Northern Yankee, I don’t know if you’ve been following what’s been happening between Georgia and Russia, but I thought I’d ping you since I know you are a person of faith. This situation, these leaders, could use some prayers from the faithful.
New Europe has found the gonads that the Americans have lost for good. Hail Poland!
The following came out yesterday on Poland.pl (http://poland.pl/news/article,Poland_concerned_over_Georgia,id,341438.htm):
Poland concerned over Georgia
The armed clash between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia has alarmed Polish authorities and public opinion alike. Besides declarations of sympathy and solidarity with Georgia, Poland and its people are undertaking concrete steps to defuse the conflict and render assistance to the victims of the aggression.
Following a series of wide consultations with government and foreign partners over the weekend Polish president Lech Kaczynski has sent a special envoy to Tbilisi to present a detailed peace plan he has discussed with his Lithuanian and Ukrainian opposite numbers. Just before departure for the Georgian capital Piotr Kownacki, who is the deputy head of the Presidential Chancellary, told reporters that the primary intention of this international initiative is bringing true peacekeeping forces into Georgia: ‘It’s grotesque and ironic in the present situation that it is the Russian forces which are the peacekeepers there. In the face of Russian aggression against Georgia this simply cannot be continued. The plan envisages international presence under European Union auspices.’
While in Tbilisi, the Polish envoy is to meet with Georgian president Saakashvili and that country’s foreign minister and possibly with the French head of diplomacy who has a similar mission both in Tbilisi and Moscow.
Mariusz Handzlik, another official of the Presidential Chancellary in Warsaw, added that the presidents of Poland and other Baltic states have not excluded visiting Georgia should such need arise from the nearest developments.
Meanwhile, a group of 96 people have been evacuated from conflict threatened Tbilisi by bus to Erevan in neighboring Armenia and then transported on board a Polish government plane. Landing in Warsaw early Monday morning, they told reporters at the airport: ‘Each person received an SMS with the time and place of evacuation... I have a French passport, so I went to the French embassy. They told me to come the next day... Now I’m calm, I’m home... I’m here, but my family is still there.’
The group comprised mostly Poles, but it also included 8 Czechs and two other nationals. They all praised the exemplary manner in which Polish consular services in Tbilisi handled the situation: ‘The Polish embassy did a really fine job. It extended help not only to Polish citizens, but to all who asked for assistance regardless whether they were Czech, French, German or other European nationals.’
The Polish government plane is departing on two more evacuation missions to the region still on Monday.
Polish Red Cross (PCK) representatives were waiting for the evacuees from Georgia ready to help the tormented people, Marcin Rudnicki told our Radio Information Agency reporter: ‘The Red Cross in Poland has considerable experience in such actions, to recall the evacuation of Polish citizens from Lebanon two years ago. We have pledged all necessary medical and psychological assistance fro those returning from Georgia. We are ready to work with state administration services as well as the interior and foreign ministries in this operation.’
The Polish Humanitarian Organization (PAH) was also quick to react. Its leader Janina Ochojska says the famous Polish NGO with 7 years of experience in Chechnya will be targetting - on the spot - all those who need help in South Ossetia: ‘We are preparing to assist Georgian citizens and that means Georgians and Ossetians, because we’re thinking about both sides of the conflict. I’m still hoping for a stop to the war actions so that the help needed will be limited to organizing their return home and clearing the destruction. I wish for that very much. We’ll be following the developments there.’
Not only organizations in Poland have been responding to the tragedy of the military conflict in Georgia. Individual gestures of sympathy for the Georgian cause have been manifested by Poles in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Georgia in Warsaw. Participants of a rally have written a letter of support and handed it to the diplomatic officials: ‘We want to encourage Georgians not to surrender. The world shares their grief. Even if not all politicians have voiced support, or have given too little of it, we are strongly with the Georgian people.’
In response to the letter of support the Georgian embassy in Warsaw has stated that the Russian attack is an attempt at punishing the country for its western oriented and pro-Atlantic aspirations.