Creepy statues!
Acadia National Park 2018
8 years ago
Friday, March 11, 2005
Katyn Massacre
Have you heard of this place before? Katyn is in Belarus, former Russia, yet still dominated by Soviet power today, east of Poland, and is home to a whole lot of Polish soldiers' graves. About 20,000 top soldiers were sent there (and 2 other regions closer to Moscow) near the start of WWII, and were forced into a mass execution. I'm not sure, but it seems there'd be a movie about this SOMEWHERE out there by now?!
Well, here's the latest on this tragedy:
Russia in the Firing Line
Poland’s Euro Members of Parliament fought unsuccessfully this week for official recognition of
the 65th anniversary of Stalin’s brutal execution of 21,000 Polish officers in the first
year of World War Two. The motion which failed to pass in Strasbourg, sent a fresh
ripple through Polish-Russian relations. The slaughter at Katyn in present-day Belarus has never been fully recognised by Moscow, which to many Poles’ outrage has stuck broadly by the communist era line that Poland should be grateful to have been rescued by the Red Army in 1944-45.
The anniversary comes after media reports connected Russian spies to a series of high-level corruption scandals in Poland over the last year, and some voices on the right this week took the chance to appeal for President Aleksander Kwasniewski to cancel a visit to Moscow for the 60th anniversary of the war ending. The Russians recently again refused to de-classify the records of the Katyn killings. Officials claimed that the files are open for inspection by anyone - provided they’re Russian and have authorisation to view confidential documents.
“We just keep getting slapped in the face by the Russians and the president’s response is to go and celebrate the end of the year in order for it to happen all over again,” said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative Law and Justice party, widely tipped as a coalition partner after this year’s election.
Kwasniewski maintains he will attend the ceremonies on May 9, in spite of the withdrawal of other eastern European nations that question Soviet conduct during the war. Sources around the president said that for Kwasniewski absence would further strain Polish relations with Russia.
STEVEN MULLER
For more information on the Katyn Massacre (sometimes called the Katyn Forest Massacre) click here and a lengthy report from the CIA is here.
Well, here's the latest on this tragedy:
Russia in the Firing Line
Poland’s Euro Members of Parliament fought unsuccessfully this week for official recognition of
the 65th anniversary of Stalin’s brutal execution of 21,000 Polish officers in the first
year of World War Two. The motion which failed to pass in Strasbourg, sent a fresh
ripple through Polish-Russian relations. The slaughter at Katyn in present-day Belarus has never been fully recognised by Moscow, which to many Poles’ outrage has stuck broadly by the communist era line that Poland should be grateful to have been rescued by the Red Army in 1944-45.
The anniversary comes after media reports connected Russian spies to a series of high-level corruption scandals in Poland over the last year, and some voices on the right this week took the chance to appeal for President Aleksander Kwasniewski to cancel a visit to Moscow for the 60th anniversary of the war ending. The Russians recently again refused to de-classify the records of the Katyn killings. Officials claimed that the files are open for inspection by anyone - provided they’re Russian and have authorisation to view confidential documents.
“We just keep getting slapped in the face by the Russians and the president’s response is to go and celebrate the end of the year in order for it to happen all over again,” said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative Law and Justice party, widely tipped as a coalition partner after this year’s election.
Kwasniewski maintains he will attend the ceremonies on May 9, in spite of the withdrawal of other eastern European nations that question Soviet conduct during the war. Sources around the president said that for Kwasniewski absence would further strain Polish relations with Russia.
STEVEN MULLER
For more information on the Katyn Massacre (sometimes called the Katyn Forest Massacre) click here and a lengthy report from the CIA is here.
Polish Soldiers in Iraq Suspected of Corruption
Five Polish soldiers and two civilians have now been arrested for their role in a scam around the awarding of reconstruction contracts in Iraq, where Poland heads a multinational force aiding the US-led stabilisation efforts.
The affair dates back to the detention of two Polish officers on their return from Iraq in early February. The two were caught smuggling $90,000 in cash, sparking speculation they had been involved in black market or other illegal activity.
Defence Ministry and army officials confirmed the arrests, but to date no details on the source of the money had been disclosed. The amount they were carrying is far more than the pair’s wages for their time in Iraq, and an audit of funds in the Camp Babylon international division showed no irregularities.
On Thursday, the daily Zycie Warszawy quoted unnamed sources as saying it is now clear the arrests related to construction contracts at Poland’s base in south-central Iraq.
The case is just the latest to involve Poland’s meagrely paid foreign peacekeepers. Last year, two soldiers returning from Middle East duties in the Golan Heights were arrested for tobacco and alcohol smuggling on the Syrian-Israeli border. When the first contingent returned from Iraq, a number of soldiers were caught trying to import large quantities of memorabilia. The biggest-bucks case since 1989, however, involved a group that tried to smuggle large quantities of narcotics back from the Balkans in the mid-1990s – inside armoured cars.
STEVEN MULLER
The affair dates back to the detention of two Polish officers on their return from Iraq in early February. The two were caught smuggling $90,000 in cash, sparking speculation they had been involved in black market or other illegal activity.
Defence Ministry and army officials confirmed the arrests, but to date no details on the source of the money had been disclosed. The amount they were carrying is far more than the pair’s wages for their time in Iraq, and an audit of funds in the Camp Babylon international division showed no irregularities.
On Thursday, the daily Zycie Warszawy quoted unnamed sources as saying it is now clear the arrests related to construction contracts at Poland’s base in south-central Iraq.
The case is just the latest to involve Poland’s meagrely paid foreign peacekeepers. Last year, two soldiers returning from Middle East duties in the Golan Heights were arrested for tobacco and alcohol smuggling on the Syrian-Israeli border. When the first contingent returned from Iraq, a number of soldiers were caught trying to import large quantities of memorabilia. The biggest-bucks case since 1989, however, involved a group that tried to smuggle large quantities of narcotics back from the Balkans in the mid-1990s – inside armoured cars.
STEVEN MULLER
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Polish Home Remedies
I'm sick.
Jill is in Rome.
Woe is me.
Many of my Polish students have recommended their versions of local 'medicine' that I should 'take' to feel better. By the way, I have an on-and-off fever, body aches, sore throat, a cough, an incredibly runny nose, dizziness, sleeplessness and basically I just feel like crap.
Recipe #1:
Medium to High quality Whiskey in a glass filled with ice, at least 3/4 full, so the Whiskey is very cold.
Drink one glass at a normal to fast speed. If you don't feel better, keep drinking until the bottle is empty. The important thing is to keep the Whiskey very cold, so have plenty of ice handy. The only warning was that though you may have a hangover in the morning, you will be cured!
Recipe #2:
Warm up a decent quality beer in a pot and add a few dollops of honey. Temperature should not exceed 60 degrees Celsius (130F?) as it will null the 'healing' qualities of the honey. When the Polish brew is ready, drink in one sitting, then pound a shot of good quality vodka.
Voila! You're cured!
(and a new one)
Recipe #3:
One glass of milk, 2 cloves of garlic and some honey.
Warm the milk, crush the garlic and add everything to the warmed milk. Drink the nasty concoction just before going to bed. You'll stink for a week, buy you'll feel better in the morning after sweating out the garlic (except the smell!) all night!
ugh, all I can think of is soup and smoothies, of which I have neither :-(
Oh, and by the way, EVERY SINGLE STUDENT AND COWORKER HAS SAID TO NOT TAKE MEDICINE, AS IT IS BAD FOR YOU.
Hmm, I wonder how the Poles became so pro-naturopathy?
(posts about past week in Chicago/Milwaukee/Wheaton coming as soon as I feel better-I don't have the energy to play with the camera right now.)
Jill is in Rome.
Woe is me.
Many of my Polish students have recommended their versions of local 'medicine' that I should 'take' to feel better. By the way, I have an on-and-off fever, body aches, sore throat, a cough, an incredibly runny nose, dizziness, sleeplessness and basically I just feel like crap.
Recipe #1:
Medium to High quality Whiskey in a glass filled with ice, at least 3/4 full, so the Whiskey is very cold.
Drink one glass at a normal to fast speed. If you don't feel better, keep drinking until the bottle is empty. The important thing is to keep the Whiskey very cold, so have plenty of ice handy. The only warning was that though you may have a hangover in the morning, you will be cured!
Recipe #2:
Warm up a decent quality beer in a pot and add a few dollops of honey. Temperature should not exceed 60 degrees Celsius (130F?) as it will null the 'healing' qualities of the honey. When the Polish brew is ready, drink in one sitting, then pound a shot of good quality vodka.
Voila! You're cured!
(and a new one)
Recipe #3:
One glass of milk, 2 cloves of garlic and some honey.
Warm the milk, crush the garlic and add everything to the warmed milk. Drink the nasty concoction just before going to bed. You'll stink for a week, buy you'll feel better in the morning after sweating out the garlic (except the smell!) all night!
ugh, all I can think of is soup and smoothies, of which I have neither :-(
Oh, and by the way, EVERY SINGLE STUDENT AND COWORKER HAS SAID TO NOT TAKE MEDICINE, AS IT IS BAD FOR YOU.
Hmm, I wonder how the Poles became so pro-naturopathy?
(posts about past week in Chicago/Milwaukee/Wheaton coming as soon as I feel better-I don't have the energy to play with the camera right now.)
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