian collusion case, not based on minor election meddling, but on subverting the defense of a courageous country invaded by Putin’s evil army. This will be seized by legacy media, become a firestorm on social media, and used with a broad bush against every Republican candidate. It is naïve to assume that this would not be a major Democrat theme in future elections.

Democrats will allege that Republicans wanted to decline to help the defense of millions of innocent people being subjected to rape, looting, murder and “re-education.” Because of a tiny number of extremist neo-Nazis, marginal nut jobs, the same conservatives who blast liberals in the U.S. for trying to generalize from similar cases will be caught doing the same thing, but at the expense of millions of innocent women and children. All of this will make the old Russian collusion case look tame indeed.

But we do not need to go to that future. Republicans have historically been stronger on Ukraine than Democrats. Trump recognized the folly of Germany and other Europeans dependence on Russian natural gas. We fought for lethal aid in 2014. We fought for pre-invasion sanctions. So why do some of our elected and opinion leaders parrot pro-Russian propaganda about Nazis and corruption in Ukraine? There is no evidence that either have played any role in the defense of Ukraine or that they are in any way whatsoever relevant to the U.S. military assistance (a major part of which is older equipment in storage turned over with an accounting entry). These voices never tell us why their allegations should lead to us declining aid that is defeating Putin.

A standard Republican political punch line is now too frequently why we are aiding Ukraine and not our own people. This gets a visceral reaction from the traditional isolationists in our party. While it is preposterous to divert HIMARS rocket launchers or 155mm artillery from Ukrainian aid packages to aid the Florida relief effort or help close the border, those are the comparisons being made. Some MAGA folks like to use the punchline, nevertheless. The economic aid is significant but more not even be a footnote in the giant Democrat spending bills.

Left unsaid is the economic impact of the U.S. of a Ukrainian victory and expanded NATO. These countries are standardizing to NATO specifications and the demand of U.S. weapons systems is huge. We can not only look forward to increased export opportunities and new jobs, but our investment opportunities in Ukraine’s post-war will be huge and very welcomed.

The alternative to U.S. aid would have been a disaster for the U.S. and NATO. If we allowed Putin to occupy Ukraine, a vast new border between Russia and NATO would be created. Demands on U.S. military expenditures to defend NATO would mushroom. Putin’s control of resources would be greatly increased. All this at a time, when the U.S. needs to be focusing on containment of Communist China. These are the stakes and aid is essential.

The Establishment narrative is that U.S. interests were served by the pre-war status quo, assuming that Putin will not simply renew hostilities when the opportunity arose. Blaming the stalled efforts of Ukraine’s pre-war attempt to join NATO as a provocation is a common line, but totally discredited by real events and evidence. Putin’s objective to try to re-create Russia’s hold on former Soviet territories has been made clear now. Pressing Ukraine to stop recovery of its legal borders and leave Putin to recoup losses, will not end the conflict and would only postpone it until a time when his odds for success rose. The end game is pushing Russians out and destroying as much of his army as possible in the process so he does not try again.

The United States' support to Ukraine has been the difference in the war. The courage of the Ukrainian people in literally defending their homes and families has been amazing and inspiring. U.S. HIMARS long-range rockets, HARM missiles to take out Russian air defenses, Stingers for air defense cover, other equipment and training made the Ukrainian army more modern and better trained than the Russians. Our efforts have pushed NATO allies to increase their defense spending, often to buy more American weapon systems.

In the post-war world in Europe, Putin can be contained by the invigorated NATO and Ukrainian ally. Many U.S. personnel and assts in Europe can be repositioned or brought home. He may not even survive in the longer-term in his control of Russia. His bluffs about nuclear weapon use have not been effective to change the course of the war and military experts, including in Russia, have advised that their use would not change the outcome of the conventional battlefield. After decades of defense spending in the trillions of dollars, we have neutralized Russia with 10% of a single year’s Department of Defense budget. Russians may even need reassurance that Ukrainian and NATO war aims go no further than the Russian border, based on the panic now appearing in Russian state-controlled media. But the world is fundamentally changing as we sit here. While not our direct objective, there is new speculation that Putin may not survive the failed war.

Republicans and especially MAGA supporters, including President Trump, need to get back on the traditional Republican platform of opposing the evil empire and helping our allies impose the containment of that empire as it ultimately fails from within. This is who we have been and more than ever what we should become.

NOTE: In July 2024, the Reagan Institute poll showed that 70% of MAGA voters supported Ukraine winning. But only 50% thought that Ukraine was winning. Things have improved over that period to September 24. Ultimately if Ukraine can win and it is not an endless war, I believe that Republicans will overwhelmingly support the aid. Trump is making a big mistake playing to our isolationist minority also evidenced by the July 2024 two to one GOP vote in the House against an amendment to cut aid.

[i] Mr. Mott is a retired American lawyer living in Warsaw, Poland. He was a commissioned infantry officer in USAR. He also serves as the vie president of the George S. Patton Foundation in Poland. His views are his own.

REPUBLICANS IN POLAND

2008-02-22T14:54:00.003+01:00

Tens of thousands of American citizens live in Poland. If trends hold true, about 40% of them are Republicans. We Republicans are watching what will be a likely seminal election in our history. Assuming that the trend continues, we will be facing a stark choice in the November election:

- the most liberal United States Senator with a record of doing virtually nothing but voting to the Left vs. the Maverick Republican who espouses conservative values on defense, spending, and social issues, but occasionally has ventured across the aisle to lead other issues on a bipartisan basis;

- Amorphous rhetoric about "change" and "hope" that masks the most Liberal agenda and proposed expansion of taxes and federal spending since FDR;

- A Senator in the pocket of the special interests in his party (Obama) vs. a Senator who has made headlines by defying special interests from every direction;

- A candidate who was in the Illinois State Legislature four years ago and has led an undistinguished and very brief term in the U.S. Senate vs. one of the leading independent voices in the Senate;

- A candidate for Commander-in-Chief who would cut and run vs. one who will finish the job and keep terrorists on the run throughout the world;

- A candidate with no experience or vision who will be tested by our enemies vs. one who sends fear into their souls;

- A candidate who supports the erosion of our national identity in every sense of the word vs. an American hero;

- A candidate whose wife was never proud of America until her husband won some primaries vs. a candidate who was tortured by our enemies because he stood for America;

The list goes on and on. The election is too important to sit out. And it is easy to get an absentee ballot from the last place where you resided and voted in the U.S. For help in casting your vote, contact randymott AT ekotechnology.com.

If you would like to help out with Republicans in Poland, contact me as well. We are planning some functions and get-togethers surrounding the convention and the election.

Randy Mott

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Polbloglet: Fat Thursday!

2007-02-23T21:59:00.000+01:00

"Polish Doughnuts" by Polska＊ポーランド＊Poland

For at least one moment in the dark days of winter, life is sweet in Poland. Marking the last Thursday before Lent, Tłusty czwartek (or, Fat Thursday) is a day of over-indulgence in sweets.

This past Thursday, in scenes disturbingly reminiscent of Communist days, the local sweet shops and bakeries were full of people, lining up to get their hands on the source of sweetness and symbol of this special day - the traditional Polish doughnut, or pączki. Unfortunately, by lunch break, our local bakery was sold out already!

Typical sight in Poland on Fat Thursday, Wikipedia

Interestingly, each country has its own way of marking the last day before Lent: in Greece, instead of sweets, they eat loads of meat on Tsiknopempti. In Latin and South America, they celebrate in a more dynamic way with the Carnival.

How does your country mark the start of Lent? Do you sit in a sweet shop and gorge yourself on baker's delights or do you take to the streets?

*This was cross-posted to Global Voices.

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Polish Bards Unpoetic To Google

2007-02-18T13:42:00.000+01:00

A group of Polish poets is standing firm against Google in a domain name dispute.

Google has launched legal action against a group of Polish poets, demanding that they give up their Internet domain name gmail.pl, a member of the cultural collective said.

Izabela Krawczyk of GMAiL -- the "Grupa Mlodych Artystow i Literatow," or Group of Young Artists and Writers -- told AFP that Google had turned to the country's IT and telecommunications tribunal to try to stop them using the Web site address www.gmail.pl.

There is quite an extended debate on Gazeta's forum site [PL] - with some subject headings like "Go to hell Google."

Are these poets in over their metaphorical heads?

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Between a Hard Rock and Stalin's Place

2007-02-14T01:12:00.000+01:00

The latest Polish mega mall, Zlote Tarasy, located in Warsaw and situated across from the Cold War Commie icon Palace of Culture and Science, has the first Hard Rock Cafe in Central Europe and the mall itself is said to have one of the largest glass ceilings in the world.

Reports Warsaw Voice:

The walls of the cafe display an original piece of work drafted by Jim Morrison when he was at high school, a shirt Elvis Presley wore in Jailhouse Rock, a postcard written by Janis Joplin to her friend, and a jacket that belonged to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. For the younger generation, there are the trousers in which Shakira performed her latest world tour. The Grammy statuette presented to The Eagles for the song "Lyin' Eyes" in 1975 is also on display.

And, they're hiring!

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What's Shaking in Poland's Blogosphere

2007-02-13T23:54:00.000+01:00

Photo by Embe at warsawdaily

A week of intermittent snowfall broke a dry spell, drawing kids outdoors for some winter games. It will be a short-lived affair as the winter has been a let-down for some with warmer temperatures and, as Our Man in Gdansk suggests, indoor games are sure to be in fashion soon. One such game is a perennial favorite but with a twist from Poland, get your chips out for "Health Care Bingo."

Here I present a cut-out-and-paste version of office bingo to help you while away the hours of talking heads talking about why the Polish health service is in a jock. You have to choose just three of the following commonly proferred explanations of why the Polish health service is in a jock.

What happens when local authorities get to plan, but not pay for a highway to connect Helsinki and Warsaw? BINGO! An offer they can't refuse plus irreversible damage to numerous forests. But when the chips are down, bloggers become clicktivists. Varpho has set up a petition and encourages all to take action now:

By signing the list below you are protesting against routing Via Baltica through unique nature areas, such as the Augustów Forest along with the Rospuda River Valley, the Biebrza National Park and the Knyszyn Forest, and thus you are expressing your disapproval for the Białystok option of this road.

One refused offer however was greeted by collective sighs of relief by bloggers as a former Polish PM declined a top post at one of Poland's largest banks. Interestingly, the decision was announced on the former politican's personal blog (in Polish). According to Polish Matters, the news couldn't come soon enough as the whole idea seemed, literally, wrong-headed:

It's enough to say that Marcinkiewicz, a high school Physics teacher before his 9-month stint as Polish prime minister last year, had no experience in either banking or management.

Hold on though, experience doesn't always lead to wise decisions, according to the beatroot. Not only appearing wrong-headed, but donning a bad hair day icon, a Polish mayor decided to proclaim an alcohol curfew in one of Poland's hottest tourist spots.

You expect this kind of thing from the British, but a Pole banning drinking? Is the mayor of Sopot limbering up for a career in Brussels, perhaps?

Warsaw not to worry, boo provides some blogging about sans-curfew and trendy night spots, complete with a token communist pub, endearingly called The Red Pig. I wonder, do they serve Red Bull?

Staying with the educational angle, although a little textual bull, or embellishment, might implicate itself here, The Real Warsaw provides a post and response on life in Poland, by a USA student and an ex-pat resident of Poland. Watch this thread as opinions are exaggerated on both sides. Highlight for me: Buy real estate in Poland right now!

That’s the Poland blogopshere update! Until next time - Do widzenia i powodzenia!

This post was originally written for the Global Voices site.

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Welcome to "Afterthoughts: Because thought should come before you blog!"

1) Our Man in Gdansk has missed the boat in the post we note above. Poles aren't so cheap as to be selfish about who should get care or not. In my discussion with Poles, they are very concerned about the prospect of many people losing out on adequate health care. Where did you get your info?

2) The Real Warsaw needs to get real! The comments about Poland are simply too rosy and do nothing to help the interested student to realistically understand everyday life in Poland. Will this student really be prepared to live in Poland after reading your Disney-esque piece on Poland?

3) Hey beatroot! Do you really give a shake about the actual sanity and safety of the community you implicitly mock in your post about Sopot's mayor?

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PolBlog's Talk Back Attack: Poles - Should they stay or should they grow?

2006-07-16T00:05:00.000+02:00

Not a stranger to firsts when it comes to blogging in Poland, PolBlog is unsure as to the reception of its latest foray. Audio-commenting, as we call it, adds another dimension to blogging -- think of it as audio SMS. It puts a voice to the text.

To listen to the first Talk Back Attack scroll down looking in the right column for a text box called "Talk Back." Simply click (once) on the username and listen. A Java applet will need to run if you want to talk back (record a message), we hope it's not a problem (sorry, we had no control over this).

So, back to the question posed...

While Poles working abroad are now what one could call economic refugees, in the nearest future they may very well be followed by their diseffected brethren, the political refugees. How to put a brake on it? Oddly enough, there won't be any religious refugees as Poland stands to become a country of unemployed, educationally undistinguished (and indistinguishable), Catholic zealots.

Perhaps a middle way is possible, India has prototyped it for the world, it goes by the name e-outsourcing (according to PolBlog). Poles might not have to leave mother Polska afterall -- telecommunting expanded across EU borders might just allow talented Poles to work abroad from home.

And this time, DO talk back.

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Poland Looks at Environmental Liability Directive: Major Problems with Proposed Transposition Law

2006-06-26T09:02:00.000+02:00

New EU Requirements Can Add a Layer of Complexity or Pave the Way for a Cohorent Regulatory Scheme

The transposition of the EU Environmental Liability Directive, 2004/35/CE, in Central Europe affects a broad range of companies in complex ways. The Directive generally is prospective, i.e. directed toward events that occur after April 30, 2007, the date it must also be transposed by Member States. The Directive creates liability for environmental cleanup and damages to natural resources, specifically habitats protected by EU Directives. Unlike some directives, the ELD leaves many issues to the Member States’ discretion. The scope of liability, the legal defenses available, the scope of habitats covered, and the financial security provisions are all largely open issues. Any business that handles chemicals or produces waste will face a new set of national rules arising out of the transposition process for the ELD. One UK small business organization commented: “The Directive is one of the most controversial, and potentially far-reaching, pieces of environmental legislation negotiated by the EU to date.”

There are also immediate effects of the Directive that extend to situations besides these future incidents. First, the Directive also encourages Member States to adopt financial security mechanisms for assuring that the operators of activities that handle potential pollutants have the financial means to address the future problems. The scope of this can be seen by the draft Spanish proposal that would require one million Euro for the lowest risk, covered activity in either insurance, a bond, or cash reserve. Similarly, the draft Czech law compels mandatory insurance, which is not now available (and may not be by 2010 according to the UK Environmental Minister). Without insurance, the mechanism for operators, if compulsory, will be prohibitively expensive. Alternatives do exist, as discussed below, that promote the objective of creating a market for these financial arrangements and satisfy the Directive without the major economic impact.

Second, the practical difficulties of determining when damage occurred, and what event caused them, make the cut-off date somewhat illusory. If a leaking petroleum tank in discovered in late 2007, is all of the damage at the site covered, even what occurred before 2007? Practically speaking, it is probably impossible to make distinctions within the same contaminated area over when the pollution occurred. Past damage from intentional dumping or inadvertent releases is vastly larger than the prospective releases after 2007; these cumulative problems will often get “bumped” into the “prospective” regulatory scheme of the ELD. The problem is added to by some member states’ proposed legislation, such as Poland, which
suggests that the date of “discovery” of the problem will be the controlling event (potentially limiting the April 30, 2007 date’s significance). The ELD also requires notification of the “competent authorities” when contamination is discovered by the operator, creating a new requirement that can open up issues related to old sites of contamination.

Third, there is an opportunity to use the ELD transposition to address other issues in national laws relating to existing contaminated sites. In Poland, for instance, the existing soil contamination standards are rigid numeric criteria that are unrealistically expensive. The ELD uses risk assessment procedures to make this determination, which are much more cost-effective. There is a logic and appeal to making the existing law use the same criteria, now advocated by the EU. In the Czech Republic, as in Bulgaria, there is no clear soil and groundwater contamination law; authorities use existing laws on water resources and other rules to provide some “make-shift” coverage. Using the transposition law to create an integrated, coherent legal scheme is also appealing.

So there are several issues in the transposition of the ELD that each have major financial impact to facility operators, transporters, and the insurance industry. Generally, speaking the interest of all business groups are virtually identical. Everyone wants a responsible regulatory scheme that will allow for the risk to become commercially insured on a realistic basis.

1. JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY AND APPORTIONMENT

The EU Directive broadly makes the “operator of an occupational activity” covered by the Annex liable for cleanup and environmental damages. Article 8 makes the terms of this liability up to the Member States. Liability can be “joint and several,” i.e. any one party can be held liable for the full amount of the claim, or it can be “apportioned” among multiple parties. Who bears the burden of proofing “apportionment” – if it is applied - is also an open question. Whether a party singled out by the Government can join other parties or file a subsequent claim against them for contribution is also left for member states to decide.

The argument is that the “polluter pays” principle requires that the polluters pay, not simply the deepest pocket the Government can identify regardless of their degree of fault and responsibility. The solution is likely to be provisions allowing the “joinder” of other others in the administrative procedures; this eliminates the expensive and unpopular notion of private litigation among respective parties. Others argue that the Government cannot be require to find everyone involved and only pursue each’s proportionate share. Allowing polluters to join other parties and proof relative apportionment among themselves is a reasonable compromise. This is not not possible under existing Polish law nor it the proposed changers to transpose the ELD.

2. WHO IS LIABLE

The Directive uses the term “operator” very broadly and seems intended to cover every party who is actually involved in causing contamination. Some language in the Directive (Article 9) even suggest that a producer of a chemical sold and used by third-parties might end up with liability of its eventual disposal. The national legislation will largely decide the scope of liable parties and whether the liability is truly “strict” or based on fault.

The new law should clearly state who is liable on the basis of fault, ownership of the land, or negligence. This should be done clearly and plainly and should be applicable to both existing sites and those covered by the ELD. One needs to remember that both the existing national laws and the ELD transposition law will cover the same “new” sites after April 30, 2007. Clear liability rules are essential in the development of an insurance market and there should be no inconsistencies between the two laws. This is major opportunity to clean up “bad law” in various CE countries.

3. DEFENSES TO LIABILITY

The EU Directive envisions a defense based on: (1) independent actions by a third-party causes the damage; (2) discharges of contaminants approved under permits or government orders; (3) the “state-of-the-art” defense that injury was an foreseeable given the technical knowledge then available. The battle in Brussels over whether to include these in the Directive itself was resolved by making them optional with the Member States. The Commission did state that: “An operator should not be required to bear the costs of preventive or remedial actions taken pursuant to this Directive in situations where the damage in question or imminent threat thereof is the result of certain events beyond the operator's control.” Finding 20, supra.

The possible exception to this principle is that owners of the land seem to have an obligation to address any condition of their land that adversely affects their neighbors, regardless of their fault, once they are on notice of the condition. This principle is centuries old and seems enshrined in European law. If the pollutant release in question was under a permit and within limits, then there is some equity in finding that the Government cannot come back and make a claim for cleanup or damages based on a release that it authorized.

The problem that exists in pubic policy for each of the defenses is that the alternative is for the Government to pay for the cleanup and damage. One solution may be the national fund approach (used in Sweden and Holland) to add a charge to each permit of an activity related to the ELD and to pool the money. If this is a supplemental mechanism to private liability, the fees might be reasonable and this mechanism might be a good “trade-off” for some relaxation of the liability rules.

4. EFFECTIVE DATE

Some national laws use very creative ways of addressing the cut-off date of the Directive. The Polish draft law on the ELD proposes that it will be effective on all contamination “discovered” after April 30, 2007. The “discovery” trigger is inconsistent with the EU Directive [no application to “damage caused by an emission, event or incident that took place before..” April 30, 2007, Article 17]. Damages from such prior acts are excluded, even if they were discovered later. Other national drafts have been confused about whether effects of a prior event are technically covered by the ELD. The Commission seems to have plainly intended that damage “caused by an emission, event or incident” before April 30, 2007 is excluded and, moreover, damage “that derived from a specific activity” before that date is excluded. Article 17, supra.

The issue is complicated by the fact that contamination itself moves and that the identification of the event that caused it is often difficult or impossible. This means that many “new” ELD sites will have potential elements of an “old” site involved. In any event, the existing national legislative scheme will continue to apply to “new” sites covered by the ELD. For example, unless the Polish Contaminated Land Law is amended to conform to the ELD, it will apply different standards to cases “discovered” after April 30, 2007. See Finding 29, Directive 2004/35/CE [“This Directive should not prevent Member States from maintaining… more stringent provisions…”]. Poland is set to have two remedial regimes and companies would have to meet whichever is the most stringent on a case-by-case basis. The transactional burden on companies and the Government will be simply doubled.

Absent provisions that conform existing law to the obligatory portions of the ELD, there will be two sets to requirements and rules for contaminated sites after April 30, 2007. Frankly, lacking the trained and experienced personnel to administer one set of rules, most CE countries will be buried by this burden and the resultant confusion. Obtaining a government sign-off on a remedial plan will be significantly more difficult than it already is.

5. FINANCIAL ASSURANCE MECHANISMS

The EU Directive does not require insurance or other specific financial mechanisms for operators. A compulsory insurance provision was deleted from the draft in Brussels. The Directive only broadly states that: “Member States should take measures to encourage the use by operators of any appropriate insurance or other forms of financial security and the development of financial security instruments and markets in order to provide effective cover for financial obligations under this Directive.” Findings Para. 27.

This provision has a major impact under many national proposals across the whole range of covered industries (irrespective of whether there are any incidents within the scope of the ELD). The easiest approach for a policy maker is to simply “require” compulsory insurance (Spanish draft, Czech draft, etc.). Since the commercial insurance industry cannot be obligated to issue these policies, then other substitute means must be authorized. They involve bonds or cash reserves which are prohibitively expensive because they do not result in any pooling of the risks. The Spanish proposal last year included a minimum one million Euro financial assurance for the “low risk” operators. The Czech draft mandates insurance or cash equivalents. The Polish draft simply authorizes the Ministry to create rules that require insurance or other forms of financial security (This follows the German proposal from 2005). It makes no decision of what will be required or how the rules will help the “development of financial security instruments and markets.” The UK Environmental Minister just stated in May that he did not feel that environmental insurance for these problems would be available there until after 2010. The Danish EPA commissioned a study by KPMG on the subject which concluded: “Markets for financial security should be developed gradually and as a statistical basis becomes available.” KPMG makes recommendations on the steps necessary to develop this market for insurance and its approach should be incorporated into the national legislation.

5. CLEANUP STANDARDS

Poland currently uses rigid numeric standards for soil cleanup under the Contaminated Land Law. These standards require removal of all soil above the numeric concentrations regardless of the risk, or lack of risk, at the specific site. This approach has proven unworkable in Poland and in other countries that initially tried it. The ELD uses risk assessment procedures to determine the levels of cleanup as do virtually all EU member states in their existing national laws and administrative rules.

Both the ELD law and the existing Polish Contaminated Land Law will apply to sites “discovered” after April 30, 2007 in Poland. See above. This creates an administrative nightmare and needless burden of all the parties involved, since both sets of procedures must be followed at every “new” site. The existing law should be amended to adopt the same cleanup rules as the ELD. This will encourage remedial actions by being more reasonable and will reduce the burden on responsible parties as well as the government agencies involved. Some other CE countries do not have clear risk assessment legal mandates in their national legislation (Bulgaria) and the ELD transposition is an opportunity to create one coherent set of common rules of the scope of remedial action.

6. HABITAT DAMAGE

The EU directive caused quite an uproar on the issue of damages to “biodiversity.” The Directive in the end only applied this concept to narrowly defined habitats protected by prior EU Directives, the so-called Natura 2000 sites. These represent a small part of most CE countries, even if the national conservation and protected wildlife sites are added (discretionary with member states). It is unlikely that most of this land will be the subject of industrial operations covered by the Directory. Moreover, if established protocols are used to evaluate the habitats, the amount of financial exposure will be relatively small. The United States has allowed natural resource damage claims for about twenty years and has developed extensive experience with evaluation methodology. Generally, a “Habitat Equivalency Analysis” is used to find the price of land with the same natural features and wildfire. Thousands of US claims have been made and paid and they generally do not involve large amounts.

The rational apporach is to simply put into the Polish law that “established methodologies” for habitat evaluation will be utilized. This will help to avoid some wild-eyed theory about habitats that could create financial havoc.

CONCLUSION

Of course, there are other issues with the ELD, but these are the major ones. The number of businesses affected is very large and the impact of some of the rules, especially the financial assurance schemes, will affect everyone. Companies with existing, known contamination will likely face the issue of reporting it under the ELD (depending on the circumstances and the national law). Any company with existing contamination issues should also be extremely interested in using the transposition process to get a single set of workable and cost-effective requirements that will apply to all cleanup activities.

For more infpormation, CONTACT: "Randy Mott"

Only in Poland

2006-01-15T09:19:00.000+01:00

Another Only in Poland Blogbyte

A 76-year-old man in Lodz reported his 47-year-old son to the police for chaining him to a wall in their house for a fortnight. However, his wife and son both claim that he invented the whole story. The family is apparently well-known in the area for its troubles and heavy drinking.

Source: New Warsaw Express

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Positively Poland

2005-12-21T13:42:00.000+01:00

Some Local Holiday Photos

Last minute Christmas shopping at Promenada (Warsaw)

Haggling over Christmas trees (We got one for 20 zloty!)

A man and his dog (notice the lack of Christmas
decorations or lights in apartment windows, just
one week from Christmas, why?)

Now where in Warsaw could this be?

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PolBlog.pl Launches new anti-Corruption Project in Poland

2005-12-15T09:34:00.000+01:00

We all hear about the "c" word in Poland and have probably heard about the latest Transparency International Report on corruption in Polska. PolBlog interviewed an official from the local TI office last month, and both Warsaw Station and the Beatroot had something to say about it.

In response, PolBlog introduces "Whistleblower 24/7." Whistleblower is an e-Democracy project to shift the balance of power from rulers to those ruled. By allowing citizens (in Poland) to anonymously post instances of corruption (in Gov't or Business) on an open forum for all to see, those who engage in shady behavior will be exposed more conveniently and to more people.

Any citizen in Poland, at any time of the day/night can register an instance of corruption in this "Whistleblower" forum. This makes the whole process incredibly easy as it avoids phone calls, lines in administrative offices, and bureaucracy that make filing corruption complaints unpleasant, time-consuming, and rare.

Whistleblower is not the end of the process, but rather the beginning...once a complaint is posted (with an optional survey), we will notify the appropriate officials, directing them to the site to read the post.

To go to the forum, click HERE

A similiar initiative was launched in Estonia (or, E-stonia as it is called in cyber circles), and it is quite popular.

LINKS:

1) Warsaw to set-up anti-corruption office
2) Anti-Corruption Gateway for Europe & Eurasia
3) EU Ombudsman - Complain about EU institutions HERE
4) Protecting your civil rights in Poland
5) Transparency International Office in Warsaw

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Electronic English Petitions - PolBlog's ee-Petition Project

2005-12-12T23:38:00.000+01:00

PolBlog's ee-Petition Project

Upon returning from an invigorating conference in London on e-Democracy and Blogging, we thought an experiment was in order. While not the first project of its kind (starting in Scotland and Germany), e-petitioning is just what English-speakers in Poland need! We did some research, and did in fact find a Polish-language E-petition project already up and running. Amazing! We will be cooperating with the Polish site by cross-posting any successful e-petitions on PolBlog to their site -- so PolBlog's ee-Petition Project will be the first cut, the proverbial editor's chopblock.

To vote on a proposed Electronic English Petition, or to comment about one in the forum, or just to simply (but importantly) vote on a petition, you need to go to the ee-Petition forum. To vote on a petition, you must register (so we can verify that you live in Poland). But other than that the forum is open and anyone can propose a petition (although we reserve the right to remove any bullshit).

The petition must be addressed to local or regional politicans and have something to do with the economic, ecologic, educational, religious, civil, health, atheletics etc state of Poland.

Our first ee-Petition requests that the Warsaw government re-paint the city's ailing recycling bins while running a public education campaign about recycling. Make your voice heard!

Eco-eyesores!

Help! We need some Paint!

Links:

1)Polish Sejm Site

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PolBloglet: Poland in Top 20 Countries with Internet Users

2005-12-06T22:02:00.000+01:00

News Poland

Another PolBloglet

Poland has witnessed a 278% increase in Internet user growth between 2000 and 2005, with the total number of Internauts as of March 2005 at 10.6 million (or almost 28% of Poland's population). As for its penetration rate, Poland is well below the Top 30 countries (Malta with the highest at 78%, USA at #7 with 68% and #30 is Estonia at almost 50%). Though it's above the world average of 15%, with 28%.

Poland ranks #19 in Internet Users

Surprisingly (to me), Poland is listed as 19th of the top 20 countries (in the world) with the most Internet users. This is quite impressive when you consider the economic climate in Poland. According to Internet World Stats:

[C]ertain market structure and cultural barriers to consumer development of the Internet still exist. In Warsaw, one does not see the Internet cafes or price competition for telephone access that can be seen in European cities such as London, where telecommunications has been liberalized. Many people in Poland lack confidence that credit card information can be protected on the Internet. As yet there is no high-speed Internet access, such as digital subscriber lines (DSL) for consumers. And at a cost of $500 to $1,000, computers are still expensive for many individual households.

With such explosive growth recorded in just 5 years, Poland is poised to become a potential Internet intermediary in the region between emerging democracies and democracies on the precipice. There are no stats on either Ukraine or Belarus. As the number of Internet users continues to increase in Poland, there could be a domino effect -- information and dialogue will find its way into countries throughout the region, with Poland playing a key role.

Links:
1) Internet Stats for EU 25
2) Exhuastive and recent overview of Internet usage and trends in Poland
3) Very informative Blog by the Internet World Stats Site
4) Polish Internet Usage Profile/Market Analysis (exhuastive) by New Media Review

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Only in Poland

2005-12-05T00:26:00.000+01:00

Another Only in Poland Blogbyte

A Lodz husband has been arrested after trying to extort PLN 5,000 in cash from his wife’s lover aftershe confessed the details of their affair. After the husband threatened him with violence, the lover informed the police, who arrested the husband. He faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment for intimidation, potentially leaving the illicit couple to carry on as before.

Source: New Warsaw Express

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PolBlog's Daily Dilbert

2005-12-03T13:11:00.000+01:00

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Where is it? The answer!

2005-11-28T22:31:00.000+01:00

What, Where ...and when?

In the first VIDEO edition of our contest we asked you where in Warsaw was our movie made.
...aaAND we have a winner!

BeccaSteel had answered the question on our forum, giving the correct location.

!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!

It's Most Poniatowskiego:

The Prince Poniatowski bridge dates back to the very beginning of the XX c.

It was the third bridge to be build in Warsaw. The other two were "Most Kierbedzia" - today Most Sląsko-Dąbrowski, and a bridge at the Warsaw Citadel - in place of today's Most Gdański.

End of nineteen century Warsaw, under Tzars Russia's rule, was a fortified city - part of Vistula defense line against possible German invasion. City's government was ignoring the needs of a growing population in favor of maintaining the strategic barrier of the river. It took a bribe to finally get their acceptance for the projects - seems that, for over a 100 years, certain things didn't change.

Original neo - renaissance design of the bridge's entrance towers and pavilions was a work of Stefan Szyller, one of distinguished architects of the era, author of the Polytechnic building, and Warsaw's University's entrance gates. Technical design was done by Mieczysław Marszewski, who also supervised the building process (and was later arrested over too high costs of the project - again, it sounds familiar).

The works begun in 1904. It took almost ten years to complete. Across river communication was established in 1913 - the 100-year anniversary of the death of prince Józef Poniatowski. Hence Warsaw's citizens started referring to it as "The Poniatowski Bridge" (or simply - "the third bridge"). The crossing was officially opened in 1914, and given the name of Tzar Mikołaj II.

It's beginnings were - well... - unlucky. The very next year, over the course of the Great War, Russian army retreating from Warsaw blew up part of the bridge. Germans, who replaced them, set to rebuild it: temporary wooden "patch" allowed the crossing to be reopened in 1916 - only to be destroyed by fire the very next year...

In the II RP renovation started in 1921. It was partially completed in 1925, and finished in '27. Together with newly developed Saska Kępa district, the bridge formed a model of urban development for city officials who at some point aspired boldly - and in vain - to hold Word Exhibit. (Just as today Polish officials have a peculiar hobby of aspiring for organization of various sport events...)

During Warsaw Uprising, Poniatowski Bridge was destroyed again. Before blowing it up in the face of advancing Red Army, Germans used it to cover Old Town with fire of 88 mm cannons.

In 1946 the crossing was repaired, but the original design suffered a lot. During the fifties the towers on the right riverbank were torn down. In the sixties the bridge was broaden, with two new lanes added. Finally, during the five year renovation of 1985-90, it was partially restored to it's original shape, although not it's full glory.

~~oOo~~

In the end, another little contest.

On the second of May, 1926, around 5.00 p.m. our bridge was a meeting point for certain two gentlemen. Who can tell who they were?

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Gdzie to jest? / Where is it?

2005-11-19T14:22:00.000+01:00

Does it look familiar to you? Play our guessing game!

The first VIDEO edition of our contest!!!

Guess where - in Warsaw - was this video taken, and what is the object/place in it?

Use the "COMMENT On BLOG FORUM" feature to publish your answer.

The first correct one will be displayed as a caption, together with author's e-name: glory to the winner! Please include the country/city/district you are writing from....

You have one week.

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Only in Poland: Hard Time Doing Hard Time

2005-11-11T10:52:00.000+01:00

Another Only in Poland Blogbyte

Poland’s prison authorities are appealing to business leaders to employ their inmates. The country’s prison system has some 60,000 inmates who do not have regular work, and it can hire them out for half the standard minimum wage. “If [employers] are not happy with their work, there’s no problem with firing them,” prison service general Andrzej Popiolek told the daily Gazeta Wyborcza this week, adding that most prisoners are conscientious workers.

Most of the ones [prisoners] let out to private companies are serving time for petty crime, such as defaulting on alimony. Only 26 percent of Poland’s prisoners have any type of employment, the lowest such rate in the European Union.

Source: News Warsaw Express

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Friday Night Bloxing!

2005-11-04T22:37:00.000+01:00

Ladies and Gentleman! Tonight's bout features three unknowns, thus far, in our midst. We welcome your participation on the forum, after the initial blows are exchanged by our participants. The only rules: Keep it clean, and no below the belts.

The issue: The alleged secret prisons in Poland.

The contenders:
1) In the light blue trunks, hailing from Toledo, Ohio - "Two Crackas in My Soup..."

2) In the navy blue and tan trunks, from Portland Oregon - "Secular Front"

3) And finally, in the angelic white robe from the eastern United States, give it up for "A Conservative Blog for Peace"

Let's get it on!

Round One: Ding...

First jab, Two Crackas in My Soup...

First, if the HRW can be trusted (and that has yet to be established), so what if the CIA has terrorists holed up in Poland and Romania? These people are not just enemies of the U.S. They are enemies of all Western culture. If you think they don't like us, wait till we are out of the way and they have a free hand to go at the super-secularist governments in Western Europe. Personally, I feel BETTER now that I know that al Qaida thugs are being stuck in small, dank, filthy cubicles in Poland, rather than trying to infiltrate the U.S. to kill our citizens or Iraq, to fight our troops.

Contender #1

Secular Front responds with an uppercut:

Turns out Europe is not so sanguine about having secret detention camps on its soil. Rumors that CIA gulags have been established in Poland and Romania have endangered those countries' status in Europe. Although proudly touted as the stalwart new Europe by Rumsfeld, Poland and Romania are now scrambling to deny any connection with the secret detention program.

Contender #2

Out of nowhere comes a third unknown, A Conservative Blog for Peace, wait a minute, an unorthodox move in Bloxing, but it might just work:

CIA prisons in Poland, Romania
Lord, in thy mercy: hear our prayer

Contender #3

Ding!...Round One ends, the opponents seem evenly matched, but time will tell...let's go ringside now...

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PolBlog's Daily Dilbert

2005-11-04T22:05:00.000+01:00

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Poland's Intellectuals - A Grey Matter

2005-11-04T13:05:00.000+01:00

News Poland
In from Wikipedia:

The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll

The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll is a list of the 100 most important living public intellectuals in the world which has been compiled in November 2005 by Prospect Magazine (UK)

The Top 20

Noam Chomsky
Umberto Eco
Richard Dawkins
Václav Havel
Christopher Hitchens
Paul Krugman
Jürgen Habermas
Amartya Sen
Jared Diamond
Salman Rushdie
Naomi Klein
Shirin Ebadi
Hernando De Soto
Bjørn Lomborg
Abdolkarim Soroush
Thomas Friedman
Pope Benedict XVI
Eric Hobsbawm
Paul Wolfowitz
Camille Paglia

According to continent of birth, roughly 40% came from USA and Canada, 25% from Europe and Russia, 22% from Middle and Far East. The other continents received less than 5% (Latin America with 4), Africa with 3 and Australia with two.

View: Well, it's re-assuring to see a Pope of the Catholic Church in the top 20. Perhaps it will bring some 'on the fence' Catholics back in the flock. Although the late Pope JPII wasn't an intellectual lightweight. But I scanned the list of 100 and nary a Polish intellectual to be found. As a grad student here in Poland, I have come across some heavyweights, at least in Philosophy. How seriously should one take this kind of poll? Perhaps language was a factor? And some of the people on the list promoted themselves shamelessly. Does Poland have a dearth of public intellectuals? Now seems like the right time for a few to step forward. Is there a culture of anti-intellectualism in Polish society? It seems to be present in a common opinion I hear from Poles that they value practical knowledge, and that in Poland they get too much theory at school -- this could tie into the generally perceived stereotype of the aloof, 'egghead' intellectual and that this kind of thinking is useless in a society where most people are involved in manual labor, or simply need jobs. And the Church here in Poland, I am not so sure it's a citadel of critical thinking.

The role of the public intellectual is very important as a critical voice. Partly because there is also a virulent strain of anti-intellectualism -- We have a long history of it in North America ("The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee." circa 1642). One of my heroes is Jurgen Habermas (in top 10 this year), and of course one of the greatest, Socrates, and the endearing Diogenes can't be forgotten. And what happened to France this year? From the recent news in France it looks like 1968 all over again, but what really are the young people today fighting about?

Anti-intellectual contrast

Poland could use a public intellectual, especially in a society so homogenous -- because there is plenty of inertia to keep people from thinking against the grain (or upstream), afterall, why rock the boat if most people agree on fundamental values? Although the latest Presidential election revealed some social cleavages. Then again, as a society becomes more diverse it will need to address the question of plurality along a number of important issues connected with values, and public intellectuals can put into words and engage the public in ways that most of us cannot.

Links:

1) Wikipedia Article

2) Prospect Magazine - Results Summary

3) Much better lists of intellectuals are based on objective criteria, such as that compiled by Richard Posner at the University of Chicago. See his table in a large pdf file (32 pages)

Poland by Bloggers: A Round up

2005-11-02T16:36:00.000+01:00

Poland by Bloggers Roundup

Blogging isn't just about 'me, me, me!' - no longer just a prosthetic ego, or somewhere to throw a cybertantrum about one's life -- the territory has expanded to include people looking outward, wanting to discover something in common and make connections along shared concerns -- what we call affinity networking. At PolBlog we intend to present news reports, analysis, and stories from blogs that we judge to be in the latter category. And so we are launching this new "Round up" feature in order to highlight the good (bad, and the ugly, AND voluntary!) work being done by fellow citizen journalists. The only criterion we will keep is that the information is connected to Poland.

We know many bloggers who are putting long hours into their blogs and doing quality work. It's time to 'represent' -- this medium merits recognition as a legitimate source of reliable information and analysis. At PolBlog we believe that you can find trustworthy information in the blogosphere without relying on any other media for news. This is a bold thesis, but from our experience so far, it's not an exaggeration.

We don't necessarily share the particular view of every blog we mention, we simply suggest to you that they are worth reading at a given point in time.

So, without further ado...

We found this story about the recent Polish Presidential election in a rather unobvious place - a blogger in Egypt! The blog Scottymac.blogspot.com published a story today that we found interesting. In part because in included a wonderful, and telling electorate map of the vote in Poland . Wow! Take a look at what happens to voting as you go either further east or west from the center of Poland.

The website of Polish daily Rzeczpospolita has an illuminating map of district-by-district results in Poland's recent presidential election, which pitted an economic liberal (in the European sense; that is, a free-marketeer)against an anti-gay, staunchly Catholic social conservative who believes strongly in the welfare state.

The east-west divide on the map looks positively Ukrainian to me. Marek Kohn, a writer and journalist, notes how Tusk, the neo-lib, did well in "formerly German territories of the west, where the communists rebuilt a society on razed ground after the war."

Russia is clearly still exerting an influence, pulling Poland apart?

Link to full article

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PolBloglet: Poland Ranks

2005-11-01T23:30:00.000+01:00

News Poland

Another PolBloglet

Poland's International rankings

Human Development Index 2005: Rank 36th out of 177 countries.

Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2004: Rank 32nd out of 167 countries.

Index of Economic Freedom 2005: Rank 41st out of 155 countries.

Source: Wikipedia's Entry on Poland

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PolBlogcast: Halloween, All Saint's Day, and 95 Theses

2005-10-30T21:03:00.000+01:00

Another PolBlogcast

In our PolBlogcast today we change the subject from Polish elections to a comparison and celebration of two very old and often seen as conflicting traditions: we are speaking of course about Halloween and All Saints Day (in Poland called Zaduszki?).

The Jack-o-Lantern: Symbol of the

trickster who even fooled the Devil!

Most Poles (young and old) I speak with about Halloween really don't understand its origins, usually describing it in the superficial way that most in the USA do when they go from house to house and say 'trick or treat'(smell my feet give me something good to eat!) dressed up like clowns or Casper (the friendly ghost). Few Poles know about the very Halloweenish "Jezi Baba" from their pre-Christian past. Sounding as formidable as any witch from Western lore:

Jezi Baba is portrayed as a witch who flies through the air in a mortar using the pestle as a rudder sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made out of human hair. She lives in a house that revolves around by means of three pairs of chicken legs that dance. Her fence outside was made with human bones that had skulls atop of them.

Googleween

Test your knowledge of Halloween traditions,Take the PolBlog Poll

And also today, according to traditional accounts, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses onto the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Halloween Chart Buster: Monster Mash Music
(A Nice fusion of traditional with pop culture)
(3 minutes)

The first of about 9 sequels!

PolBlogcast: Halloween, All Saint's Day, and 95 Theses
(20 min. w/Bonus Song)

Links:

1) Monster Mash performance (with lyrics)

2) Pre-Christian Polish Pagan Pantheon

3) Brief history of Polish Paganism

4) The Vigil of All Hallows (Hallowe'en) - From Irish folk piety

5) Classic Halloween fare, Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - You can buy the MP3 file for about 9zl, listen to Ichabod Crane!

6) Google has even changed its icon today and provides a search list connected with Halloween.

7) The History Channel is even in on the tradition

8) Halloween without Michael Myers is 'holloween' - remember the 1978 classic slasher that spawned at least 8 or 9 sequels?

9) The Halloween Capital of the World - Anoka

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PolBloglet: Chicago supported Kaczyński

2005-10-30T15:05:00.000+01:00

News Poland

Another PolBloglet

Some sites in the USA are reporting that about 80% of eligible Polish voters in Chicago voted for Kaczyński. The tough on crime image of Kaczyński may have convinced Poles living in Chicago that he is the right choice, rather than the economic reformist Tusk.

Test your history of Europe, take our PolBlog poll

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