-- BEGINNING OF A NEW WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST - AN INTERESTING ANALYSIS BY BARTOSZ WĘGLARCZYK: “His death closes one bloody chapter in the region's history and opens the last one, likely even more bloody. Iran cannot fail to avenge his death. As always in such cases, ordinary people, who have always borne the greatest sacrifice in this endless war in the Middle East, will be the biggest victims of this revenge.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/opinie/to-bedzie-poczatek-nowej-wojny-na-bliskim-wschodzie-analiza/qc87y72 -- JERZY HASZCZYŃSKI ON TWITTER: “Gen. Solejmani was more important to Iran than a cabinet of ministers, the president. He could have died long ago, but no one dared (the USA forbade the Israelis to shoot him in February 2008). For fear of consequences. Now we will learn Iran's answer. Its strength. A time of anxiety in a US election year.” https://twitter.com/jhaszczynski/status/1213031410912464896?s=21 -- NO CLEAR FAVORITE IN THE CIVIC PLATFORM RACE - KANTAR FOR TVN - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/01/03/ -- MORE POSITIVES IN SCHETYNA'S LEADERSHIP - RAFAŁ CHWEDORUK IN FAKT: “It's hard to say if Grzegorz Schetyna was a very good or weak leader. He simply saved the existence of Civic Platform. At the moment he took power in PO, it went from a ruling party to an opposition party. In addition, it had a powerful liberal competitor in the form of Nowoczesna. There was also the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD), which wanted to take PO's place. It is precisely saving the party that is Schetyna's ticket to run for re-election. But there are more positive aspects to his leadership.” -- HE DID INDEED SAVE THE PLATFORM - CHWEDORUK CONTINUES: “Grzegorz Schetyna managed to maintain real support for Civic Platform and ensure it ceased to be a negative point of reference in Polish politics. In 2015, after PO lost the elections, it seemed that the party might soon become a pariah of Polish politics. Meanwhile, it managed to gain allies, both to its left and right.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/rafal-chwedoruk-o-przywodztwie-grzegorza-schetyny/zdjg75p -- SCHETYNA MADE THE DECISION AT NIGHT - JACEK GĄDEK IN GAZETA: “Even Grzegorz Schetyna's closest circle has seen a dwindling of support for his run for the leadership of Civic Platform. - Grzegorz made the decision at night - we hear from a PO politician. Schetyna has until today to make his decision. Politicians from the younger generation are already vying for his succession.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25562851,grzegorz-schetyna-zrezygnuje-albo-zagra-va-banque-ryzyko-przegranej.html -- POLAND IS ISOLATED? LATER REACTIONS FROM AMBASSADORS FURTHER WEAKENED THE IMPACT OF THESE RITUALISTIC LAMENTS - PIOTR ZAREMBA IN PTT: “I am not saying that there is no truth in the vision of Poland being too often isolated, too ineffective in gaining allies. But this is not the case, and moreover, subsequent statements from ambassadors of several Western countries further weakened the impact of these ritualistic laments. The question remains open as to what should dominate in the face of such an attack from Russia. Internal quarrels and reckonings, based on stretched assumptions on top of that? Or following Donald Tusk's appeal for unity in the face of threat? Of course, Tusk formulated his call in a sufficiently general way that everyone could pretend it was not directed at them.” -- ZAREMBA ON THE CONSPIRACY APPROACH - THE LIBERAL LEFT IS FALLING INTO IT MORE AND MORE OFTEN: “Incidentally, some people on the left, and above all the anti-PiS crowd online, often think more naively. PiS is bad because it has alienated us from Putin. If so, then there's no point lamenting Poland's isolation, but rather preparing to beg for forgiveness on our knees. Meanwhile, the conclusions are often astonishing. One commentator in 'Wyborcza,' trying to defend the narrative of PiS being oriented towards Putin (as this legend functions alongside the narrative of PiS alienating us from Russia), suggested that the Russian president is attacking Poland to help the right in the next elections. As you can see, no one has a monopoly on a conspiratorial approach, and the liberal left is falling into it more and more often.” -- ZAREMBA ON THE EDITORIAL COMMENT OF GW - THIS EXAMPLE SHOWS HOW NAIVE AND FULL OF INCONSISTENCIES THE POLISH DEBATE ABOUT ANYTHING IS: “I have the impression, however, that although Kurski is a history graduate, he is not guided by precise historical thought. It is rather a matter of the frayed nerves of his environment. This example shows once again how superficial and naive, how full of intellectual inconsistencies, the Polish debate about anything is. If Poland is a 'freak' today, then Kurski has his part in it.” -- THE PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT WAS COMPLETELY SUFFICIENT - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “An indirect consequence of Polish quarrels (Putin must be very pleased with this effect) is the wave of criticism towards President Andrzej Duda for not personally engaging in polemics with Putin. Mritically, these opposition complaints make no sense. The Prime Minister's statement was completely sufficient. But it is clear that all sorts of tricks are used in campaigns.” https://polskatimes.pl/piotr-zaremba-na-niemadrych-konfliktach-wokol-sporu-z-rosja-traca-nie-politycy-ale-polska/ar/c15-14693141 -- PFN IS ONE OF THE GREATEST COMPROMISES OF THE RIGHT - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “The Polish National Foundation (PFN) has a chance to go down in recent history as one of the biggest compromises of the United Right camp. And become its symbol. This story contains everything characteristic of the last four years: a quite accurate diagnosis, a mediocre idea, and catastrophic execution. Poland indeed has many image problems, and the establishment of an institution to combat them was not inherently a stupid idea. But then all the sins typical of the current government were committed – the primacy of arrogance over rationality, the priority of ideology over pragmatism, a deep reluctance for any transparency, and many others. Polish national complexes, doused with enormous amounts of money, turned out to be a fatal combination. In this way, hundreds of millions of zlotys paid by State Treasury companies into the Polish National Foundation's account were spent in a manner that was at least questionable.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/301029905-Szuldrzynski-Kompleksy-podlane-pieniedzmi.html -- HOŁOWNIA'S STRATEGISTS ARE PREPARING A MARKETING PRODUCT - MARCIN FIJOŁEK: “However, while in Kukiz's case we had (and still largely have) a very chaotic message based on slogans related to single-member constituencies and more frequent referendums, and the rockman's strength was his feistiness and authenticity, Hołownia's campaign strategists are preparing a marketing project.” -- A PROFESSIONALLY CRAFTED BUSINESS PLAN FOR HOŁOWNIA'S CAMPAIGN - FIJOŁEK CONTINUES: “This is confirmed by the interested party himself, who, when approached on Facebook by one of his supporters demanding a program and specifics instead of nice-sounding, round words like from a coaching trainer or an American pastor. 'If I were to lay all my cards on the table now, we would spend the time until February dealing only with me, and everyone else would calmly enter the stage in March. We have approximately 130 days until the first round,' wrote Hołownia, which only confirms Pyza and Wikła's thesis about a very precisely and professionally crafted 'business plan' for Hołownia's election campaign. -- FOR A POLISH ZELENSKY, WE'D HAVE TO LOOK FOR MAGDA GESSLER - FIJOŁEK CONTINUES: “Good-sounding generalities and slogans appealing to 'different politics' are sufficient only up to a certain point - it doesn't seem like we have fertile ground in Poland for the successful implementation of projects like those of actor Zelensky from Ukraine. Moreover, Hołownia himself doesn't seem to be as recognizable and liked as the aforementioned comedian across our eastern border: in Poland, one would have to look for candidates among, I'm guessing blindly, Magda Gessler or Robert Lewandowski. With all due sympathy to the TVN presenter: not in that league.” -- JUST SOME COLOR FOR THE START OF THE YEAR? - FIJOŁEK CONTINUES: “If, however, the strategists and mysterious 'experts' are able to fill Hołownia's project with at least a few concrete topics that Duda, Kidawa-Błońska, Kosiniak-Kamysz, and following them, parties and media, will have to address, then we can talk about some success. Equally, the whole story could turn out to be a colorful ephemera, and Hołownia will return to one television studio or another (or be absorbed into the lists of one of the parties as an independent voice). In any case, Polish politics will certainly get some color at the beginning of the year (especially after the official start of the campaign). That's something too.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/480246-myslenie-zyczeniowe-nigdy-nie-jest-dobrym-doradca-w-polityce -- DUPA IS NOT THREATENED BY KOMOROWSKI'S FATE BECAUSE HE HAS NO GLASS BELL OVER HIM - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “Bronisław Komorowski didn't even try any reforms; he functioned in a situation of de facto media monopoly, in a sense living under a glass bell. The media didn't control him, but protected him. When the message of Jarosław Kaczyński's camp, credible and responding to people's needs, broke this protective barrier (the appearance of independent media also had a huge impact), the air went out of the balloon. President Duda is not threatened by such a fate because there is no glass bell over him. And there never was. Not a single meanness, not one bitter word, and not one furious demonstration has been spared him and his family for these five years. And yet, he has support that allows him, in favorable circumstances, to think about winning in the first round! So, these are seemingly similar poll numbers, but much less fragile.” -- HE MUST FIGHT FOR A SECOND TERM AS A CANDIDATE OF CHANGE - KARNOWSKI'S CONCLUSION:“It is certainly worth acting rationally, but President Andrzej Duda will win another term only if he continues the line that, despite such harsh attacks, still gives him such strong support. Just as he was the president of changes in Poland, he must fight for a second term as a candidate of change. Likely of other, new changes, perhaps differently named, but still changes, reforms, movement. Because Komorowski, let's remember, also lost because Poles saw that he was already doing well and therefore he had nothing more to offer them than a deadly silence.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/480374-dlaczego-54-dudy-to-wiecej-niz-70-komorowskiego -- MY APOLOGIES, BUT MISS GRETA SOMETIMES TALKS NONSENSE - ROMAN GRACZYK IN INTERIA: “It's interesting why young activists didn't notice communism among the socio-political systems responsible for polluting our planet. After all, its contribution in this regard is gigantically burdened by the past achievements of the Soviet Union and contemporary People's Republic of China. Even more interesting is where patriarchy came to their minds in this context. And what does it actually mean under their pen. Is it just the system of male dominance as such, or – as contemporary political correctness would have it – simply the institutions of marriage and family, perceived as by definition places where this male dominance is realized?” -- GRACZYK ON THE MINDLESS HUNT FOR JĘDRASZEWSKI: “Thank God, not everyone has gone mad yet. A praiseworthy exception in the chorus of the politically correct was Edwin Bendyk's text. Bendyk shows that Abp Jędraszewski 'says what the Pope says, albeit in a less elegant and nuanced way,' yet the politically correct relentlessly point out to the Archbishop of Krakow, even on this matter, a departure from Francis's line. In turn, Małgorzata Bilska, but she is not politically correct, demonstrates strong convergences in Abp Jędraszewski's thinking with Pope John Paul II's document from 2003, titled 'Jesus Christ the Source of Living Water.' Simply put, the Church has its social doctrine. His views on all worldly matters are rooted in the divine plan of Creation and the divine plan of Salvation. Presumably, as long as Christianity is Christianity, it cannot be otherwise. Making this a reproach to the Archbishop of Krakow would be nonsense, even if it stemmed from his actual words. And when it stems only from the signal of a pursuer to a hunt, it is pathetic. Archbishop Jędraszewski is criticizable, like everyone else. But for several years now, it has become fashionable to attack him – generally, one might say, for being himself. This says less about the – right or wrong – views of the attacked person, and more about the low intentions of the attackers.” https://fakty.interia.pl/opinie/graczyk/news-arcybiskup-jako-chlopiec-do-bicia,nId,4239987 -- POOR MILLENNIALS LOOK AT THE PRL - GALOPUJĄCY MAJOR IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “And yet, it is enough to drop Konrad Piasecki and any millennial in the middle of any housing estate and point out that this block, this kindergarten, and above all this 'tysiąclatka' school was built during the PRL. Yes, the PRL built over a thousand schools for the millennium, the Third Republic, or perhaps already the Fourth Republic, built a hundred 'independence benches' for the centenary of independence.” -- MAJOR ON PIS WHICH IS WATCHING CLOSELY: “PiS is listening to this discussion, and it neither proposes nor buries its head in the sand, but simply introduces PRL-era solutions in administration and judiciary, combined with PRL-era propaganda on TVP and Gierek-era economic plans. They are just announcing the construction of cheap housing. It didn't work the first time, but with large investments, it's possible that it will succeed, at least partially, in the second term. And then a third term is certain, because, strangely enough, most Poles will prefer to live in a flawed state, supposedly a reconstruction of the PRL, rather than in a supposedly just state that is a reconstruction of the Poland of the Freedom Union and Leszek Balcerowicz.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/galopujacy-major/biedni-milenialsi-patrza-na-prl/ -- IT IS HIGH TIME TO CROSS OUT BALCEROWICZ'S PLAN WITH A THICK LINE - MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI IN KRYTYKA: “I will add completely on my own (and this would be the third, most subjective, argument) that in the summer and autumn of 1989, no one was lining up to handle all this mess. Leszek Balcerowicz took full responsibility for the economic policy of two governments, at the most difficult moment for the Polish economy since the end of World War II. And for this alone, he cannot be denied a place among the great historical figures of the last century. Nor can this figure be reduced to a ridiculous meme. Sorry, liberal bubble, for the sentimentality, but this is where I stand, I can't do otherwise.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/30-lat-planu-balcerowicza-michal-sutowski/ -- IN FAKT, A RECIPE FOR ZANDBERG'S CHEESE: “His specialty is Asian cuisine, but not only. – I really like dishes with homemade paneer cheese, which is made very simply – he says and shares the recipe (we provide it in the box next to it – ed.). Zandberg emphasizes that such cheese can be prepared in a thousand ways. – I like the simplest one: stewed with garam masala, ginger, and onions in tomatoes – the leader of Lewica tells Fakt.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/adrian-zandberg-warzy-indyjski-ser-zobacz-przepis/le1zl35 -- BIRTHDAYS: Alicja Pacewicz, Arleta Zalewska, Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska.