Atlantic Council

Poland has drastically cut the number of workers eligible for early retirement, AP reports. Under current law, workers in some professions can retire and receive a state pension after only 15 years of employment.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski expressed concern over the presence of what he called a "pro-Russian lobby" in the country, that is siding with Moscow over the situation in the South Caucasus. His statements come only a day after gunfire erupted close to a convoy carrying Kaczynski and the Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili near the de facto border with South Ossetia. RIA Novosti ran the story:

"I'm concerned by statements in Poland indicating the presence of what I would call a pro-Russian lobby in the country," Kaczynski told reporters in Warsaw.

The Polish parliamentary speaker had earlier questioned Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's claim that Russian troops fired shots at the Georgian and Polish presidents while they were standing next to their motorcade on the border between Georgia and its disputed province of South Ossetia on Sunday. Russia says the incident was staged by Georgia.

Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, a former defense minister, earlier said: "In a threatening situation, the president is immediately put inside the car, and the car drives off, as the president is protected by a bodyguard. But here we saw both presidents standing and talking, and it seems one of them [Saakashvili] was laughing. This raises many questions."

[...]

Giving his account of the incident, President Kaczynski said he had heard shots from automatic weapons, but had not rushed back into the vehicle as he had not been aware of any threat.

Kaczynski was in Georgia to take part in celebrations of the fifth anniversary of the "rose revolution" that brought Saakashvili to power. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the attack was staged by Georgia, while South Ossetia also denied that its forces were involved.

Transcript by Federal News Service, Washington, D.C.

Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking at the Atlantic Council today, declared that Russia's justification for invading Georgia, that it was defending its friends abroad, is one that has been used by Russian autocrats for centuries to justify a doctrine of imperialism.

His Excellency Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister, spoke today at the Atlantic Council as part of the Council's Global Leadership Series.  He praised continuing U.S.-Polish cooperation and solidarity, noting Poland's "traditional affinity" for the U.S.

The Kremlin's latest move to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad is the first time since the Cold War that Russia has "declared its intention to create a military threat to the West." Yet the nature of the threat does not represent a fundamental challenge to U.S. or European security and has been largely overblown on both sides.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski sent out a statement, APF reports, that the new American president-elect has promised to go forward with the missile shield announced on August 14, shortly after the Russian invasion of Georgia.   "Barack Obama has underlined the importance of the strategic partnership between Poland and the United States, he expressed his hope of continuing the political and military cooperation between our two countries.  He also said the anti-missile shield project would go ahead."

On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said that Moscow will deploy missiles in the country's Kaliningrad region in response to the planned U.S. missile defense shield for Europe.  Kaliningrad lies between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.  According to the Wall Street Journal, equipment will be installed with the purpose of electronically interfering with the missile defense facilities.

Medvedev also proposed increasing the Russian presidential term to six years from the current four.

Aleksander Kwasniewski, president of Poland from 1995 to 2005, spoke to an overflow crowd at the Atlantic Council on the subject of "Electoral Drama in Poland, Ukraine and Russia." While dismissing the notion that these are truly "dramas," arguing that they are merely normal events in an evolving political situation, he acknowledged that the outcomes of all three elections a

Aleksander Kwasniewski, president of Poland from 1995 to 2005, spoke to an overflow crowd at the Atlantic Council on the subject of "Electoral Drama in Poland, Ukraine and Russia." While dismissing the notion that these are truly "dramas," arguing that they are merely normal events in an evolving political situation, he acknowledged that the outcomes of all three elections are very important, indeed, not only for the countries involved but for all of Europe.