Archives: Year 2020

JAN FRANCISZEK SMULSKI - an outstanding patriot, champion of the Polish cause towards the US President Wilson, close associate of Jan Ignacy Paderewski and Roman Dmowski, an organizer of financial aid for the reborn Poland, an emigrant initiator of key undertakings for the Independent. Lawyer, journalist, publisher, politician and, very importantly, the first Polish millionaire and banker in Chicago.

The Biden campaign Central European Coalition attacked President Trump for supposedly damaging NATO by threatening withdrawal, alienation of NATO allies and emboldening Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Biden claims that this endangers freedom in Central Europe and is at stake in this election.

During World War I, the political direction for Polish emigration was simple - Poles should co-operate with the Entente [countries]. After many meetings with government officials, special hopes were placed on the Canadian government, which agreed to accept a group of Falcons into the Toronto military school. On January 1, 1917, 23 candidate officers secretly arrived in Toronto. On May 21, 1917, they received officer ranks. The top five became instructors at the Cadet School in Cambridge Springs.

On April 15, 1915, the co-founder and the second honorary president, after Sienkiewicz, of the General Rescue Committee in Switzerland, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, came to the United States.

He was welcomed in New York by representatives of the Polish emigration and clergy, including the famous Polish banker, publisher, American and Polish diaspora politician, Jan Franciszek Smulski, who made a very positive impression on Paderewski and was himself fascinated by the personality of the great artist.

On October 28, 2020, Andreas Kluth's article entitled "Germany Is Ready to Offer America a New Deal". In his text, Kluth presents the proposal of the German Minister of Defense - Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer - a new order in transatlantic relations.

It is worth remembering that the Munich Agreement was signed 82 years ago and if we carefully analyze this German deal, it may turn out that we may have a new Chamberlain in the form of the US president announcing to the Americans: "Peace for Our Time."

On March 4, 1944, a preparatory conference for the establishment of the Polish American Congress (Kongres Polonii Amerykańskiej, KPA) was held in Chicago, attended by representatives of the entire spectrum of Polish diaspora, along with the clergy and chief editors of the Polish diaspora press. At this meeting, Karol Rozmarek gave a charismatic speech, uttering the historic words: “Today, the defense of Poland is our most sacred and most important duty. It is up to us whether this defense will be just a patriotic phrase, or whether it will be a real defense for which the Polish diaspora in America will not have to be ashamed of it in the future."

There are only a few days left until the presidential election in the United States. The American and world press are not in favor of Donald Trump's re-election. American secret services monitor the influence of third countries on the presidential campaign. China, Russia and Iran are mentioned here. And on October 27, 2020, an extensive interview with President Obama's key adviser and now close associate Ben Rhodes was published on German T-Online. The possibility of re-election of Donald Trump keeps former President Barack Obama awake at night.

The prestigious Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2020 was awarded to two women: French chemist Emmanuelle Charpentier, today associated with the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, and American Jennifer A. Doudn, from the University of California at Berkeley. The award was granted for developing the method of gene editing.

The last presidential debate took place on October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. This time the moderator was Kristen Welker from NBC News. There are only 12 days until the election, although in many states elections are already in progress - by mail or in person at the early voting stations. To date, 47 million US citizens have voted, which is about 25% of eligible and registered. Presumably, only those who strongly support Republican or Democrat policy have voted so far. So to what extent will the results of this debate influence the elections? Will President Trump or former Vice President Biden be able to convince about 10% of the so far undecided whose votes will really decide?

Last week in Poland was marked by parliamentary debates, debates of the Constitutional Tribunal, farmers' strikes and protests by feminists.

The most important election campaign in the history of the world is taking place in the USA, the result of which will be to define the reality in which we will live. Will it be a left-liberal world or will it still be a world of conservative values?

This year's prestigious Nobel Prize in physics went to three outstanding scientists. Half (50%) of the award went to the famous British mathematician and physicist Sir Roger Penrose of the University of Oxford. It is of particular interest to us, as the scientist has recently been working closely with Polish scientists. The remainder of the award (25% each) was split equally between two astrophysicists associated with California University at Berkeley: Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the Swedish inventor and founder of the famous Prize by his name, was a rather controversial figure. He was a loner, living in isolation, traveling a lot, never got married, had few friends, and was very distant with his family. Politically conservative, for example, he was against allowing women to vote, and was not particularly liked as a manager. Once he became seriously ill, the only person who visited him was his employee. He lived in hotels and in his laboratories, which is why Victor Hugo called him "the richest vagabond in Europe".