Posted on 04/18/2010 12:28:36 PM PDT by lizol
Eastern Europe comes together to mourn Poland’s President
Roger Boyes, Krakow
At precisely 17.07 today, the 18-tonne bell of Saint Sigismund pealed out and Poland fell silent.
The 16th-century bell is rung only at moments of national joy or national tragedy. Today it marked the end of a week of mourning for President Lech Kaczynski, long days of public grief that have set Poles thinking about their future in Europe and their uneasy relationship with Russia.
“Today the bell knells for the reconciliation of Pole with Pole,“ said Bronislaw Komorowski, the Speaker of parliament, addressing dozens of leaders at the funeral mass in St Mary’s Basilica in Krakow. “And it rings for reconciliation with the Russian nation in the name of the extraordinary tragedy of Katyn.”
Earlier prayers had been said not only for the President and the 95 others who had died in the April 10 air crash in Smolensk but also for the people of Russia. The President had been leading a delegation to the Katyn forest to mark the 70th anniversary of the shooting of thousands of Polish officers and intellectuals.
“Shot,” Mr Komorowski reminded the worshippers, “with a bullet to the back of the head.” Not that the Poles present needed reminding. But the words were aimed at President Medvedev, the most prominent head of state to attend the funeral, and to Russian viewers watching the ceremony.
Poland is using the untimely — and still not fully explained — air crash to send a message to Moscow: speak the truth about history, accept blame, and the relationship between Warsaw and Moscow can be transformed. In theory, at least, the death of the President, a passionate anti-communist, could help to end centuries of emnity and change Europe’s political landscape.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
” Andris Lielmanis wrote:
Historians will look back one day at the tremendous significance of this occasion when ‘Katyn II’ healed the wounds of ‘Katyn I’ leading to a reconciliation between Russia, casting off the bloodied Soviet mantle, and the countries to its West, once occupied and brutalized by the Soviets, now free and democratic.
Western European leaders will rue the day that they did make the same effort as Central and Eastern European leaders made to attend the state funeral, the volcanic ash will only be a footnote in history.
US influence in the region will wane with Obama’s seeming indifference contrasting with the deference shown by Putin and Medvedev-—where there's a will there's a way, Obama could have made it-—he wasn't there, Central European attention was riveted on who did attend.
Possibly a good day for Central and Eastern Europe; not a good one for Western Europe and the USA.
April 18, 2010 8:22 PM BST”
Just as Western Europe and the USA discarded Poland at Yalta.
I cannot believe that our President couldn’t find a way on behalf of the US to show up for this out of respect. This is yet another embarrassment for America. Poland was far and away our most supportive ally, and we have done nothing but crap all over them since Obama took office.
Touching. Thanks for posting all you have posted over the past few days.
Hopefully, not the worst of it; not the embedded totalitarian instincts per Russian Leadership (Putin); resting like a coiled snake.
“and change Europe’s political landscape.”
An article in the American press, citing sources in Moscow, suggests that there is another reason for the Russian desire for better relations with Poland - the discovery in Poland of vast resources of natural gas deposits in shale. These deposits are said to be sufficient to provide half the European Union’s energy needs, thus shifting the balance from dependency on Russia for energy.
Similar deposits of shale gas have been discovered in a wide swath of the Appalachian mountains in the US and the technology to extract the gas has been developed. It is at least possible that Poland may become an energy giant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.