Bugging affair unleashes government crisis in Poland
Sonja Bach and Christoph Dreier ■ Just weeks after celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 elections, which saw the Solidarity movement defeat the ruling Stalinist Communist Party, the Polish government faces a serious crisis. Its impetus was the publication of several recordings between high-ranking government representatives, throwing a spotlight on the economic and political situation in Poland. On Monday, the Polish magazine Wprost published excerpts from a private conversation between foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski and the former Polish finance minister Jan Vincent Rostowski (both members of Civic Platform, PO). In the recording, Poland’s most senior diplomat speaks disparagingly about the alliance with the United States in the most vulgar language. “
You know,” said Sikorski, “the Polish-American alliance is not worth anything. It is even harmful because it creates a false feeling of security. Total bullshit. We argue with the Germans, with Russia, and we believe everything is great, just because we have given the Americans a blow job. Boneheads. Utter boneheads. The problem in Poland is that we have too little pride and too few feelings of self worth. So niggerly.” [...] The sharp conflicts within Poland’s ruling elite, which have broken out with the bugging affair, are developing against the background of a deep crisis. The putsch in Ukraine, which relied on fascists and was supported by the Polish government, has led to a civil war in the neighbouring country and has significantly destabilized the situation in Poland.