Forum: Postcommunist Central Europe at 17

The Washington times ^ | July 2, 2006 | EWA THOMPSON

[lizol]

Forum: Postcommunist Central Europe at 17 July 2, 2006

While terrorism and Iraq compete for Page One news, the transformation of postcommunist Central Europe into America's ally is proceeding apace. Poland, the largest of the eight postcommunist countries admitted to the European Union in 2004, supplied 2,500 troops for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq (now reduced to 900), and sent 124 soldiers to Afghanistan.

In 1989-91, Central Europe got rid of the Soviet military presence. Poland was the leader in holding semi-free elections in June 1989, Hungary and Czechoslovakia followed. The Berlin Wall fell in November.

A June 2006 visit to Central Europe traced the follow-up to these events. Was it worthwhile to rock the boat and allow some 75 million people in Soviet-occupied Europe to try their hand at becoming First World countries, warts and all?

[lizol]

Eastern European ping list

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[GSlob]

"...This handicap is totally gone. Poles, Czechs and Hungarians born in the 1980s and later do not even know that it existed. "
They better know, and know it well. One needs to know the face of enemy.

[GarySpFc]

Apparently the thought process still prevails in Poland. One of my clients spent time there as a supervisor while working for a large telephone company. He said the problems with Polish society are surreal, with crime a major problem. The comany had to import accountants of Polish descent from America to help deal with some of the problems. Finally the company gave up and pulled out.