Radek Sikorski + Anne Applebaum

[Jaga]

I just posted a message about Fox joke. Radek Sikorski, a minister of foreign affairs called Murdoch about it.
Both of them worked together! By the way, Radek Sikorski (Pawian and Holly had discussion about him before) is a very controversial figure. His wife, Anne Applebaum, is a columnist in WashingtonPost.

here is more about Anne:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Applebaum

[Jaga]

and about Sikorski. He is responsible for a controversial policy of passwords for Polish people who have citizenship of other countries also:

In 1984, he took British citizenship. In the mid-1980s, Sikorski worked as a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Angola. For a photograph taken in Afghanistan he won the World Press Photo prize in 1988. From 1990 he was an advisor to Rupert Murdoch on investments in Poland.

Returning to Poland, in 1992 he briefly became deputy defence minister in the Jan Olszewski government. From 1998 to 2001 he served as deputy minister of foreign affairs in the Jerzy Buzek government. During the latter appointment, Sikorski became notorious in the Polish expatriate community, Polonia, for designing and promoting a particularly strict policy regarding Polonia's citizenship status in Poland.[1] [2] As a result of that policy, Poland refused to recognize the acquired citizenships of Polish emigrants, including hundreds of thousands of recent refugees from Communism and their children, and insisted that they be subject to all obligations of Polish citizenship, while at the same time making it impossible to renounce such citizenship because of an extremely cumbersome administrative procedure. This policy became known as the "passport trap" because it was mainly implemented as harassment of departing travellers (primarily citizens of the United States, Canada, and Australia) who were prevented from leaving Poland until they obtain a Polish passport.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rados%C5%82aw_Sikorski

[hollister]

Interesting you bring this up as this column appeared in the Washington Post (Murdoch owned I believe?) by Applebaum. Is this a window into Sikorski's view on Iran? As Foreign Minister, this is interesting and bears watching and explanation or at least clarification.

complete article tinyurl.com/2skxj

a quote from the article
Since no one takes analysis seriously, it's hardly surprising that no one takes the possibility of a nuclear Iran too seriously either. There is no enthusiasm for sanctions, though they will probably be tried and will probably fail: Why would anyone ditch a lucrative trading partner because of some missiles they don't believe in? As for the "military option," the surest way to sell newspapers in Europe, at the moment, is to print an article hinting that the United States is about to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. The very suggestion causes outrage, not because of rampant pacifism -- "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" -- but because most commentators (and, off the record, most diplomats) believe it would fail. Either it would " fortify Iran's nuclear hawks," or it would kill thousands of civilians while leaving the Iranian nuclear program largely intact, or Iran would strike back in Iraq-- or all of the above. Should the Bush administration try it anyway ("one last display of fireworks," as a British friend of mine put it) international support would be minimal, fury maximal, diplomatic consequences appalling. Even European politicians who wanted to show support would be cowed by the antipathy of their voters. Thanks to Iraq.

[kaima]

***the surest way to sell newspapers in Europe, at the moment, is to print an article hinting that the United States is about to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.***

No one taking it seriously? I also would not, but we had a retired NSA (spy) speaker up here 10 days ago, and he scared the heck out of me by saying that the people "inside the betway" (the highway circle around Washington, DC) actually DO believe Iran is a danger! He recommended that we all contact our Washington politicians and talk sense to them.

Simply our politicians are too isolated and believe their own hysteria.

I hope he is wrong.

Kai the Worried
Kinda tough to get me worried since in grade school I learned to duck under my desk in case of a nuclear attack, and spent an adult life living with MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) between the Soviets and the US> So I have to wonder why those idiots in Washington are worried about a nuclear Iran in 15 years, or 3 if you are a real, real scaredy cat. Never have a big coward for president!

[Jaga]

Holly,

very interesting! I remember her name from Washingtonpost which I look through on a daily basis, but she did not caught my eye in the past specifically.

I hope that she would influence her husband positively!