News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Why did Szydło say that these were her priorities for the first 100 days if they had no intention of fulfilling them?

As an aside, Morawiecki seems to be a real thorn in the side of the government. He's now made it crystal clear that the situation with the ZUS deficit is severe and that drastic action will have to be taken.

For readers that are unaware - Poland's social security system is in a huge mess.


wyborcza.biz/biznes/1,147880,19669459,zatrwazajace-dane-zus-na-emerytury-moze-zabraknac-nawet-400.html

The problem is partially caused by unreasonable transfers. Miners for example have many special privileges when it comes to retirement, which results in the State having to subsidise the pensions of retired miners to the tune of 6 billion złoty a year. The situation is bad, and to make matters worse for the government, these numbers are based on the retirement age of 67 for men and women.

However, that's not all. Even if we take the optimistic ZUS forecast - a deficit of 50 billion złoty a year that needs to be covered by the budget - Poland also has to transfer 16 billion złoty a year to the farmer's social insurance fund (farmers pay a very special, privileged, tiny rate of social insurance) as well as 13 billion złoty to people that served in the uniformed services. (mundurówki - Polonius?)

That means that in the best case scenario, Poland has to pay 79 billion złoty a year from the budget just to cover the shortfall. To give an idea how serious this is - the Polish budget for 2016 predicts revenues of 313 billion. As the article says, the authors of the new pension system in 1999 envisioned that there would be a single pension rate for all retired people without any special privileges for farmers, miners and other special groups. Unfortunately, no government since then has dared to introduce such a reform because of the usual hysterical overreaction by those special interest groups.

Needless to say, cutting the retirement age was a promise that simply can't be kept.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


The voters certainly think so. The almost constant scandal and nepotism surrounding PiS is doing them no favours whatsoever.

I still can't believe that they openly fired a world class expert in his field and replaced him with someone that doesn't even know the basics about horses.


Do you think they even bothered to count the votes? Given the charade when Kaczyński gets re-elected as party leader with 100% of the vote, North Korean style counting is completely up their street :D I remember there were several amusing incidents when they posted polls on their various media outlets online, and people voted "no" against them - only for them to remove the polls because the result didn't show what they wanted it to show!

After 100 days of the government, here's a simple infographic to show how the government only fulfilled 1 out of 8 promises and how most of them aren't anywhere near ready to be introduced into law. These were the promises that formed the backbone of the "first 100 days" and shows how PiS lied through their face to their electorate.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

What strikes me as remarkable is that we're seeing PiS drown in corruption and nepotism, yet you keep attacking the opposition. Is it to draw attention away from the uncomfortable fact that yet another person connected to Kaczyński's inner circle has been revealed as a criminal?

Meanwhile, three separate polls run recently show that Szydło's government has the worst reputation after the first 100 days of a new Sejm. On the other hand, TV Republika ran a poll asking if viewers were satisfied with the government. The results, in true North Korean style :

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

Well, well, well.

Two of the documents released by the IPN recently just so happen to have been already judged to be fakes in 1990.

witter.com/Exen/status/702403724703092737/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

This rather destroys the credibility of the IPN on the matter.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


They don't have any policies, their only policy is to extract as much money from the budget as possible for them and their friends.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


There are no situations in which you can justify appointing lesser candidates to a position. The best person should get the job, because that's what's best for Poland. If you start appointing clueless fools to top positions, all you're doing is sending out a message that there's no point in working hard to everyone else because they'll never get the top job.

Strange to see you promoting affirmative action, though.

Another day, and yet more corruption is revealed.

This time, it concerns the Minister of Finance, Paweł Szałamacha. It transpires that when he was studying in Harvard in 2014, he didn't actually receive the official break from work (i.e., the Sejm) - but rather continued to draw his salary from the Sejm for the entire period of his studies there.


tokfm.pl/Tokfm/1,130517,19670142,rz-min-szlamacha-przez-rok-byl-na-urlopie-w-usa-caly-czas.html#BoxNewsImg

It's becoming almost a game to see which member of PiS can be the most corrupt.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


I think if it's the national one, we refer to it as the Stud with a capital to differentiate between random stud farms and the biggest/most important one.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


No, Polonius, the best candidate is the one with the best qualifications, relevant experience and stature in the industry in which he or she works. Nothing else. In this case, PiS fired the vice chairman of the world association for Arabian horses - which means that no-one in Poland was more qualified to run the Stud than him.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Or perhaps the best thing is to have the best possible candidate in the job? In this case, Poland's lost a world class expert in his field who had turned the Polish Arabian horse into something desirable on the world scale? You're always talking about how Polish business should be encouraged and developed - yet PiS have just put someone with no knowledge or experience in charge of a successful Polish business.

If people want the job, it's their job to become world class experts in their field. That's how society should work, not on the basis of being simply an approved Party man. I seem to recall that one of the worst aspects of Communism was the way that the vast majority of managers were there because they belonged to the Party and had a political patron - not because they were the right person for the job.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Would you care to comment about the nepotism shown by PiS in which ordinary Polish experts in their field are fired so that people with no knowledge/experience in the field can take their jobs?

Life / Why Do You Love Poland? [907]


Nothing to apologise for, you're completely correct.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Oh they will. Perhaps not imprisonment, but public humiliation (flogging) and being expelled from the cult certainly will.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Another day, another "good change", this time at the world famous Polish stud in Janów Podlaski. It's famous for producing an excellent Arabian horse, which also sell for large amounts of money in the world.

Anyway.


The nepotism and corruption of PiS continues. The same story is being repeated day after day - people with no experience or knowledge in their field are being appointed to every single state controlled company and institution in sight. These people in turn are appointing their own cronies to middle management levels, meaning that the state is controlled by people who only have Party loyalty as their experience.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Latest news :

wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1025897,title,Sondaz-IBRiS-dla-Wirtualnej-Polski-Polacy-ocenili-100-dni-rzadu-Prawa-i-Sprawiedliwosci,wid,18177146,wiadomosc.html?ticaid=11688b&_ticrsn=3


It seems that the broken promises and failure to enact a single one of the promises during the first 100 days of government is resulting in a majority of Poles being critical.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

It's hardly a secret that Kaczyński has wanted to take revenge on Wałęsa for years.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


That seems to be the most plausible scenario, judging by what we have available to us. Many others were in exactly the same boat, and they are considered victims of communist oppression.

Destroying an internationally known Polish hero for the sake of petty politics 25 years ago is just incredibly sad. The sensible, civilised thing to do would have been to wait until Wałęsa comes back to Poland and explain to him personally what was found. It's the least we could do, isn't it?

Put it this way Polonius - if an SB officer had come to you and demanded that you observe fellow foreigners in Poland while also making it clear that your residence permit would be revoked if you didn't - would you be able to resist easily? I don't know if your wife is Polish or PolAm - but if she is Polish and you wouldn't be able to get her out, wouldn't you sign immediately?

It's easy to be a hero in 2016 and say that you would resist and so on, but I think it's a totally different state of affairs if you're in a windowless, stuffy room in the average SB building with some guy with a perfectly ironed uniform sitting across from you knowing that he has complete power over you.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


Fascist and communist, Jon. Both sides used pseudo-nationalistic rhetoric to gain power - the PZPR of Poland were particularly vile nationalists at times. It's pretty clear that the whole Bolek story is designed to take the heat off a government that completely failed to keep their promises, nothing more.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

I sometimes wonder if you really do believe this stuff, or if it's just parroting the line given by PiS.

Combined, the SLD and UD had 122 seats in a 460 seat Sejm. They couldn't cause the government to fall by themselves.

There's a very good article here that explains exactly why the Olszewski government fell. The craziest thing is that the 'list' contained the names of even cabinet members. How could the government survive if it was attacking even their own members?

nytimes.com/1992/06/05/world/parliament-ousts-poland-s-premier.html


The most remarkable thing about this article is a comment made by President Wałęsa -


Scary to think that the same thing is coming true 24 years later, and it looks like the SB have finally won over Wałęsa.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


*minority government not even supported by one of the biggest parties making up the government.

Olszewski's government fell because it was unpopular and didn't have the confidence of the Sejm. Pretty simple, really.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


Still rewriting history, are we? Actually, Olszewski tried to loosen the previous Bielecki era austerity - articles.latimes.com/1992-03-28/news/mn-4301_1_polish-government explains it nicely. He then tried to impose further austerity, but was defeated again in the Sejm.


There wasn't much privatisation during that time anyway, so I'm not sure what he's supposed to have stopped.

You really seem to be buying the PiS line that Olszewski's government was somehow an amazing government that was brought down by evil conspiring external forces. The reality is that he led a very weak government, he was unable to build a coalition that could govern, his own party leader (Kaczyński) was playing some stupid game where he was criticising his own Prime Minister, others were acting completely wrecklessly (Macierewicz).

Olszewski simply wasn't good enough to run a government in a parliament that was completely divided. He had Kwasniewski and Mazowiecki as an effective opposition, he had minority parties going against him for political purposes and his own party leader was playing stupid games in the background. He had little control over some of his ministers, especially Macierewicz and Parys. It's no surprise that his government fell, as he was also trying to win control of the Centre Agreement from Kaczyński.

Just remember : if the Olszewski government was really so great, why did Jarosław agitate so often against it?

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

I've watched it. You've forgotten to mention how the film was edited in a very certain way to avoid showing the real story - that Olszewski didn't even have the support of his own party. You've also forgotten to mention that Jacek Kurski, now head of TVP, made the film.

Seriously, Polonius, you seem to be excelling in rewriting history today.

While we're at it, why don't you talk about how Olszewski was begging for powers to rule by decree? The situation in 1992 was nowhere near as clear cut as you make it out to be, as witnessed by the surreal way that Jarosław refused to support his own Prime Minister.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

An analysis of the election promises made by Duda and Szydło, combined with the recent statements of the Deputy Prime Minister Morawiecki. As you can see, Duda and Szydło both told unbelievable lies to the electorate. The voters of Radom made that clear yesterday.

biznes.newsweek.pl/obietnice-wyborcze-pis-najwazniejsze-nie-zostana-zrealizowane,artykuly,380317,1.html#fp=nw

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


What are you talking about? There was no coup. The government of the time was heavily in minority (circa 130 seats out of 460) and Olszewski's government wasn't even supported properly by the leader of his own party! The idea of a "coup" suggests that things weren't done in a democratic way. The opposition called for a vote of confidence and Olszewski lost it. If he won the vote of confidence and was removed regardless, that would be a coup.

Bear in mind that Pawlak lost a vote of confidence in the Sejm, as did Suchocka.


You really seem to be trying to rewrite history here. Macierewicz joined Olszewski in his new party after the fall of the Olszewski government, only for him to be expelled over his role in the downfall of the Olszewski government.

The real story is that even Kaczyński didn't support Olszewski, despite what has been later portrayed.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


Blimey, that's a nice bit of revisionism. Actually, the twins were thrown out of Wałęsa's chancellery a few months after the 1990 Presidential election for their behaviour. Jarosław was playing games as soon as he got a taste of power under Wałęsa, and he was dismissed as Wałesa's Chief of Staff at the end of October 1991. Furthermore, Lech Kaczyński was removed as Minister of State at the same time.

Olszewski didn't become Prime Minister until December 1991, and lost the vote of confidence in June 1992. Both these events date from after Jaroslaw's removal as Chief of Staff.

The real question is : why was Jarosław playing games with Olszewski's government? Was it solely because, just like Marcinkiewicz, he refused to accept Jaroslaw holding all the real power?

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

Couldn't agree more. It's heartbreaking to watch Poland tear itself apart over this stuff - instead of treating Wałęsa as a national treasure that the world knows and respects, we're hell bent on finishing the job for the Soviets instead. Putin must be laughing his head off.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

Quite understandable. The SLD had worked quietly and efficiently throughout the centre-right mess of 1991-1993, and unlike other parties (including Mazowiecki's Freedom Union) - they hadn't suffered defections and splits in the party. They took advantage of the in-fighting with the right wing parties to win the 1993 election, and then Kwasniewski simply outworked Wałęsa in 1995.

The Polish right wing's obsession with historical injustices is what causes it to enjoy brief successes followed by everyone remembering exactly why they voted them out last time.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


It's also worth pointing out that the government in question only had what - 133 votes or so? It wasn't as if it was a strong government that was forced out of power - it was a weak government that simply couldn't survive.


Sounds like to me that a broad selection of Polish society was against a weak and unpopular minority government.

The situation was frankly ridiculous then. The two biggest parties (Mazowiecki's Freedom Union and Kwasniewski's SLD) were openly against the government, the Sejm was forcing Olszewski to stay as Prime Minister against his will - all in all, it was a deeply unpopular and weak government.

There's a good article here that sums it all up nicely - countrystudies.us/poland/68.htm


Sound familiar?

Just found this cracking little statement.

books.google.pl/books?id=4NRV6PHi7ogC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=olszewski+government&source=bl&ots=iLu5J0lUPg&sig=Ls5dGh_cKjEU_n4Bi3aMgT-Tnfw&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=olszewski%20government&f=false


As I've said before, Kaczyński was playing all sorts of games then. He pretends to be a huge supporter of Olszewski's government, but in reality, he wasn't. If he genuinely was supported by Kaczyński, then he wouldn't have left PC (Centre Agreement) after the fall of his government.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]

Counting isn't your strong point, is it?


28% + 33% = 61% of Poles don't believe that he was an informer. 38% believe that he was. So 3 out of 5 Poles surveyed don't believe that he was an informer, which shows that the government propaganda simply isn't working.

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


So in other words, more than half of Poles don't believe that he was an informer.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

They'll just invent something to attack their political opponents with. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, the PiS method has always been to abuse first and worry later.

The most shameful thing is that Duda was elected claiming to be the President for all the Poles. He's now standing by and watching his political friends attempt to destroy one of the most famous Poles in history. What a disgrace.