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Iran 2013: Making Diplomacy Work featuring Zbigniew Brzezenski

The conference is be available to watch anytime in C-SPAN’s archives.

Brzezinski: US Should Not Follow Israel on Iran Like a “Stupid Mule”

Washington, DC – “I don’t think there is an implicit obligation for the United States to follow like a stupid mule whatever the Israelis do,” said Zbigniew Brzezinski. “If they decide to start a war, simply on the assumption that we’ll automatically be drawn into it, I think it is the obligation of friendship to say, ‘you’re not going to be making national decision for us.’ I think that the United States has the right to have its own national security policy.”

Speaking before a conference sponsored jointly by the Arms Control Association and the National Iranian American Council, Brzezinski effectively ruled out a U.S. or Israel attack on Iran as “an act of utter irresponsibility” that would mean “the region would literally be set aflame.” He warned that a policy based on such unrealistic options ultimately undermined U.S. credibility.

Panelists at the event argued that the timing is right for a renewed diplomatic initiative with Iran. “Right now is the right time, right after the American elections, and right before the Iranian elections,” observed Professor Ahmad Sadri of Lake Forest College. “Remember back to 2008 when we were in the same point in the cycle, except right now on the ground the situation is much worse. There’s more fissile material, and there’s less optimism.”

However, at the same time, Sadri noted that Iran’s soft and hard power in the Middle East has declined. “If I was an American negotiator, I’d say this is exactly the right time to go into [negotiations].”

Nuclear specialist Jim Walsh of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology argued that both sides needed to be prepared for compromise and to expand their existing offers. “You’re not going to have success if you simply continue to repeat the things you did before that didn’t work.”

“Content-wise, both sides have presented proposals where they are asking a lot and offering very little,” Walsh observed. “This is classic, everyone does this, but in this particular instance where nobody trusts one another, they take that proposal as evidence, ‘Ah ha! The other side isn’t serious.’”

The panelists agreed that the lack of trust was a major obstacle for successful talks…

Perspective, Political,

Reports on the fiscal cliff

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released reports projecting the economic impact the fiscal cliff and of avoiding different portions of the fiscal cliff. For example, avoiding sequestration and extending Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors would increase domestic product by 0.75 percent. Extending the current tax rates, which are set to expire at the end of the year, would increase economic growth by more than 1.5 percent. The report, “Economic Effects of Policies Contributing to Fiscal tightening in 2013,” is one of two reports released by CBO. The other report, “Choices for Deficit Reduction,” examines several methods for reducing the deficit over the next decade.

Events, Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , , , , , , ,

Polish Film, Art and Book Festival

The Polish Chair at Canisius and the Polish Legacy Project are presenting the Polish Film, Art and Book Festival at Canisius College, 2001 Main St., Buffalo, NY from Wednesday, November 7th to Monday, November 19th. Presentations include:

  • Wed. Nov.7 – 7 p.m. “Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin,” Lecture by Dr. Timothy Snyder of Yale.
  • Mon. Nov. 12 – 7 p.m. Path to Glory (2011), Documentary film showing the epic story of the Polish Arabian Horse.
  • Thurs. Nov. 15 through Sat. Nov. 17, 1 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. and Sun. Nov. 18, 4 p.m.-6 p.m. – Book Fair – Thurs.-Sat. at Canisius. & Sun. Nov. 18 at Market Arcade Theatre. Books, DVDs & art on Polish topics for sale.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 1 p.m. – Andy Bienkowski & Mary Akers, talk about their book “One Life to Give…,” based on the experiences of Bienkowski as a child in Siberia.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 2 p.m. – Workshop by Bienkowski & Akers: “Writing Together: The Many Sides of Co-Authorship.”
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 3:30 p.m. – Workshop by Wes Adamczyk, survivor of Soviet camps & author-“Writing From the Heart.”
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 7 p.m. – Festival reception. Books, DVDs & art for sale.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 7:30 p.m. – Argentinian Lesson (2011), a film about an 8 year-old who moves to Argentina and learns about the world around him through 11 year-old Marcia.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 9 p.m. – Decrescendo (2011) Film showing the world of a nursing home through the eyes of a young therapist, who tries to find the meaning of his own life.
  • Fri. Nov. 16 – 6 p.m. – Wes Adamczyk presents “Living in the Shadows of Katyń,” about a family’s 10-year odyssey through multiple continents, and the Katyń Massacre.
  • Fri. Nov. 16 – 7:30 p.m. – Battle of Warsaw 1920 (2011) Film which tells the story of Poland’s battle vs. the Soviets through the eyes of two young people.
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 4:30 p.m. – Workshop-Krysia Jopek: “Getting Your Work Published…”
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 6 p.m. – Jopek, daughter of Polish WWII survivors, discusses her novel “Maps and Shadows”
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 7:30 p.m. – Control Sample-Film about young Poles who live in four cities of Western Europe. Meet the Director.
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 8:30 p.m. – 80 Million (2011) Film which portrays events of ten days before martial law.
  • Sun. Nov. 18 – 6:00 p.m. – Control Sample-Film
  • Sun. Nov. 18 – 6:30 p.m. – At the Market Arcade Theatre – In Darkness (2011) Film about one Catholic’s rescue of Jews.
  • Mon. Nov. 19 – 3:00 p.m. – Workshop-Poet John Guzlowski: “The Art of Listening: Writing Poems & Stories on Family.”
  • Mon. Nov. 19 – 7:00 p.m. – Siege-film by an American who documented Warsaw just before the Nazi invasion.
  • Mon. Nov. 19 – 7:15 p.m. – Guzlowski presents “Two Lives Shaped by World War II,”, the story of his parents’ lives as slave laborers in Germany.
Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , ,

Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland presentation

“Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland” will be presented at Elms College (Alumnae Library Theater) in Chicopee, MA on Saturday, November 17th from 10 am to 5:30 pm. The program is free and open to the public. There is an optional luncheon (12-1 pm) available for $7.

This program will have several original activists in the Solidarity union movement speaking, as well as others:

  • Jersy Polak, official photographer for Solidarity 1980-1981
  • Andre Blaszcsynski, Moderator of the Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations 1983-1990
  • Neil Walsh, United States Information Agency in Warsaw 1972-76 and in Krakow 1978-1980
  • Wieslaw Olszak, Martial Law political prisoner

Workers and union activists should find this program especially important for its lesson that workers’ efforts can transform national and global history.

This program is a joint effort of the Kosciuszko Foundation (New England Chapter) and The Polish Center of Discovery and Learning in Chicopee.

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political, , ,

Unemployment and Re-employment

Unemployment Benefits Reduce Poverty

The Congressional Research Service released a report on the: Antipoverty Effects of Unemployment Insurance (UI) [pdf].

This report examines the antipoverty effects of unemployment insurance benefits during the past recession and the economic recovery. The analysis highlights the impact of the additional and expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits available to unemployed workers through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. In 2011, approximately 56% of all unemployed individuals were receiving UI benefits (down from a high of 66% in 2010). UI benefits appear to have a large poverty-reducing effect among unemployed workers who receive them. Given the extended length of unemployment among jobless workers, the additional weeks of UI benefits beyond the regular program’s 26-week limit appear to have had an especially important effect in poverty reduction.

The report’s analysis shows that UI benefits appear to reduce the prevalance of poverty significantly among the population that receives them. The UI benefits’ poverty reduction effects appear to be especially important during and immediately after recessions. The analysis also finds that there was a markedly higher impact on poverty in the most recent recession than in the previous two recessionary periods. The estimated antipoverty effects of UI benefits in 2011 were about 50% higher than that of two previous peak years of unemployment — 1993 and 2003.

In 2011, over one quarter (26.5%) of unemployed people who received UI benefits would have been considered poor prior to taking UI benefits into account; after counting UI benefits, their poverty rate decreased by just under half, to 13.8%.

NELP Reports on the Value of the Public Re-Employment Services

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) recently issued a briefing paper titled: Getting Real: Time to Re- Invest in the Public Employment Service [pdf].

The paper highlights the value of reemployment services. Their briefing calls for a “renewed focus on reemployment services,” with substantial increases in federal funding for the Employment Service. According to NELP, increased funding for the Employment Services would allow states to provide more services to job seekers such as: job placement services, in-person job search assistance, and pre-training counseling. In addition to increased federal funding, NELP recommends prioritizing those who are receiving unemployment insurance.

Christian Witness, Homilies, Political

Reflection for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Hey, butt out of it.
No!

“And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.’”

Is there any direct biblical quote that states Church leaders must become involved in politics? The simple answer is no. Does that mean that Church leaders and Christians in general are to turn a blind eye to government and politics? The answer is also no.

Throughout biblical history we see men and women of faith standing up to power and politics to proclaim what is right and true by God’s standard. The Lord’s prophets obediently confronted civic leaders with their sin and with their godless decisions: Samuel with Saul; Gad and Nathan with David; Elijah, Elisha, and Micaiah with Ahab; Isaiah with Ahaz; Daniel with Belshazzar; Jeremiah with Jehoiakim and Zedekiah; as well as others. At the very beginning of the New Testament we see Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, confront Herod about his immorality.

Certainly God does not set Himself against government as an institution. Jesus tells us to pay our taxes. Paul tells us to submit ourselves to the governing authorities. Peter tells us to honor the emperor.

All that said, there is a line that cannot be crossed. When Peter was told by the authorities to stop preaching he declared that he must obey God rather than men.

Jesus reminds us today that there is a standard set by God. This is a right, just, and truth-filled standard – as perfect as God is perfect. Whenever civil governments or the whims of society run afoul of God’s standard the Church must arise, proclaim and teach the standard, and accept persecution for it.

The early church knew it, and endured suffering from the Roman emperors because they refused to bend from God’s standard.

Jesus equips and empowers with the authority of His way – the one and only right way. As we prepare to vote, as we consider the options, let us pray and exhort each other to stand with God’s standard. Let us abide by biblical principals in the vote we cast. There is no perfect candidate. There is no one that is perfect and without sin. Measure each against God’s standards and vote for the people who best hold to and strive to meet the only standard that matters.

Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , , , ,

Jan Karski to be awarded posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Obama will award a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a former officer in the Polish Underground during World War II who was among the first to provide eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. The medal will be presented this summer on a date yet to be determined.

Karski was a long time member of The Kosciuszko Foundation and The American Center of Polish Culture (ACPC), which became heirs of Karski’s last will and testament.

On April 7, 2011, Kosciuszko Foundation President Alex Storozynski and Kaya Ploss, former Director of the ACPC, which is now part of the Kosciuszko Foundation, wrote to President Obama asking him to honor Jan Karski “a man of courage and great distinction who was a citizen of Poland, the United States and Israel. As representatives of the two Polish organizations in America that were beneficiaries of Jan Karski’s will, and having merged last year, we hope that you would consider awarding Jan Karski the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

The foundation was later joined in the quest by The Jan Karski Centennial Campaign, an initiative of the Polish History Museum in Warsaw. Members of the steering committee that have been pushing the campaign include: Alex Storozynski, President and Executive Director of The Kosciuszko Foundation; Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter; Robert L. Billingsley, Co-Chair, Georgetown University Jan Karski Centennial Campaign; David Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee; Andrzej Rojek, Kosciuszko Foundation Trustee; and campaign director Wanda Urbanska.

Jan Karski speaking at the Kosciuszko Foundation

The Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

President Obama said, “We must tell our children about how this evil was allowed to happen-because so many people succumbed to their darkest instincts; because so many others stood silent. But let us also tell our children about the Righteous Among the Nations. Among them was Jan Karski-a young Polish Catholic-who witnessed Jews being put on cattle cars, who saw the killings, and who told the truth, all the way to President Roosevelt himself. Jan Karski passed away more than a decade ago. But today, I’m proud to announce that I will honor him with America’s highest civilian honor-the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Karski served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II and carried among the first eye-witness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. He worked as a courier, entering the Warsaw ghetto and the Nazi Izbica transit camp, where he saw first-hand the atrocities occurring under Nazi occupation. Karski later traveled to London to meet with the Polish government-in-exile and with British government officials. He subsequently traveled to the United States and met with President Roosevelt. Karski published Story of a Secret State, earned a Ph.D at Georgetown University, and became a professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Born in 1914, Karski became a U.S. citizen in 1954 and died in 2000.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , ,

Pol-Am writer interviews former NY State Lieutenant Governor Mary Anne Krupsak

Polish-american writer Linda C. Wisniewski interviews former New York State Lieutenant Governor Mary Anne Krupsak for her hometown newspaper, The Mohawk Valley Independent in The Pharmacist’s Daughter – An Interview With Former Amsterdamian & NYS Lt. Governor Mary Anne Krupsak

The interview is also included in Upstream 2 as part of Women’s History Month and part of the Independent’s Creative Mohawk Valley Women series.

She was a shy little girl, but when she sang in church, Mary Anne Krupsak’s coloratura voice came through loud and clear. She simply loved to sing, and her mother, an accomplished pianist and violinist, encouraged her. In the following interview, Amsterdam native and former Lieutenant Governor of New York Mary Anne Krupsak answers a few questions for Upstream…

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , , ,

Visa free travel for Poles wishing to visit the United States – action needed

Senator Charles Schumer says: ‘Drop Visas For Poland’
Polish Americans Can Make It Happen

After years of broken promises from Washington, Poland finally has a chance of being included in the Visa Waiver Program thanks to Sen. Chuck Schumer. Sen. Schumer came to the Kosciuszko Foundation on Friday, March 3rd for a meeting with Alex Storozynski, President of the Kosciuszko Foundation, Nowy Dziennik publisher Leszek Sadowski, Polish Consul Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka and members of other Polish organizations to discuss his new legislation called the “Jolt Act.”

“I am committed to getting this done,” Schumer said during an hour and a half meeting with Polish leaders at the Kosciuszko Foundation. “But you have to work at it,” he said. “This has to come from you.”

When Schumer marched in New York’s Pulaski Day Parade in October, the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Nowy Dziennik and others brought the Visa Waiver issue to his attention and urged him to find a way to drop visas for Poland. Sen. Schumer promised to do something. He kept his word. As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, Schumer took several immigration bills sponsored by various Senators and combined them into one bill.

Senators Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Mark Kirk of Illinois sponsored legislation to include Poland in the VWP. And in the House of Representatives a bipartisan collection Congressmen such as Mike Quigley, Dan Lipinski, Marcy Kaptur, and others have done the same. These bills are now part of the “Jolt Act” to boost tourism. It will add billions of dollars to our economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next decade. It will also cut red tape for tourists and business travelers from India, Brazil, China, and increase tourism from Canada.

But now Polish-Americans across the United States, especially those in swing states, must unite to ensure that the “Jolt Act” becomes law. We must get President Obama’s attention.

When President Obama was a Senator from Illinois, he told Polish-Americans that he supported Poland’s inclusion in the visa waiver program. Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, made the same promise as a Congressman from Chicago. But nothing has been done despite numerous pledges to act. When the President met with Poland’s President Bronislaw Komorowski in the Oval Office on December 8, 2010, Mr. Obama said, “I indicated to President Komorowski that I am going to make this a priority. And I want to solve this issue before very long. My expectation is, is that this problem will be solved during my presidency.”

Earlier this month, after a meeting with Poland’s Foreign Minster Radek Sikorski, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked about this issue and said, “I know the President pledged that this would be done before the end of his presidency, and probably that will be a little longer than the end of this year.”

President Obama received 56% percent of the Polish-American vote in 2008, to McCain’s 44%. The swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania have very large Polish populations. And don’t forget the 430,000 Polish-Americans in Florida. This is why self-identified Polish Americans and Polonian organizations across the United States must rise up to demand that visas for Poland be dropped – especially those in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania – the home state of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Take action

To find your Congressman and their e-mail address, log onto the Kosciuszko Foundation web site and type in your zip code. Then send your Senators and Representatives a note expressing your support. You may also sign the Drop Visas for Poland on-line petition.

Media, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , ,

Congratulations to David Kocieniewski on his Pulitzer

David Kocieniewski, a business reporter for The New York Times has won the Pulitzer for Explanatory Journalism for his series on holes in the corporate income tax base. The Times explained: “David Kocieniewski devoted a year to digging out and exposing the obscure provisions that businesses and the wealthiest Americans exploit to drive their tax bills down to rock bottom. In a series called ‘But Nobody Pays That,’ Mr. Kocieniewski showed how federal tax law takes with one hand but gives – generously – with the other…. The Pulitzer jury said Mr. Kocieniewski’s work ‘penetrated a legal thicket to explain how the nation’s wealthiest citizens and corporations often exploited loopholes and avoided taxes.'”

Mr. Kocieniewski was born in Buffalo, N.Y. He graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1985, and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1986.

Congratulations and Sto lat!

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