G20: Trump activates divide and conquer policies against EU as Polish leader says other EU nations envy Trump Warsaw visit

Trump's EU Divide and Conquer policies 

Poland's leading politician said Saturday that other European nations are envious that U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to visit Warsaw before a summit in Germany with other world leaders.

The ruling Law and Justice party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, singled out Britain as being resentful over Trump's brief trip to Poland next week before the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

"We have new success, Trump's visit," said Kaczynski, a conservative who sets the direction for Poland's home and foreign policy. "(Others) envy it, the British are attacking us because of it."

Kaczynski didn't elaborate on what he could be referring to and government spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

British Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump for an official state visit right after his inauguration in January, but a date for the trip has not been scheduled.

Kaczynski's remarks at a ruling party congress seemed to recall past divisions between ex-communist members of the European Union and western EU nations, when Poland was a staunch U.S. ally in military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under Kaczynski's party, Poland has criticized EU key members, mainly Germany, and has insisted on having more decision-making powers. At the same time Warsaw says Britain is among its main partners in the EU.

In a speech in the central town of Przysucha, Kaczynski also reiterated that Poland is refusing to go along with an EU plan to relocate Muslim migrants from Italy and Greece. Italy has demanded more help from other EU nations as it copes with tens of thousands of arrivals of desperate migrants on its shores.

Kaczynski argued the anti-migrant policy was saving Poland from a "social catastrophe" and a decline in living standards.

Poland is a predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The conservative government's stance against Muslim asylum-seekers is increasingly being criticized by Poland's church leaders.

Note EU-Digest: Trump once again is trying to play "divide and conquer" games with the unity of the EU, which certainly will backfire and isolate the US even more from the EU.

Read more: Polish leader says other nations envy Trump visit to Warsaw - ABC News

EU: Poland says will 'play rough' with EU after Tusk vote - by Marcin Goettig

Poland will start obstructing European Union business and "play a rough game" in Brussels after the bloc angered Warsaw by reappointing Donald Tusk as head of the European Council, the foreign minister said.

Tusk, Poland's former prime minister and a long-standing rival of current Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, won a second term as chairman of EU summit meetings - with Poland the only country to vote against his extension.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said in comments published on Saturday that his government will respond to the vote by "blocking other initiatives, to play a very rough game" in the European Union.

"One has to state it openly: EU policy turned out to be a policy of double standards and cheating," Waszczykowski told tabloid Super Express.

He said that Poland could not boycott the European Council and will take part in its meetings. "We must be aware that we may be cheated any moment," he said.

Warsaw has portrayed Tusk's reappointment as an issue in which Polish vital national interests had been ignored by a Brussels machine dominated by Germany.

"For sure we must drastically lower our level of trust toward the EU. Also start conducting a negative policy," Waszczykowski said.

The Polish government of the euroskeptic Law and Justice (PiS) party has already clashed with EU's executive arm, the European Commission, over issues including the rule of law, migrants, climate policy and environmental protection.

The ruling right-wing party accuses Tusk, a centrist, of overstepping his mandate by, for example, criticizing the Warsaw government during the opposition's blockade of parliament last year in a protest over planned limits on media access.

Before his departure to Brussels, Tusk had been the head of Poland's largest opposition party Civic Platform (PO) ousted by PiS in 2015.

Despite the government's disputes with the EU, Polish society is overwhelmingly in favor of EU membership. Poland is by far the biggest recipient of billion of euros in EU aid in the 28-member bloc. 

Read more: Poland says will 'play rough' with EU after Tusk vote | Reuters

Businessweek: Urban Poles Spurn Politics for Business- by Jan Puhl

For the complete report from Businessweek click on this link

Urban Poles Spurn Politics for Business- by Jan Puh

Poland's city-dwellers are more interested in making money than politics and that could mean an upset for the Kaczynski twins in this weekend's elections. Chaos reigns in Warsaw politics, both domestically and abroad, and the new elections scheduled for this weekend are unlikely to lead to more stable conditions. Observers Thursday said the election race was still wide open. The latest opinion polls show the center-right opposition party Civic Platform is slightly ahead of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's Law and Justice, although neither party seems likely to win an outright majority. Support for Civic Platform has surged in the last few days after its leader Donald Tusk defeated Kaczynski in a televised debate. Despite the political turmoil, the country is booming, with Gdansk only one of many examples of progress. The Polish economy will grow by more than 6 percent this year, and the unemployment rate in Poland has dropped from 19 to 12 percent since the country joined the EU.

The urban economies in the new Poland are doing especially well. Cities like Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan, governed by pragmatists who have carefully distanced themselves from the political wrangling in Warsaw, have almost no unemployment.

IHT: Poland looks likely to elect party vowing harder bargain with US on Iraq, missile defense

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Poland looks likely to elect party vowing harder bargain with US on Iraq, missile defense

Poland's weekend elections could bring to power a party that favors an eventual end to the country's military mission in Iraq and tougher bargaining on hosting a U.S. missile defense shield. The pro-business Civic Platform party leads Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's nationalist, conservative Law and Justice party in polls ahead of Sunday's vote. Both favor a strong alliance with Washington, but Civic Platform shows signs it may be quicker to push for what it views as Poland's interests. Since taking power in fall 2005, the Law and Justice government has twice extended Poland's military mission to Iraq, beefed up the country's contingent in Afghanistan to over 1,000 troops, and voiced strong support for hosting the missile base despite objections from Russia.

AFP: Humour hits hard at Poland's ruling power twins

For the complete report from AFP click on this link

Humour hits hard at Poland's ruling power twins

What's the difference between Poland in World War II and 2007? In World War II, the Polish government fled to London and the Polish people were at home. In 2007, the Kaczynski twins are home and the Polish people have fled to London. As their country braces for snap elections Sunday which are being seen as a referendum on two years of often controversial conservative rule, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and his identical twin Prime Minister Jaroslaw, are the butt of a wave of jokes. For those who remember the communist era, the wave of cynical humour has a familiar feel, evoking the way people used to mock the regime and the economic shortages which were a feature of daily life for ordinary Poles.

Polish Internet surfers can feed their need for novelty thanks to video-sharing site YouTube, for example, where a Star Wars-themed "Attack of the Clones" clip showing millions of Kaczynskis bracing to invade Earth had received more than two million hits by Friday. The 58-year-old, almost indistinguishable, diminutive and portly Kaczynskis are a dream target for humorists. "What do the Kaczynskis do on a tennis court? They play volleyball," goes one Polish favorite. Their surname derives from "kaczka", the Polish word for duck, and waterfowl are an ever present feature of anti-Kaczynski comedy.

EUobserver.com: Polish elections remain unpredictable ahead of Sunday vote - by Lucia Kubosova

Donald Tusk and wife Malgorzata

For the complete report from the EUobserver.com click on this link

Polish elections remain unpredictable ahead of Sunday vote - by Lucia Kubosova

This Sunday the biggest of the new Eastern Block member states that joined the EU in 2004 with 38.2 million inhabitants, Poland is holding its seventh parliamentary election since the fall of communism in 1989.

Mr Kaczynski's key rival in Sunday's elections is Donald Tusk, the leader of the pro-business and pro-European Civic Platform (PO), who is promising to improve Poland's problematic relations with other EU countries and bring along stability after months of political turmoil. Mr Tusk has also said he will cut down red tape for businesses, introduce a 15 percent flat tax and improve the country's absorption of EU funds. If the brothers lose, it may be because Tusk manages to unify Poles who have grown tired of the stridency -- directed at German politicians, former communist informers, gay-rights campaigners and many others -- that's become a Kaczynski hallmark, said Bogdan Wojciszke, a professor at Warsaw's School of Social Psychology.
``The Kaczynskis have significantly strengthened this sense that the world is unjust,'' he said. ``This just sustains a harmful and debilitating myth. The coming vote will show how many Poles prefer the myth to stay alive and how many want to opt for reality.''

New polls conducted by PBS DGA and the Center for Public Research both show the Platform with 39 percent of the vote and Law & Justice with 34 percent; a third poll, by Gfk, put the Platform lead at three percentage points. Either party would require a coalition with smaller parties that exceed the 5 percent threshold for representation in the parliament.

Note EU-Digest:Poland under the leadership of the twin brothers Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Lech Kaczynski has not only ridiculed Poland on the international scene, but also worked as a stumble block in relation to the advancement of European unity.