Patterico's Pontifications

4/18/2010

Poland’s State Funeral

Filed under: International — DRJ @ 2:45 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Poland held an elaborate state funeral for Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria. Many Western leaders were unable to attend because of the Iceland volcanic ash, but regional leaders did make it:

“The volcanic ash from Iceland did not deter everyone. The leaders of Baltic and Balkan states came by car for the stately event.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev flew by plane from Moscow for the funeral. His presence was a further sign of the warming ties between the two countries, which was strained for centuries, most recently because of communism and the 1940 Katyn massacre.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, acknowledged those ties in remarks to the congregation, noting that the tragedy had given rise “to many layers of good between the people and nations.”

“The sympathy and help we have received from Russian brothers has breathed new life into a hope for closer relations and reconciliation between our two Slavic nations,” Cardinal Dziwisz said. “I direct these words to the president of Russia.”

I think the image of Russia’s Medvedev paying tribute to the Polish President — especially since he was the only major world leader to attend — will impact the Polish people for a long time.

— DRJ

14 Responses to “Poland’s State Funeral”

  1. Well, of course. Killing the government of Poland was only the preliminary to eating it.

    nk (db4a41)

  2. Who represented the United States? I’m pretty confident that George Bush would have attended, volcano or no.

    Steve (6f68d9)

  3. The U.S.Ambassador to Poland.

    AD - RtR/OS! (4249dd)

  4. Obama chose to play his 32nd round of golf so far, instead. It’s in all the Polish newspapers.

    (Bush played 24 rounds during his entire 8 years, BTW).

    nk (db4a41)

  5. Russian mfers!

    bill glass (3ecf0b)

  6. “Who represented the United States? I’m pretty confident that George Bush would have attended, volcano or no.”

    – Steve

    Yeah, seriously. A little volcano ash shouldn’t stop people from honoring their allies.

    Leviticus (30ac20)

  7. Reagan would have gone. Bush-41 or Bush-43 would have gone. Probably even McCain would have gone. Obama should have gone.

    Beldar (c77603)

  8. Considering that Medvedev flew from Moscow, you’d think that a suitably motivated TOTUS would be willing to spend a bit of time on Air Force 1 and go the long way around. On the other hand, One must work on One’s handicap. (insert snark here…)

    Red County Pete (7f4d74)

  9. I play a lot of golf, and I have not played 32 rounds in the last year. Maybe close, but I am not the leader of the free world. Plus, Better Half would kick my ass.

    JD (8763bd)

  10. He sure has a knack for embarassing our country.

    Forget all the bowing to dictators, this is the worst.

    One thing should be said, from all accounts this was an accident born of a ego driven Polish President, not a designed Russian conspiracy.

    Medvedev did his country proud today.

    papertiger (b40a74)

  11. Install a little putt putt thing inside AF1 and I think we’re well on our way to a Prez with some foreign policy interests.

    Obama will probably mail then a DVD set. About Obama.

    In all seriousness, it sounds almost like the adults are sending Obama away from the serious business that goes on in Eisenhower EOB and the West Wing, and calling him in off the fields to read a teleprompter every now and then. Like he’s a King who hasn’t reached maturity yet. Axelrod and Rahm are Stewards of the Oval Office.

    Sending the USA to other countries will bolster the USA’s diplomatic influence, which is the opposite of the ‘knock us down pegs’ philosophy.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  12. WTF! They couldn’t even send Sloe Joe?

    Pathetic.

    Just when you think they can’t get any worse . . .

    Icy Texan (468117)

  13. #11 Dustin:

    it sounds almost like the adults are sending Obama away from the serious business

    It does, doesn’t it.

    EW1(SG) (edc268)

  14. Couldn’t he have gone to a Polish Catholic Church in the D.C. area Sunday? Or gone to the Polish Embassy or had the Polish ambassador to the WH?

    But then he probably asked for a Polish caddy so I guess we can’t be too hard on him.

    MU789 (25b69d)


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