Poland’s government is in chaos, following a series of ministerial and other high-ranking political resignations amid the leak of thousands of pages of confidential reports from an investigation into the secret tapes affair.
Treasury minister Włodzimierz Karpiński, health minister Bartosz Arłukowicz and sports minister Andrzej Biernat have all left their posts.
They are joined by Tomasz Tomczykiewicz (secretary of state for the economy), Rafał Baniak (under-secretary at the Treasury), and Stanisław Gawłowski (secretary of state for the environment).
Radoslaw Sikorski has also stepped down as Speaker of the Sejm.
Prime minister Ewa Kopacz’s chief advisor, Jacek Rostowski, has resigned, as has head of special services Jacek Cichocki – although the latter remains in post as head of the office of the prime minister.
Speaker Sikorski, 3 ministers resign over taping scandal | RT |
Polish businessman Zbigniew Stonoga published more than 2,500 pages of secret documents. He has been reportedly fighting a long-running battle with the authorities. The confidential reports from the investigation included top-secret information concerning the personal details of state security officers, as well as senior officials, including ministers and conversations in restaurants.
The leaked tapes reveal politicians making inappropriate jokes and indiscreet comments about colleagues and foreign leaders. The head of the prime minister’s office Jacek Cichocki has called the publication “the biggest leak in history,” Inside-Poland.com reported.
Poland’s ‘Secret Tape’ Scandal Goes Surreal, Amid Claim that Minister Ordered Arson Attack on Russian Embassy in Warsaw in November 2013
‘We Gave the Americans a Blow Job,’ Got Nothing, Says Polish FM Sikorski – Nov. 2013
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Polish foreign minister says country’s alliance with US worthless | The Guardian |
A Polish news magazine said on Sunday it had obtained a secret recording of Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, in contention for a senior European Union job, saying that Poland’s relationship with the United States was worthless.
The Wprost news magazine said the recording was of a private conversation earlier this year between Sikorski and Jacek Rostowski, a member of parliament with the ruling Civic Platform who until last year was finance minister.
The magazine did not say who recorded the conversation, or how it obtained the recording.
Aides to Sikorski and Rostowski said they had no immediate comment. A government spokeswoman said it was hard to form a view based on a few excerpts of a conversation, but there might be a comment later.
According to a transcript of excerpts of the conversation that was published by Wprost on its Internet site, Sikorski told Rostowski: “You know that the Polish-US alliance isn’t worth anything.”
“It is downright harmful, because it creates a false sense of security … Complete bullshit. We’ll get in conflict with the Germans, Russians and we’ll think that everything is super, because we gave the Americans a blow job. Losers. Complete losers.”
According to the transcript, Sikorski described Warsaw’s attitude towards the United States using the Polish word “murzynskosc ” That derives from the word “murzyn,” which denotes a dark-skinned person and someone who does the work for somebody else, according to the PWN Polish language dictionary.
Poland leak: Radoslaw Sikorski scorns ‘worthless’ US ties | BBC News |
- ○ Poland pays $250,000 to victims of CIA rendition and torture
○ ‘We Gave the Americans a Blow Job,’ Got Nothing, Says Polish FM Sikorski | Newsweek |
She was nearly Polands first lady, nearly went to Brussels as Radek fell short to become Europe’s FM and now she’s the right-wing journalist of a disgraced head of Parliament … a nobody. Anne Applebaum … how I won’t miss her or her provocative anti-Russian articles in US msm.
