Posted on 04/12/2025 12:08:18 AM PDT by McGruff
Bickering and chaos overshadowed a presidential debate in Poland on Friday evening as eight candidates met to discuss existential matters for this country on NATO's eastern flank — including fears of Russia over its war in Ukraine and concerns about President Donald Trump’s commitment to Europe’s security.
Poland is voting on May 18 to elect a new president as the outgoing leader, Andrzej Duda, nears the end of his second and final five-year term. If no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote, a runoff will take place June 1 between the top two.
The heated discussions on display Friday underscored the deep division in this nation of 38 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Szymon Hołownia, the parliament speaker, openly accused another candidate, Maciej Maciak — who earlier in the debate expressed support for cheap Russian energy — of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Tell me, do you take money from Putin or do you do it as a volunteer?” he told him.
Poland’s getting a new prez, Duda, Duda,
Poland’s getting a new prez, Duda gone away.
Warsaw cold at night, Warsaw cold in day,
I’ll bet my money on the Putin man,
Y’all can bet the other way.
(I’m gonna miss Duda, no more Stephen Foster songs about Poland.)
Like Americans and old Hollywood producers, Poles believe that any good political system must deliver entertainment value for the audience.
Let’s start a pool over how many candidates GET ELIMINATED from this election because they think the Ukraine War has gone on long enough.
My vote is “3”, and given the history of those who oppose the Ukraine War, I expect one of them to be shot (like what happened to Trump and Fico in Slovakia). A second will get jailed (at some point, as in Romania and elsewhere), and the third will be left alone, not having been considered a serious enough contender to ‘remove’ from future politics.
After all - Europe MUST protect it’s ‘democracy’.
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