-- JOANNA WNUK-NAZAROWA TURNS 75 TODAY. -- TODAY (MAY 28) AT 7:30 PM, IN "FILHARMONIA DWÓJKA," WE WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN TO A CONCERT FROM THE SILESIAN PHILHARMONIC, HELD ON THE OCCASION OF JOANNA WNUK-NAZAROWA'S BIRTHDAY GALA. -- A YEAR AGO, WNUK-NAZAROWA RECEIVED THE ORDER OF THE WHITE EAGLE: “- I won’t hide the fact that my heart and mind trembled at the news, and I couldn’t come to my senses for many days – she said. She recalled witnessing her “masters, and later great friends – Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Wojciech Kilar” receive the Order of the White Eagle. - And six years ago, also my master and spiritual guide, a brightly shining lantern of the Krakow team for the interpretation and analysis of music – Prof. Mieczysław Tomaszewski – she noted. She dedicated the received decoration to her father, the Krakow writer Włodzimierz Wnuk, recalling his wartime experiences during the ceremony. - For my father, life was not a value in itself. Life had value only to the extent that you dedicated yourself to others, to the extent that you dedicated yourself to the ideas you believed in – she said.” -- BEREK: PART OF THE ELECTION ACTIVITY WAS SUPPORTED BY SOLUTIONS FUNDED FROM THE STATE BUDGET – 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2024/05/28/ -- THE RUSSIAN ARMY IS NOT EQUIPPED TO FIGHT IN RADIOACTIVELY CONTAMINATED TERRAIN. THEREFORE, WE SHOULD NOT INTIMIDATE OURSELVES WITH RUSSIAN THREATS – INTERVIEW WITH SIKORSKI, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS – BARTOSZ WIELIŃSKI, TONIA MASTROBUONI, GLORIA RODRIGUEZ-PINA: “Nuclear weapons are the last card Putin has in his hand. But let's remember that the Russian army is not equipped to fight in radioactively contaminated terrain. The threat of nuclear weapon use carries many such complex implications. Therefore, we should not intimidate ourselves with Russian threats.” -- WE SHOULD MAKE OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM AND PUBLIC OPINION RESISTANT TO RUSSIAN MANIPULATIONS – SIKORSKI TELLS EUROPEAN PRESS JOURNALISTS – INCLUDING GW: “So, the Russians are active everywhere, including in Poland. Therefore, we should make our political system and public opinion resistant to Russian manipulations. Putin has been waging a war against us since 2011, since the time of the large protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg against his return to the presidential office in Russia, which, according to him, were inspired by the West.” -- THEY SAY THEY HATE PUTIN, BUT THEIR PROGRAM IS SIMILAR. MOREOVER, PUBLICATIONS APPEARED IN THE PRESS ASSOCIATED WITH PIS STATING THAT PUTIN HAS AN OFFER FOR EUROPEAN TRADITIONALISTS – SIKORSKI CONTINUES: “Certainly in an ideological sense. One only needs to familiarize oneself with their propaganda: anti-European, targeting minorities, with a cult of the Polish version of machismo. One only needs to look at the use of public media by the party, at the unity of the party and the Church. These are all characteristics of Putinism. They say they hate Putin, but their program is similar. Moreover, publications appeared in the press associated with PiS stating that Putin has an offer for European traditionalists, which is anti-Western, anti-progress, and contests the modern world. These people have been fooled by Putin, because he has made traditionalism a weapon. In every country, at least one-third of the population is susceptible to authoritarian ideas and feels nostalgia for a traditional past. Russians have realized this and are focusing on these voters. In Poland, the recipients of these ideas are PiS and Konfederacja.” -- RUSSIA AND BELARUS REASONABLY ASSUME THAT IF WE ARE UNABLE TO CONTROL THE BORDER, THE FAR-RIGHT WILL TRIUMPH IN ELECTIONS IN OUR COUNTRIES – SIKORSKI CONTINUES: “The plan is simple. Russia and Belarus reasonably assume that if we are unable to control the border, the far-right will triumph in elections in our countries and in European elections. And this will blow up the Union.” -- WE CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN REAL REFUGEES AND PEOPLE BROUGHT TO OUR BORDER BY RUSSIAN GRU – SIKORSKI STATES: “Please also remember that among EU countries, Poland has accepted the most war refugees. We risk another wave of refugees if Putin succeeds in destroying Ukraine's energy network. Therefore, we can distinguish between real refugees, Ukrainian women and children, and people brought to our border by the Russian GRU.” -- WE SHOULD NOT RULE OUT ANY OPTION. LET PUTIN GUESS WHAT WE WILL DO – SIKORSKI SAYS. -- SOWING CHAOS, UNDERMINING TRUST – THIS IS THE RUSSIAN BUSINESS MODEL – SIKORSKI CONTINUES: “Of course. They interfered in our elections from 2014. They interfered in the elections in the USA, in the Brexit referendum. They continue to do so and will do everything to destabilize us, to frustrate us. They will try to provide our societies with arguments that democracy doesn't work, and to Russian society that we are no better than Russia in anything. Sowing chaos, undermining trust – this is the Russian business model.” -- I WOULD ABOLISH UNANIMITY ONLY IN ONE AREA: IN VOTING ON IMPOSING SANCTIONS – SIKORSKI CONTINUES: “I would abolish unanimity only in one area: in voting on imposing sanctions. The situation where one country can block or slow down the imposition of sanctions is not good.” -- FROM GERMANY'S SECURITY PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS RUSSIA, POLAND IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN ANTI-TANK MINE – FURTHER FRAGMENT OF THE CONVERSATION WITH SIKORSKI: “Distance from Russia matters. From Germany's security perspective towards Russia, Poland is nothing more than an anti-tank mine. But Russian tanks will not threaten Germany. - Why? - Because their engines do not meet EU standards. If they cross the Polish border, our traffic police will stop them.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,31007725,radoslaw-sikorski-dla-europejskich-gazet-polska-z-punktu-widzenia.html -- THE PRESIDENT OF LITHUANIA WANTS TO BE LIKE JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI – JERZY HASZCZYŃSKI IN RZ: “Lithuanian conservatives are with PO in the European People's Party and want to be as mainstream as possible there. Gitanas Nausėda, on the other hand, is like PiS in a light version. Sometimes he even shows that he is close to PiS, especially to Andrzej Duda. He surprised PO a few weeks ago by saying that it was President Duda who convinced Donald Trump to unblock military aid for Ukraine by American Republicans. Some believe he would like to be like Jarosław Kaczyński, but he doesn't have his own party and collects support as a non-party leader of a diverse anti-Landsbergist camp. Now he will likely still not have a party, but his possibilities will increase.” https://www.rp.pl/publicystyka/art40465141-prezydent-litwy-chce-byc-jak-jaroslaw-kaczynski -- TODAY, ONE GETS THE IMPRESSION THAT THE PROSECUTOR IS THE ONE WHO HAS GOOD MEDIA COVERAGE AND GETS MANY LIKES – TOMASZ PIETRYGA IN RZ: “Perhaps the government should intensify work on separating the functions of the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice, and entrust the former to Roman Giertych. At least no one will have doubts about who is pursuing and prosecuting suspects. Today, one gets the impression that the prosecutor is the one who has good media coverage and gets many likes.” https://www.rp.pl/opinie-prawne/art40470781-nadprokurator-roman-giertych-czy-prokuratura-bedzie-juz-zawsze-milczec -- WHAT CONNECTS LESS CALM ERAS IS THE SENSE OF LOSS, UNCONTROLLED GRIEF FOR A WORLD THAT IS IRREVOCABLY PASSING AWAY, ALONG WITH ITS WAYS OF BEHAVIOR, COMMUNICATION, SOURCES OF IDENTITY, FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP TIES – KAROLINA WIGURA IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “But where does this crisis come from? Where do the differentiation and stress come from? In a recently popular Chinese sci-fi novel, we read about a world where epochs of stability and chaos follow each other. Similarly to this world, ours also experiences periods that are more and less calm. What connects less calm eras is the sense of loss, uncontrolled grief for a world that is irrevocably passing away, along with its ways of behavior, communication, sources of identity, family and friendship ties. Does this justify violence? Certainly not. However, it certainly makes us aware that in our rapidly changing, polarized, and stressful societies, we urgently need spaces where freedom of speech exists without fear of being removed, ‘canceled,’ where such spaces are protected in the name of a new iteration of the Millian public debate. Otherwise, we face terrorization by violence, and with it, the death of academia and the death of public debate as such.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2024/05/28/epoka-chaosu-czyli-zaloba-po-swiecie-ktory-odchodzi/ -- THE LIBERAL SIDE HAS A CHRONIC PROBLEM WITH SELF-IDENTIFICATION. IT WAS KNOWN THAT IT WAS GOING TO THE ELECTIONS TO STOP THE COUNTRY'S AUTOCTIZATION BY PIS, RESTORE WOMEN'S SAFETY AND THE RULE OF LAW, AND HOLD THE PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE. AND PEOPLE VOTED IN RECORD NUMBERS. BUT WHAT ARE THE OFFENSIVE GOALS? – TOMASZ SAWCZUK IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “The liberal side has a chronic problem with self-identification. It was known that it was going to the elections to stop the country's autocratization by PiS, restore women's safety and the rule of law, and hold the previous government accountable. And people voted in record numbers. But what are the offensive goals? The first component of this question is whether the liberal side even imagines that it is allowed to have offensive goals. Because as soon as Rafał Trzaskowski did a small thing, he introduced an ordinance which would result in the withdrawal of religious symbols from public offices in Warsaw, a series of voices immediately rose, asking if this wasn't too much of a provocation to conservatives. It doesn't matter that it is a small-scale, common-sense action consistent with the government coalition's election promises – the biggest fear is: what will the right-wing say about it. Liberals too often live in terror of conservative opinion. But appeasement does not work in the long run.” -- THE LIBERAL SIDE WILL MAKE A HUGE MISTAKE IF IT HANDS OVER THE ETHOS OF THE STATE TO THE RIGHT-WING – WHETHER FOR IDEOLOGICAL REASONS OR DUE TO NEGLECT. THERE IS NO STABLE FREEDOM WITHOUT A STRONG AND EFFICIENT STATE – SAWCZUK CONTINUES IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “The liberal side will make a huge mistake if it hands over the ethos of the state to the right-wing – whether for ideological reasons or due to neglect. There is no stable freedom without a strong and efficient state. Moreover, we live in times when a series of global and local crises necessitate increased conceptual and organizational effort at the state level. If this is not shaped into a clear and convincing political strategy, which will be an expression of liberal-democratic will to power, then liberals will gradually start to lose to forces that, in practice, destroy the state, but in their rhetoric will sing political songs more in line with the spirit of the times.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2024/05/27/sawczuk-strona-liberalna-popelni-potezny-blad-jesli-odda-etos-panstwowy-prawicy/ -- BIRTHDAYS: Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, Jacek Weksler, Krzysztof Lisek, Bożena Sławiak.