Ambassador Victor Ashe

Greetings from Warsaw!

November passed very quickly here. It was a very full month, starting off with great interest: the election on November 4 of Barack Obama as President.

Over 1,200 people gathered in Warsaw’s Hotel Intercontinental for an Election Night event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw (AmCham), which the Embassy co-sponsored. In addition to the live coverage on giant screens provided by CNN and Poland’s TVP, TVN24, and Polsat, guests were treated to live music, a DJ, a great buffet, and a chance to vote in a “mock election” (Senator Obama defeated Senator McCain in this election too). All Polish television news programs were broadcasting from the event along with major radio stations and print press, with TVN24, Polsat, and TVP remaining throughout the night. Returns started coming in around 2:00 am Warsaw time. Poles were tremendously impressed by both the victory speech by President-elect Obama and the concession speech by Senator McCain. The cordial and respectful tone of each towards the other was well commented on.

Poles, like people in the United States, have discussed actively what a Barack Obama presidency will mean for the issues that concern them, like accession to the visa waiver program or the construction of a missile defense facility. Embassy diplomats and I have taken part in a number of interviews, talks, and panel discussions on the subject over the past month. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk both sent letters of congratulations to President-elect Obama and spoke personally with him in phone calls on November 7.

November 4 had additional significance for Poles – on that day in Szczecin the Polish Government held an official welcome home ceremony for the last Polish soldiers to return home from Iraq after finishing their successful mission there. President Bush expressed the appreciation of the United States for Poland’s distinguished service alongside our troops since the war in Iraq began in an October 29 letter. Although the Polish military has concluded its service in Iraq, it has increased its presence in Afghanistan, where it has taken over primary responsibility for the province of Ghazni. The Poles have hit the ground running – and we hope that the many armored personnel carriers they have received from the U.S. military will help them succeed in their critical mission in safety.

Our recognition of Polish heroism in Iraq and Afghanistan continued with a poignant ceremony at the Embassy on November 19, in which Mrs. Dorota Pietrek received the Purple Heart awarded to her son Dawid Pietrek, who died in Afghanistan on June 14 while serving as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marines. Dawid had immigrated to the United States in 2005 and worked in health care before enlisting. Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and Embassy U.S. Marine Security Guard Detachment Commander Sgt. Robert Kunard joined me in expressing our appreciation for Dawid’s sacrifice to his mother, his sister Ewelina Pietrek, and his grandmother Jadwiga Huniewicz, who had traveled to Warsaw from Police, near Szczecin, for the occasion. The ceremony was covered by the Polish public television channel TVP.

In happier news, we have taken further steps toward the official launch of a year of celebrating the 90th anniversary of U.S.-Polish Diplomatic Relations in 2009. The United States not only was the lead country pushing for an independent Poland as part of the peace plan for the end of World War I, but was also the first country to recognize the new Polish government. The finishing touches are now being put on a book, jointly produced by the Polish Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Embassy, which will commemorate our shared history. On November 7, I took part in a conference at the Igancy Jan Paderewski Museum in Warsaw’s Lazienki Park to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Poles in Jamestown, Virginia. That same day, I visited the Rogow Forestry and Environment Experiment Station of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) to preview a site that will host a new North American Trail in honor of the 90th anniversary.

The environment and climate change are topics of much conversation in Poland, with the 14th annual UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-14) running December 1-12 in Poznan, Poland. The Polish Government and all embassies have been busy preparing for the 8,000 delegates and 600 news reporters that will descend on the western Polish town for the follow-on to last year’s conference in Bali and precursor to Copenhagen in 2009. The U.S. Delegation will be led by Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky. Several Members of the U.S. Congress are also expected, if Congress does not extend its session throughout that period. The U.S. goal for the session is to make forward progress for a possible new international agreement on climate change to be reached next year in Copenhagen. During the conference, the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan plans to confer an honorary doctorate on former Vice President Al Gore, who will attend the conference. In anticipation of the Poznan events, the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) hosted climate change expert and former CIA Director James Woolsey for a well-received talk on November 13.

Other distinguished visitors this month included an American astronaut with Polish ancestry: George Zamka, a pilot for the Space Shuttle Discovery. Zamka visited Warsaw, Olsztyn, Krakow, Chorzow, and Sopotnia Wielka November 16-23 for public talks, meetings with students, and interviews with the press. At a reception at my Residence on November 17, Zamka helped me present awards to students who participated in and won prizes in two space-related contests sponsored by the Embassy with the Students’ Space Association and with Fundacja Wspomagania Wsi (Rural Development Foundation). Zamka also presented to the Museum of Polish Army during a ceremony on November 18 a Kosciuszko Squadron patch that was produced by Polish film producer Adam Ustynowicz – which had flown in space with him on the Discovery. The Embassy had recently given the museum a grant to make upgrades to their Kosciuszko Squadron exhibit.

At the same time that our thoughts have turned to celebrating Thanksgiving, we have also been reaching out to thank and highlight 16 Polish individuals who have done great work in their activities to end gender-based violence. Starting with the November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we have been featuring a new profile each day as our participation in the U.N.-sponsored “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence.” We have already profiled such women as Manuela Gretkowska, Renata Durda, Malgorzata Tarasiewicz, and Monika Ksieniewicz. To learn more about these remarkable individuals and a dozen others, please visit our website.

Other noteworthy events this month include the Pole’s celebration of the country’s 90th anniversary of independence at the end of World War I. The Embassy’s Marine Security Guards participated in the November 11 march in Warsaw, with our flag enjoying a place of honor during the ceremony. A week later, the Special Olympics International Torch Run relay passed through Warsaw, making a stop by the Embassy, where I was privileged to greet them with brief remarks, and I also hosted the participants and organizers for a reception at my residence. In a related event, Polish medal-winning athletes from the Beijing Olympics and previous Olympics joined American basketball players from the Polish professional league in a luncheon at my Residence on November 24. The Embassy and the Fulbright Commission also produced an excellent education conference for International Education Week on November 18.

As we look forward to the holiday season, we will still find ourselves fully engaged in other activities. In addition to the climate change conference in Poznan, the last of the original order of F16s Poland purchased will arrive on December 11, we will launch a new documentary contest with Polish Public Television TVP for the 90th anniversary, and negotiating teams will continue to meet to conclude the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). We also look forward to the Social Security Totalization Agreement being implemented in the early part of 2009.

I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

Sincerely Yours,

Victor Ashe

Embassy News