The first currency war with an unpredictable outcome. Dollar versus yuan.

In September Congressmen from House of Representatives adopted the bill on measures of counteraction to the low yuan exhange rate. In particular, this bill allows American companies to file the claims for imposition of import duties for the Chinese goods in order to compenste the effect of low exchange yuan-dollare rate.

In fact the wealthiest country in the world owes great amounts of money to China, which owns 20% of all American state securities.

Chinese are holding the detonator, capable of exploding an entire American financial system in their hands. U.S. Department of Finance bonds are just the loan securities, which American government is obliged to pay up with an interest — that’s actually what governments of other countries and various financial institutions are buying them for. Why then — despite the U.S.-born financial crisis — investors from all over the world are still buying up these securities?

Kaczyński' casus

Part V

Poland: yesterday, today, tomorrow.

      

Secret of today’s face-off among the Polish elite lies in the whole of yesterday.

Things that happen in today’s Poland were seemingly impossible to imagine merely a years or two ago. How could have cozy, comfortable and quiet country turned into a battlefield and become an arena for the cold civil war, gradually mutating into a real one? In order to answer these questions we would have to go few decades back in the past.

Kaczyński' casus

Part IV

 

Who are you, pan Kaczyński?

 

                                 

           That’s how brothers looked like in 1962 (scene from the “The Two Who Stole The Moon[1]” motion picture) and 

how they look 45 years after that

 

 

Jarosław Kaczyński, having stepped over the borders of not only Polish but the European political culture as well, created a new model of political behavior, based not on the politically correct depersonalized attitude to the political struggle — as it is common for the countries with firm democratic traditions — but rather on a passionate, deeply personal attitude to the politics (frankly speaking, a lot more characteristic of the Latin America[2] rather than Europe). In order to understand the incentives and algorithms — according to which Kaczyński acts — we have to have a closer look at his person. That is the only way to understand the transformation of a Democrat, fighting against totalitarian communist regime, into the furious populist, fiercely defying the very same democratic values he once used to fight for.

Kaczyński' casus

Kaczyński' casus

Part III

Christian Knights

      

Fuss around Palikot’s party and the first “piping hot” public opinion polls have indicated 2-3 percents of public support for the rowdy politician right on the day of constituent convention. He became personal enemy of Kaczyński (mind that he seized these modest percents from PiS electorate, gradually depriving Catholic fundamentalists of the moderate voters’ support) and made PiS chairman to strike back.

Can START turn into FINISH?

Keith Payne, Ph.D. from the Heritage Foundation believes that signing of new START treaty with Russia will put an end to the U.S. security and the entire Western civilization. We’d try to analyze this opinion. But even without any further analysis we may confidently state that failure to sign the START treaty would obviously turn the reset of Russo-American relationship into FINISH — and we may have every reason to throw out the red button, which Hillary Clinton was hilariously swinging in front of her Russian colleague, Sergey Lavrov. One needn’t be a Philosophy Doctor to make such a conclusion.

      

Kaczyński' casus

Is Kaczyński able to get back to power? Part II

“Crusade” of devoted PiS adherents against the Presidential palace not just disunited Poles — it actually torn the Polish society into two unequal parts. “Kaczyński’s special forces” (the much-talked-about mohair berets) having started with demands to immortalize late Lech Kaczyński’s memory — reminded Civic Platform all the offences, mostly connected to the kościół[1] role in Poland. Rightist liberal CP, which deals that issue with great delicacy, did its best to avoid any abrupt moves. Bills regarding state support of artificial fertilization, elimination of kościół pension fund, review of Commission on kościół property results are lying in the Seim for years. For now deputies don’t even examine them, although CP has the coalition majority in the parliament. To a considerable degree Donald Tusk turned out to be a hostage of the situation created by the insane Kaczyński’s actions.

Continuation

Part I

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Sic fatur Palikot

Having obtained seemingly absolute fullness of power, Civic Platform, however, is showing unprecedented cautiousness — being taught by the bitter PiS example from the period when President and Prime Minister had the same last name. Under the confident leadership of Donald Tusk, CP for the first time in contemporary Polish political history applied political technologies, much more characteristic of the former USSR republics. Impressed by the sudden SLD success, Tusk decided to create CP subsidiary party — the one capable of pulling certain part of anti-clerical SLD electorate off for itself. For that sake, Janusz Palikot — one of the most scandalous CP Seim deputies — was used.

Kaczyński' casus

Is Kaczyński able to get back to power? Part I

We tend to think that troubles unite us, while the troubles that touched entire nations, reconcile people as well. Russian history has numerous examples of that, too. Poles have proved once again: how great are the differences between us. National tragedy that befell our Western neighbors has estranged rather than united the Polish society.

Death of President Lech Kaczyński — along with other outstanding representatives of the Polish elite — in the plane crush near Smolensk has shocked not only Poland itself. Despite the chilly intergovernmental relations, Polish tragedy caused a wave of sincere empathy not only among the common Russians but among the top authorities as well. Embrace of Vladimir Putin and Donald Tusk in Smolensk — so unexpected in its sincerity — have melted the ice in the Polish hearts and met a deep emotional response among Polish people.

Rather paradoxical from the standpoint of formal logic and quite symbolical from the emotional one, Russo-Polish reconciliation seemed to be inevitable and filled both leaders and citizens of our countries with optimism. Even the Polish pre-election presidential campaign went in an utmost correct way. Brother of late President, Jarosław Kaczyński, who had the claims for the top state post in the country, behaved himself in an irreproachable manner — despite all the expectations — and never mentioned the subject of Lech Kaczyński death during the election rhetoric (which extremely surprised every last analyst).