Not to dark. Bitter. Not much of a head.
Posted on 05/27/2011 5:40:58 AM PDT by markomalley
Lech Walesa, Poland's Solidarity-era legend, ex-president and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Friday he would not accept an invitation to meet with fellow Nobel winner US President Barack Obama.
"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 Poland's public broadcaster TVP.
Obama is due to arrive in Poland later Friday after the G8 summit in France.
Walesa was originally scheduled to meet Obama Saturday along with other key figures in Poland's post-1989 transition from communism to democracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
You mean, "Tak!"
Comparing what Walesa achieved to get his “Peace Prize,” and what Obama did to achieve his, and you can see why he might be upset.
They're the "Mt. Rushmore" of anti-Communism.
Oh! That would be right up there with “We Are Not Amused.” (Queen Vicky)
Ding. Ding. Ding. Lech, this Bud's for you! (yea, I know Bud's owned by in-bev)
They dislodged communism when it looked as though there was no possible WAI to dislodge communism. We would all do well to remember that on the bad days, of which there are many.
A Tribute to Ronald Reagan
by Lech Walesa
President of Poland from 1990 to 1995, & winner of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize
GDANSK, Poland — When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can’t be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989.Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe in the dark days of the Cold War meant a lot to us. We knew he believed in a few simple principles such as human rights, democracy and civil society. He was someone who was convinced that the citizen is not for the state, but vice-versa, and that freedom is an innate right.I often wondered why Ronald Reagan did this, taking the risks he did, in supporting us at Solidarity, as well as dissident movements in other countries behind the Iron Curtain, while pushing a defense buildup that pushed the Soviet economy over the brink. Let’s remember that it was a time of recession in the U.S. and a time when the American public was more interested in their own domestic affairs. It took a leader with a vision to convince them that there are greater things worth fighting for. Did he seek any profit in such a policy? Though our freedom movements were in line with the foreign policy of the United States, I doubt it.President Reagan, in a radio address from his ranch on Oct. 9, 1982, announces trade sanctions against Poland in retaliation for the outlawing of Solidarity.I distinguish between two kinds of politicians. There are those who view politics as a tactical game, a game in which they do not reveal any individuality, in which they lose their own face. There are, however, leaders for whom politics is a means of defending and furthering values. For them, it is a moral pursuit. They do so because the values they cherish are endangered. They’re convinced that there are values worth living for, and even values worth dying for.
Otherwise they would consider their life and work pointless. Only such politicians are great politicians and Ronald Reagan was one of them.The 1980s were a curious time — a time of realization that a new age was upon us. Communism was coming to an end. It had used up its means and possibilities. The ground was set for change. But this change needed the cooperation, or unspoken understanding, of different political players. Now, from the perspective of our time, it is obvious that like the pieces of a global chain of events, Ronald Reagan, John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and even Mikhail Gorbachev helped bring about this new age in Europe. We at Solidarity like to claim more than a little credit, too, for bringing about the end of the Cold War.In the Europe of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan presented a vision. For us in Central and Eastern Europe, that meant freedom from the Soviets. Mr. Reagan was no ostrich who hoped that problems might just go away. He thought that problems are there to be faced. This is exactly what he did.Every time I met President Reagan, at his private estate in California or at the Lenin shipyard here in Gdansk, I was amazed by his modesty and even temper. He didn’t fit the stereotype of the world leader that he was. Privately, we were like opposite sides of a magnet: He was always composed; I was a raging tower of emotions eager to act. We were so different yet we never had a problem with understanding one another. I respected his honesty and good humor. It gave me confidence in his policies and his resolve. He supported my struggle, but what unified us, unmistakably, were our similar values and shared goals.
I have often been asked in the United States to sign the poster that many Americans consider very significant. Prepared for the first almost-free parliamentary elections in Poland in 1989, the poster shows Gary Cooper as the lonely sheriff in the American Western, “High Noon.” Under the headline “At High Noon” runs the red Solidarity banner and the date — June 4, 1989 — of the poll. It was a simple but effective gimmick that, at the time, was misunderstood by the Communists. They, in fact, tried to ridicule the freedom movement in Poland as an invention of the “Wild” West, especially the U.S.But the poster had the opposite impact: Cowboys in Western clothes had become a powerful symbol for Poles. Cowboys fight for justice, fight against evil, and fight for freedom, both physical and spiritual. Solidarity trounced the Communists in that election, paving the way for a democratic government in Poland. It is always so touching when people bring this poster up to me to autograph it. They have cherished it for so many years and it has become the emblem of the battle that we all fought together.As I say repeatedly, we owe so much to all those who supported us. Perhaps in the early years, we didn’t express enough gratitude. We were so busy introducing all the necessary economic and political reforms in our reborn country. Yet President Ronald Reagan must have realized what remarkable changes he brought to Poland, and indeed the rest of the world.
And I hope he felt gratified. He should have.
Lech Walesa
He’s had his fill dealing with Communists.
Other than that, unfortunately, the Polish MSM and politicians are wetting their Depends for the Won.
I man who understands tyranny and the tyrannically-inclined
Da, I do!
:)
To the Poles, a U.S. President is somebody, and few over there are as well informed about this usurper’s background as we are. Few would ever believe that Americans would be crazy enough to elect a bona fide Communist. So, unfortunately, and perversely, Osambo represents to the people there today the opposite of what he truly represents: Communist radicalism at the highest level of American government.
Awesome
YOU ARE LIKE THE BUZZING OF FLIES TO VIGO!
ZERONESS has never done an honorable thing in his demented life!! NOT ONE THING!! And he had the Unrepentent Pentagon Bomber and Confirmed Hater of AMERICA, William Ayers, write his alleged MEMOIRS, “DREAMS FROM MY PROMISCUOUS, DRUNKEN, HARVARD FLUNK OUT, COMMUNIST, POLYGAMOUS, LIAR FATHER!” Everything about his entire History, everything!, has been DISAPPEARED!! Why is he and his MOB so freaked out over his past and why is the Media covering up for this Atrocity??
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