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Fears were raised today that Belarus could join the conflict in Ukraine after President Alexander Lukashenko announced he will deploy a 'joint military task force' with Russia on the country's western border. The dictator said this was in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West, claiming without evidence that that Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine were training Belarusian 'radicals' for terror attacks, after announcing plans to deploy joint troops with Moscow. -snip- 'Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not just being discussed in Ukraine today, but are also...

Poland has been forced to deny its foreign minister 'joked' that President-Elect Barack Obama's grandparents were cannibals. Writing in his blog, Mr Czarnecki, an MEP, quoted the foreign minister as saying: "Have you heard that Obama may have a Polish connection? His grandfather ate a Polish missionary." A spokesman for the Polish foreign office conceded that Mr Sikorski had made the controversial comment, but denied that the foreign minister had intended to insult Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan. Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, has made no comment on the affair. It appears that Mr Sikorski's position is not...

My name is Sara and my husband is in special polish forces in Iraq. There are preparations by American forces on Friday to have 21 salutes according to my husband. He really didn't tell me much, but I think it will happen. (what is 21 salute?) On behalf of my husband and me Sara, we would like to send condolences to you all American people of great lost of Ronald Wilson Reagan. It is a great lost for many Americans, we in Eastern Europe remember him as a great man who not only unified Germany but also allow us in...

City of Katowice to honor Ronald Reagan with a monument and a square 09.02.2007 The southern Polish city of Katowice may soon rename its central Freedom Square to Ronald Reagan Freedom Square with a monument of this famous US President in the focal point of the square. A group of hundred local public figures and activists from the former anti-communist opposition in Katowice is petitioning the city authorities for this change. The idea is to symbolize both national and individual freedom, as Ronald Reagan’s contribution to Poland’s independence is undeniable and underestimated, say the proponents of the project. The central...

Opponents of Poland's former communist regime reportedly want to pay a posthumous homage to US President Ronald Reagan by erecting his statue in the place of a Soviet-era monument. In an open letter to the mayor of the southwestern city of Katowice, the former anti-regime activists said that the staunchly anti-communist Reagan had been a "symbol of liberty," the Polish news agency PAP reported. As a result, they said, he deserved to become the centrepiece of the city's Freedom Square, replacing a monument to the Soviet troops who drove out the occupying Nazis in 1945. They also said that they...

Remote Polish airport may have hosted CIA Feb. 7, 2007 at 1:35AM A former military air base hidden in the woods in northern Poland may have been used by CIA flights bringing detainees to a secret interrogation center. The Mazury-Szczytno International Airport has a 6,500-foot runway, long enough to handle large jets, the Chicago Tribune reports. While no aircraft have used it recently, there was a lot of activity for a few months in 2002 and 2003. Observers said that most of the planes that landed were corporate jets belonging to U.S. air transport companies. They usually stopped at the...

Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, now proven to have collaborated with Poland's communist regime, has officially stepped down. The Pope accepted his resignation. The news came unexpectedly in the morning, in the midst of preparations for the archbishop's inauguration ceremony. The decision was reportedly a result of negotiations at the Vatican level. According to some sources, it was Pope Benedict personally, who suggested that archbishop Wielgus step down after finding out that he did not reveal the whole truth in his recent statements to the Vatican about his past collaboration with Poland's communist regime. Instead of the inauguration ceremony, which was scheduled...

A resurgent Taliban have threatened the 1000 new troops that the government has announced that it will send to Afghanistan. During his recent visit to the US Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski declared that 1,000 more troops will be sent to Afghanistan in response to a NATO call for restoring order in the area, which has faced intensified Taliban insurgency in the past few months. The declaration has met with an immediate response of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan web portal, which issued an appeal to the Polish parliament and nation. The Taliban rebels do not threaten terrorist attacks directly,...

Poland's forces not enough for NATO Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent September 15, 2006 NATO remains desperately short of reinforcements for its Afghanistan campaign, despite an offer by Warsaw yesterday to send 1000 new troops to join Poland's existing 100-strong contingent. Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Polish TV that the additional 1000 troops would be in Afghanistan by next February. It was a significant increase and acceleration of Poland's previous offer to send 500 of its troops later next year. The announcement came hours after pleas for extra soldiers to reinforce the US, Australian and other Western troops fighting in southern...

The multinational zone in Iraq took another step closer to local control yesterday as the Polish army, which oversees the provinces of Diwaniyah and Wasit, began what is expected to be the final rotation of its troops here. Although President Kaczynski has said he expects to withdraw his country's army from Iraq next year, the exact date for its departure has not been set. Until then, Poland will continue to oversee this zone in central south Iraq, which has soldiers serving from 12 countries. A U.S. Army lieutenant general, Peter Chiarelli, told The New York Sun that the Polish troops...

Witold Pilecki Born May 13, 1901, Olonets, Karelia, Russia. Died May 25, 1948, Warsaw, Poland. Witold Pilecki (May 13, 1901 – May 25, 1948); codenames Roman Jezierski, Tomasz Serafinski, Druh, Witold) was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, founder of the resistance movement Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) and member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II he was the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance, and as early as 1940 informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's camp atrocities. He escaped from...

United States Political relations. Poland's objectives in relations with the United States are to consolidate full-fledged strategic partnership and maintain the momentum of political and military relations. Another matter of crucial importance for our country is to expand economic co-operation since our excellent bilateral political relations have not, thus far, been reflected in equally close and intensive trade relations. Poland is particularly interested in attracting investment in the new technologies sector and development of co-operation between small and medium enterprises. Close co-operation with America has acquired a special diminution in the context of Poland's imminent accession to the European Union....

The party now favored to win parliamentary elections wants to make Poland a "cheap state," and has outlined an ambitious economic plan that it believes could pull GDP growth up to seven percent per year. Law and Justice (PiS), the current leader in both the parliamentary and presidential polls, has outlined its economic plan which, if realized, could save the Treasury billions, eliminate state involvement in over a thousand companies, and make setting up a business in Poland possible in just three days. Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, PiS' economic point-man and current leader of the Parliamentary Treasury Commission, told the Polish-Swiss Chamber...

By ELA KASPRZYCKA, Associated Press Writer WARSAW, Poland - A Polish woman abducted from her apartment in Baghdad reappeared Saturday in Poland after being suddenly released. While she said she was treated well, she refused to give details of how she was freed. Teresa Borcz Khalifa, kidnapped Oct. 28 at her Baghdad home, arrived in Warsaw on Friday night, Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka said as he introduced the former hostage at a hastily convened news conference. "I feel well, very well, because I am free," said Borcz Khalifa, 54, smiling but looking tired. "I can't really speak of some...

Swiat za Kerrym, Polska za Bushem "The World is for Kerry, Poland is for Bush"http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,53004,2278483.html MORE GREAT HEADLINES FROM POLAND:http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/0,53004.html HEADLINES: Bush & Kerry Fight for Votes Teresa Heinz Kerry is not embarassed that she gets her eyes done at a cosmetician to look younger/sexy. ___________________________________________________ POLL: Sondaz Który z kandydatów ma, po serii debat, wiêksze szanse na wygran¹? "Who has the best chance of getting elected?" BUSH 51% KERRY 49% ____________________________________________________

Letter from Poland By Peter Gentle The whole world will be waiting for the result of the presidential elections in the United States on November 2. But how would Planet Earth, and, more particularly, Poland vote if it had the chance? When I was very young, I remember being with my dad when he was watching the evening news. Apropos to nothing in particular, my dad suddenly said: “When America sneezes everyone else catches a cold.” I was only about five years old at the time, so the significance of what my dad had just said positively boggled my young...

“We’re interested in becoming a concrete part of the arrangement”, said Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Boguslaw Majewski, after it was revealed on July 10 that Poland has been in secret talks with the United States for the past eight months on locating elements of the US ballistic missile defense system, including interceptor missiles, on its territory. Then it came out that Washington has also been talking to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria about it, but Poland is definitely the leading candidate. Poland’s main problem has always been its geography: sandwiched between Germany and Russia, it was regularly conquered...

Two polish soldiers were killed and 5 were wounded while being on patrol in Iraq, first they got into car accident and then they came under attack by terrorist in area of Al-Hillii. Attack came around 7:15 this morning, investigation of attack is still under way. Wounded were treated by medical personal and were transported to Camp Lima in Karbali. Health of the rest is not in danger, however, it is know by tvn24 and other news, that GROM is on the scene of action and special forces of USA are on the scene as well.

(Re-leads with overnight plans) WARSAW, Aug 13 (Reuters) - A group of about 20 Polish soldiers will spend the night at a police station in Hilla, southern Iraq, where they are surrounded by a group of militants, the Polish army said on Friday. The soldiers went to the aid of Iraqi policemen who had been surrounded by a demonstration of around 250 people loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, military spokesmen said, adding that some of the demonstrators had since left the area. "We don't want to endanger our soldiers by moving them out during the night," Lieutenant Colonel Artur...

Remembering Poland One Year Later…. By William Grodnick, stationed at Camp Babylon, Iraq As a New York City police officer, and the Manhattan trustee of the NYPD’s Pulaski Association, I joined six of my colleagues in going to Poland last year as guests of the Polish government. I have often heard of the natural beauty of Poland, but to see it firsthand - words cannot describe its immense beauty! From the great city of Warsaw, with its old square, to the ancient city of Krakow with its cathedral, to Zakopane with its majestic snow - capped mountains! There's so much...