Obama and Poland

Obama finally got around to acting as if he sort of cares about Poland when he went there as his final stop on his European tour.

From the BBC:

US President Barack Obama has reaffirmed relations between the US and Poland, as his six-day tour of Europe drew to a close.

He praised Poland's economic growth and its support of pro-democracy movements in North Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Obama also said the shelving of his predecessor's plan to build a missile defence shield in Poland did not put the country or region at risk.

Poland PM Donald Tusk said 0he had been reassured by Mr Obama's words.

In a brief press conference with Mr Tusk, Mr Obama said Poland was "one of our strongest and closest allies and a leader in Europe" and "a living example of what is possible when countries take reform seriously".

He praised efforts by members of Poland's Soviet-era pro-democracy Solidarity movement to offer support to Egypt's post-revolution government.

The BBC's Stephen Evans in Warsaw says Polish leaders had been hoping Mr Obama would rectify what many saw as a slight, when he cancelled President George W Bush's missile shield plan as part of efforts to "reset" US relations with Russia.

Many in Poland were disappointed when the US decided not to go ahead with the shield on Polish soil, says our correspondent, reading is as deference to Russia and as a sign of a lack of commitment to Poland.

Mr Obama repeated his insistence that the strategy was about reaffirming the Nato principles of mutual defence, saying it allowed their two countries to deal with shared threats.

Obama and the missile shield - another massive mistake among so many in Obama's foreign policy.

Read more about Obama's betrayal of Poland here and here.

Some video of Obama in Poland:



Not everyone in Poland gave Obama a warm reception.

From the Daily Mail:

Poland's former president and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa has snubbed an invitation to meet with President Barack Obama.

Mr Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, had been invited by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski to attend a gathering of Poland's leading political figures with the U.S. President in Warsaw on Saturday.

'It's difficult to tell journalists what you'd like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won't tell him, I won't meet him, it doesn't suit me,' Walesa told news station TVN24.

...It is the President's first time in Poland and he will take the opportunity to hold political meetings that will focus on security, energy and joint U.S.-Polish efforts to promote democracy in North Africa, Belarus and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

But hours before his arrival, Polish headlines were dominated by news that Mr Obama was being snubbed by Mr Walesa.

...Mr Walesa insisted that he preferred to travel to Italy for a biblical festival, and that he had no interest in a meeting that would amount to little more than a photo-op.

He did not divulge more but it seemed likely that Mr Walesa was offended at not being offered a one-on-one meeting with Mr Obama from the start.

...The aim of Mr Obama's trip is to inject new vigour in a relationship with an ally that has sometimes felt slighted by Washington.

...[U]nlike past U.S. presidents who visited Poland, Mr Obama will not meet or address the Polish public directly.

That deprives him of the chance to connect directly - and emotionally - with Poles in the way former presidents such as George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton did on visits to the country.

That will also make it harder for him to win over a nation that has never warmed to him the way many have in more liberal Western Europe, according to Marcin Zaborowski, a political analyst and director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs.

Obama was scheduled to be in Poland for less than 24 hours.

His photo-op visit doesn't alter his failure to safeguard the freedom of the Polish people.