Going to war is always dangerous but returning home could be just as risky.
Reviewed by Slawek Szefs
War veterans are left to their own fate, writes GAZETA WYBORCZA. Twenty three Polish soldiers were killed in Iraq. Eighteen, so far, have died in Afghanistan. Altogether some 350 servicemen were wounded during Poland’s numerous foreign missions under UN and NATO auspices. Many of them require specialist medical treatment, but there is lack of funding for the purpose. The Association of Wounded and Casualties in Foreign Missions numbers 71 members at present. Their only hope is to benefit from the 1 per cent annual personal income tax donations which they can collect. Of course, on condition people are willing to choose this specific organization. Much of their problems could be solved, if relevant legislation would be in force. Regretfully, the draft of the Veterans Act - prepared already a year ago - has not yet been tabled for reading in Parliament.
DZIENNIK GAZETA PRAWNA shares news of skyrocketing chances of Radoslaw Sikorski in the run up to the presidential campaign. A survey by the Homo Homini Institute commissioned by the paper shows the incumbent Foreign Minister rising in popularity figures to match hitherto absolute leader in the polls, PM and head of the ruling Civic Platform (PO) party, Donald Tusk. Now that Mr. Tusk has resigned from running for the presidential office the chances of his party’s two potential candidates were examined. In a matter of days from end January to the beginning of February support for both Radoslaw Sikorski and House Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski went up by five points each to 32.2 and 29.1 per cent, respectively. And both contenders enjoy a comfortable lead over President Lech Kaczynski who will most probably go for re-election.
The internet debate of Donald Tusk, which is to be the PM’s answer to reservations voiced by the web community to government plans of banning all forms of gambling from the net, will be censored.
This is the opinion in RZECZPOSPOLITA which found out that only 300 representatives of web users have been chosen by the premier’s office to participate in the exchange of arguments. Others willing to contribute their questions can do so via a live link. The organizers of the debate claim they thus want to avoid a situation of clogging up the server with thousands of comments and, most probably, invectives addressed at the Prime Minister. But despite the seemingly warlike mood, a poll by the just mentioned Homo Homini Institute has revealed a surprising 37 per cent of web users to support the government proposal of creating an official Register of Banned Websites and Services to block their availability. Every fifth respondent protested against the idea.
METRO, a free Warsaw daily, reports on an initiative of the Public Rights Ombudsman to create a new code of advertising ethics. Addressing the government plenipotentiary for equality professor Janusz Kochanowski states his concern with sexist treatment of women in various ads and commercials. Meanwhile, professor Beata Laciak, a noted expert on feminine media image, says the number of cases involving a sexist approach towards women has not increased in recent years. What has changed is public attitude towards the phenomenon in the direction of a more critical opinion about the mechanisms of such ad campaigns.