-- 300LIVE: NITRAS ASKS ABOUT DELAYS IN ELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT JOUROVA ON A NEW CHAPTER OF DIALOGUE GOWIN ON THE JUDICIARY CLASH https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/01/28/ -- JĘDRZEJ BIELECKI ON POLAND'S NARRATIVE SUCCESS AFTER ALL - writes in RZ: “From the ‘Los Angeles Times’ to ‘El Pais,’ discussions with survivors appeared in global media. Their message was clear: what World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder calls the ‘zenith of evil’ was committed by Germans. Poland, which seemed to have decided not to respond to Vladimir Putin’s provocative falsification of history, was therefore exceptionally successful.” -- DUDA HIMSELF DID NOT FULLY ADHERE TO HISTORICAL TRUTH - FURTHER JĘDRZEJ BIELECKI: “Unfortunately, the Polish president did not offer even a few, but very important words about those Poles who handed over their Jewish neighbors to their deaths. Duda appealed for historical truth, but did not fully adhere to it himself. He preferred a patent vision of an immaculate nation that fought on all fronts of the Second World War. Only the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, surpassed Duda in this rhetoric, who, forgetting how many Ukrainians served the extermination camps from Treblinka to Sobibór, spoke only of Ukrainian liberators of Auschwitz and Ukrainian victims of the Nazis.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/301279912-Bielecki-Prezydent-nie-wytrzymal.html -- WHEN SURVIVORS SPEAK, POLITICIANS SHOULD REMAIN SILENT - PAWEŁ WROŃSKI IN GW: “President Duda reminded us that we Poles have a special obligation to cherish the memory of Auschwitz. Recent events prove that this cannot be done alone.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25639838,gdy-mowia-ocaleni-politycy-winni-milczec.html -- THIS IS THE RESULT OF NEGLECT FROM THE 90S - PROF. ANTONI DUDEK IN CONVERSATION WITH JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ ON THE OBSERVANCES: “The fact that we have allowed such observances to be organized outside of Poland is a problem, but it is the result of neglect since the 1990s. When we established relations with Israel, we should have reached an agreement and acknowledged that the observances would take place on Polish soil. The extermination camps are on Polish land, and this is the proper place to discuss them. Of course, the Jewish side, which wants to commemorate victims and talk about the Holocaust on its own territory, has the right to do so, but there should be cooperation between Poland and Israel. If along the way there are such missteps, like the infamous IPN law, which we had to stealthily withdraw from after a few months and which caused outrage in the USA and Israel, then we are bearing the consequences today.” -- PIS BELIEVES THAT THANKS TO THE VOTES OF THE CONFEDERATION, ACCUSED OF BEING PRO-RUSSIAN, THEY WILL WIN IN THE FIRST ROUND - FURTHER DUDEK IN RZ: “Chairman Kaczyński must believe that this conflict with Russia will allow them to crush the Confederation and Krzysztof Bosak as a presidential candidate. Andrzej Duda is just a few percent short of winning the presidential election in the first round; the candidate from the Confederation has these few percent. If Bosak and the Confederation can be presented as a pro-Russian party, then voters, at least partially, will leave him, and they certainly won't vote for Ms. Kidawa-Błońska or candidates from the center or the left, but will cast their vote for Andrzej Duda. Perhaps these few percent will be added, and Duda will win in the first round. This is the sense of Chairman Kaczyński's statement, and likely many others we will hear. -- THE FIRST ROUND IS DIFFICULT, BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE - FURTHER PROF. DUDEK ON THE PRESIDENT'S RE-ELECTION CHANCES: “It will be very difficult, but I wouldn't rule it out. We will see how the candidates' campaigns unfold, especially Ms. Kidawa-Błońska’s. If it is weak, people will look for other candidates, and contrary to what some say, that there is an absolutely insurmountable wall between Andrzej Duda and, for example, Kosiniak-Kamysz, Hołownia, or Kidawa-Błońska, I maintain that there is a certain percentage, around 10%, of the electorate that still ignores the Polish-Polish war and will make a decision at the last moment. They might like, for instance, that Duda speaks beautifully, and Ms. Kidawa-Błońska speaks less beautifully, so they will vote for him. If she has a weak campaign, then part of her voters in May may give Andrzej Duda a first-round victory.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/301279910-Prof-Antoni-Dudek-Andrzej-Duda-jest-zakladnikiem-PiS.html -- THE EFFECTS OF PUTIN'S ACTIONS ARE LESS THAN EXPECTED - KAJA PUTO IN CRITIQUE: “Putin played this all out cleverly, but the effects – for now – are probably less than expected. Russians shrugged, and the EU, despite difficult relations with Poland, stood in solidarity to defend it. It is also difficult to expect Kremlin propaganda to radically influence European public opinion, which is quite aware of Russia's ambiguous role in World War II, as well as what Putin is capable of in his information war – especially since the liberal mainstream has regularly blamed him for all evil in Europe for several years.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/kaja-puto/putin-swiatowe-forum-holocaustu/ -- 51% OF POLES BELIEVE THE SUPREME COURT IS RIGHT - Dziennik Gazeta Prawna's front page on a poll for Dziennik and RMF FM. -- THE SAME POLL CITED BY DGP SHOWS AN INCREASE IN SUPPORT FOR PIS FROM 35 TO 38%, FOR KO FROM 25 TO 26%, LEWICA FROM 12 TO 15, AND PSL FROM 5 TO 7, but it's by Ibris under a new name, United Surveys: https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/polityka/artykul-prasowy/6428238,wyborcy-pis-spor-sady.html -- IN FOOTBALL, THEY PLAY WITH THEIR HANDS - ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI ON PIS IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “Let’s imagine that in a football match, one of the teams suddenly starts passing to each other and throwing the ball into the goal with their hands. If this were to happen, the referee could only do one thing: send the team off the field. PiS’s fight with the Polish judiciary is an analogous situation.” -- INSULTS ARE MEANT TO DISTRACT ATTENTION - FURTHER PAWŁOWSKI: “Instead of reacting, it’s better to ask what this constant barrage of insults serves. What is it meant to distract from? The answer is simple – from the power grab that PiS is carrying out, justifying it with concern for ordinary Poles and historical justice. It's exactly the same as Orbán did.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2020/01/28/pawlowski-sady-pis-reforma-polska-pilka-nozna/ -- THE MORE CONFLICTS PIS ENTANGLES DUDA IN, THE MORE IT HARMS HIM - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “The head of state also remains silent on the issue of the services, which failed not only in the Marian Banaś affair but also abused their power, seeking dirt on political opponents. Did Andrzej Duda pardon Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, who incited agent Tomek to break the law? This is what the former MP testified under oath and in an interview with TVN 24 journalists. The more disputes PiS involves its presidential candidate in before the May elections, the more it harms him. The president today appears as a PiS hawk, and it is not to such a politician that Poles have entrusted the most important office in the state.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/301279905-Nizinkiewicz-PiS-obniza-Dudzie-szklany-sufit.html -- A CHANCE TO BREAK THE IMPASSE - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ ON THE WORDS OF THE PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL: “Therefore, the words of President Reuven Rivlin, who stated that the Israeli nation wants to extend a hand to the Polish nation, inviting the President of Poland to visit Jerusalem to work on improving mutual relations, are a good omen. We finally have a chance to break out of this two-year impasse. Of course, there will be differences, disputes, conflicts of interest between our countries – this is obvious in international relations. But it is precisely the community of memory, which on Monday united several dozen presidents, prime ministers, kings, and princes in Auschwitz, that makes the relations between the Polish and Jewish nations remain special.” -- LET'S NOT WASTE THE CHANCE IN THE SHADOW OF THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN - FURTHER SZUŁDRZYŃSKI: “We stand before a chance. Let’s not waste it for current political gains. And such temptations, especially during an election campaign, may appear in both our countries. In March, Israelis will go to the polls to elect a new Knesset, and in May, Poles will elect a president. Let’s not waste the chance that fate gives us, let’s not allow mutual relations to become hostages of extreme circles on the Vistula or between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/301279900-Szuldrzynski-Szansa-na-polsko-izraelski-przelom.html -- BUDKA OWES HIS VICTORY TO WARSAW - GAZETA STOŁECZNA: “For the past few years, the command center of Civic Platform has been in Wrocław. But the choice of the new chairman was decided by Warsaw members of the party. The majority of Borys Budka's collaborators will come from the capital. 20 percent of all votes cast in the election for the PO chairman came from Warsaw and Mazovia – ‘Wyborcza’ has established. This is an undoubted merit of Marcin Kierwiński, head of the party’s Warsaw structures.” https://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,25637837,borys-budka-zawdziecza-wygrana-warszawie-stolica-bedzie-rzadzic.html -- PLATFORM MUST BE SOMETHING - ŁUKASZ ROGOJSZ IN GAZETA.PL ON BUDKA'S CHALLENGES: “However, there is no other way. The Platform must begin to respond, first, to the changing socio-economic reality, and second, to be flexible in the face of dynamic political realities (PO is competing today not so much with PiS for power in Poland, but with the Left for primacy in the opposition, and there is also the PSL, which wants to nibble away at the Platform in the center). The Platform must be something – distinct, with a vision, innovative, bold. It cannot be fixated on being a party with two wings, from right to left. It should be a formation that wins elections, and pretending that it is still 2011 has failed several times recently. For the past four years, PO wanted to be like tomato soup – to please everyone (everyone except PiS, of course), and this is a dead end. It’s time to redefine its identity. If it succeeds, a concrete program offer must follow. If not, then we can essentially turn off the lights at the plant, because it won’t get any better.” -- SCHETYNA HAD NOWOCZESNA, BUDKA HAS THE LEFT, WHICH IS MORE EFFICIENT: “Schetyna had his Nowoczesna, and Budka has his Left. The problem is that Włodzimierz Czarzasty and Adrian Zandberg are much more dangerous and skillful opponents in political games than Ryszard Petru. It’s futile to expect them to undermine the Platform as Nowoczesna did at one time. The beginning of the term has shown that the Left wants to build an image of a substantive and trustworthy formation, with a clear positive program for Poles. They are not interested in being the darling of the mainstream media; their presence in the media is a means to an end, not an end in itself.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25637475,szesc-problemow-budki-to-od-nowego-szefa-platformy-zalezy.html -- GW ON THE FRONT PAGE ABOUT THE CHARGES AGAINST MARIUSZ KAMIŃSKI: “’Wyborcza’ reveals a secret prosecutor’s motion to the Sejm from 2014: Mariusz Kamiński, as head of the CBA, while prosecuting former president Kwaśniewski, illegally obtained wiretap authorizations, abused his position, and conducted an unlawful special operation.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25639791,39-zarzutow-dla-szefa-cba-tajny-wniosek-prokuratury-potwierdza.html -- THE GOVERNMENT TRAPPED BY MINIMUM WAGE - LUDWIK DORN IN GW: “Limiting the inflationary wage equalization is like chopped sauerkraut, which according to the proverb, goes down easily; it's a vital issue, simple, understandable, and evoking deep emotions. It is primarily an opportunity to win over a significant number of voters from the better-qualified working class and the lower middle class, which have so far leaned towards PiS. The painful effects of inflation and the sense of social injustice associated with PiS’s equalization most strongly affect the material and moral interests of this group, which falls between the minimum wage and the median income. Here, the unfair flattening of the income structure will be felt most acutely, and moreover, the lower the household’s disposable income, the larger its portion is allocated to fixed expenses (energy, waste disposal, etc.) and food and basic services, making the effects of inflation most painful. The key to the presidential victory lies in increasing the PO candidate’s support within this group.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25638722,wladza-w-pulapce-placy-minimalnej.html -- EDYTA BRYŁA IN GW ON WHY LOT NEEDS CONDOR: “However, Condor has a good reputation, is a known brand, generates profits, and was strong enough to continue flying after the collapse of Thomas Cook. It has many loyal customers. Maciej Nykiel, formerly head of Neckermann in Poland, a subsidiary of Thomas Cook that it dragged down, points out that valuable long-term contracts are more important than aircraft age. - Condor has a lot of good assets, it's still a healthy company - says Nykiel.” -- LOT, ALONG WITH CONDOR, RECEIVES SLOTS: “He adds that along with LOT Polish Airlines, it will receive slots (landing and takeoff permits at specific times) at German airports, for example, in Frankfurt. Other experts emphasize that these benefits are mutually exclusive. If planes are moved from Germany, the airline will lose its slots there. Moreover, Milczarski promised to preserve jobs at Condor, which would not have been possible if the planes were transferred to Poland. According to Nykiel, LOT was impressed by the high turnover of companies in the tour operator industry. Itaka had PLN 2.5 billion in turnover, TUI similarly, and Rainbow Tours, third in the market, not much less. Coral Travel – PLN 1 billion in turnover.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,25637258,po-co-lot-kupil-niemieckiego-condora-na-zachodzie-nie-moga.html -- 10 years ago, then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that he would not run in the upcoming presidential elections. -- BIRTHDAYS: Urszula Pasławska, Magdalena Kochan.