Poland takes over the monthly rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

During its presidency, Poland aims to work towards security and peace in the world, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said.

Poland is to organise meetings dedicated to the Middle East and Africa, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The dominant issue on the agenda will be the development of events in Syria. The Polish diplomatic corps will endeavour to react efficiently to unexpected situations," the foreign ministry said.

It added that Poland would pay "special attention to developments in the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East."

During May, Poland is also to host a debate entitled "The role of the UN Security Council in preserving international law in the context of ensuring international peace and security," to be led by Polish President Andrzej Duda, and another on civilian protection, which will be chaired by Czaputowicz.

Poland joined the Security Council as a non-permanent member for a two-year stint in January.</s>United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “The Cold War is back —with a vengeance but with a difference. The mechanisms and the safeguards to manage the risks of escalation that existed in the past no longer seem to be present.” (April 13, 2018)

The deadly recurrence of Russophobia bears comparison to the psychosis of the Salem witch trials, several centuries ago, and with the pathology of McCarthyism in the USA in the 1950’s.

Today the atmosphere at the UN Security Council resembles the insanity of the witch hunts in Salem, Massachusetts only several hundred years ago. There is a witch hunt, and according to eleven members of the Security Council, the birthplace hatching these witches is Russia (and North Korea). The atmosphere of hysteria, irrationality and demonization overtaking the majority of the members of the Security Council is accurately described by Russian Ambassador Nebenzia as a “collective psychosis.” This primitive behaviour is totally inaccessible to reason, and is perilous.

For the second time since April 5, the UN Security Council, April 18, has squandered its time on the absurd UK allega tion that Russia is responsible for the chemical weapon poisoning of Sergei and Julia Skripalin Salisbury on March 4th. Of course, both Skripals are alive and recovering very well, thank you very much, and except for the unexplained deaths and immediate cremation of two cats and two guinea pigs, the entire affair resembles the theatre of the absurd, except that, once again, Russia has been smeared and defamed, and accused, with insultingly flimsy arguments, of an attempted murder with chemical weapons.

Hoist on its own petard, the UK obviously intended to impress the Security Council with the scrupulous care with which they treated the Skripals, and indeed the Skripals’ entire community, and repeated on both April 5 and April 18 that:

However, the UK’s repeated litany, instead of highlighting exquisite concern for human rights, on the contrary, reveals the UK’s criminal negligence of the human rights of their own citizens, at least 80 of whom were burnt to death during the fire at Grenfell Tower this past year. Friday, July 28, 2017 The New York Times reported:

While Russia had absolutely no motive for committing any attack against the Skripals, spies who had fully served their prison sentences, and were then released, Russia, on the contrary, prior to an election and the hosting of the World Cup, would have every reason to avoid any action which would cast aspersions upon their own country, or discredit their reputation in any way.

Considering the crudity of the UK’s projection onto Russia of responsibility for the Skripal’s dubious indisposition, the glaring discrepancy between the UK’s negligence of the more than 80 deaths of its own citizens at Grenfell Tower, and their fixation upon the two Skripals, in addition to the UK’s unsubstantiated and obsessive repetition that it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the still unidentified cause of the Skripals’ illness, the UK’s unfounded accusations against Russia for use of chemical weapons in the Skripal incident must have an another motive entirely.

This UK manoeuver is, in fact, an attempt to “sheepdip” the Russian government. In the words of US District Attorney James Garrison:

And accusing Russia of the use of chemical weapons in the Skripal affair is intended to create a climate conducive to belief in the accusation that Russia, and its allied Syrian government are responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Douma, in Syria. Again, the Assad government is succeeding in recovering control of the greater part of Syria, and there is absolutely no reason, especially at this crucial time, for Assad to launch a chemical attack against his own people, which he is fully aware will unleash savagery upon his country by the “opposition,” consisting primarily of the US, the UK and France.

Predictably, without any proof whatsoever, and in violation of international law and the United Nations Charter, the US, the UK and France criminally attacked a country, Syria that had not attacked them. These three countries are acting with the barbarism that their vast military arsenals makes not only possible, but tempting. The Syrian people serve as guinea pigs: on April 16, Business Insider headlined:

Again, hoist on its own petard, the UK accuses Russia of using or abetting the use of chemical weapons, ignoring the fact that during the Iraq-Iran war its own ally, the US, supplied Iraq with a huge arsenal of chemical and biological weapons which were used against Iran in the 1980’s on an almost daily basis. The biological weapons the US supplied to Iraq for use against Iran included anthrax and bubonic plague, according to the Washington Post. These US supplied weapons caused horrific suffering among millions of Iranian civilians, and searing memories of this horror remain virulent in Iran today.

Among the most ludicrous allegations made by the UK was the statement:

Aside from the UK’s heinous record, during centuries, for the most horrendous human rights abuses inflicted on their colonial subjects, throughout the British empire, the scandalous contemporary record of the USA in the use of assassinations of foreign leaders, and their subjects would consume a vast library. Suffice it to mention the more than 23 assassination attempts against Cuban President, Fidel Castro, to which the CIA has admitted, since 1950 the targets of the USA’s assassination attempts have included the Congo’s leader, Patrice Lumumba, Indonesia’s President Sukarno, the democratically elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, Chilean General Rene Schneider, Bolivian President Torres, murdered in Argentina, Chilean General Carlos Prats, to mention only a few of the targets of assassination by the “intelligence” agencies of the USA.

On April 13, just prior to the US, UK and France’s violation of international law and the UN Charter, in their bombing of Syria, Bolivian Ambassador Sasha Llorentty Soliz (image on the right) delivered one of the most courageous and brilliant speeches in UN history, completely unmasking the criminality, hypocrisy and brazen lies which are now the daily tirade to which the Security Council is subjected.

“For some reason, some members of the Security Council are avoiding addressing the main reason for convening this meeting, which is that one State Member has threatened the unilateral use of force in violation of the Charter of the United Nations…Over the past 72 years humankind has built a framework that is not only physical or institutional, but also juridical. Humankind has setup instruments of international law intended precisely to prevent the most powerful from attacking the weakest with impunity so as to establish a balance in the world and prevent grave violations to international peace and security….The Security Council must not be utilized as a sounding board for war propaganda nor interventionism. It should also not be made into a pawn to be sacrificed on the chessboard of war, geopolitics and petty interests…. We believe that this meeting is very important because we are not only discussing an attack on a Member State, or the threat of a military strike against a Member State of the United Nations, but rather because we are living at a time of constant attacks on multilateralism…Let us recall that there is a clear policy and mindset of multilateralism subversion. What happens is that for some the discourse on human rights is used until it no longer serves their interests, and then they violate those rights. My region is a witness to that. We endured Operation Condor, as it was called, during the 1970s, which was planned by the intelligence services of some Member States. When democracy did not suit them, they financed coups d’etat. When they were unhappy with the discourse on human rights, they infringed human rights. When the discourse of democracy was no longer enough, they were ready to finance coups d’etat. The use of unilateral practices leaves behind unhealed wounds, despite the passage of time.” “Some of the members of the Council have spoken on the situation in Iraq and Libya, which I believe are some of the worst crimes that have been committed this century. The invasion of Iraq, with its dire consequences, left more than 1 million dead. The effects of the strikes against Libya and the regime-change policies imposed on it, which, as my colleague from Equatorial Guinea aptly said, they still feel, suffer and endure throughout the entire region of the Sahel and Central Africa. But no one wants to talk about the root causes of these conflicts, and no one will talk about the impunity enjoyed for those serious crimes. It warrants repeating. Those are the most serious crimes committed this century.”

Bolivia’s speech unmasked the “interests” underlying the current witch hunt, the subversion of multilateralism, the abdication by the UK, the US and France of their responsibility for many of the horrific human rights abuses occurring today, and the attempt to foist responsibility for their own crimes onto Russia and North Korea, a demonization opportunistically endorsed by most Western mainstream media, and which will be deceitfully used in an attempt to disguise more horrendous crimes in the future. The cold war is indeed renewed with a vengeance, and in the current climate of chaos and savagery, flooded with more sophisticated nuclear weapons than ever before, we perilously risk the transformation of this cold war into a nuclear exchange with our newly re-created and demonized adversary, Russia, an act of insanity that would become inevitable if the mass hysteria unleashed today, and conspicuous at the United Nations Security Council, is not opposed and ended for all time. And the root of this mass hysteria is in the gross and exponentially increasing economic inequality plaguing the current world, in a global economic system which perpetuates misery and desperation.

Carla Stea is Global Research’s correspondent at United Nations Headquarters, New York, N.Y.</s>How the presidency became impossible—we’ll talk to John Dickerson about why he thinks the job is simply too much for anyone.



John Dickerson, co-anchor of CBS This Morning and contributing editor to The Atlantic. (@jdickerson)



“Obviously it’s not so impossible that nobody can do it, because we have somebody who’s in the job. So the question then is, how to run it better.

Complex systems are bedeviled by these possible catastrophic failures. Because when things are complex, there are lots of domino effects. In other words, little problems can grow to be big problems very quickly… that’s what a presidency is like. And so you have to get a handle on it.

The reason it’s such a problem for a president is that everybody comes to the president. The more people you have in an executive branch, the more who want to see the president and get in front of him.

That’s what it comes down to in the day-to-day process: is that there are just more human bodies in front of the president wanting more things and there are still so many hours in the day.”

On Our Expectations Of The President

“[During crises] we expect presidents to do one of two things: either to rush into the moment and help us make sense of it, help bring a country together. Help apportion the reaction in a way that defuses some of the fear, anger, worry, concern. If they can’t do that, we expect them not to rile it up. And certainly, [Trump’s] comments about the people ‘on both sides,’… as Senator Scott — in his conversation with the president about those remarks, and also about the Civil War — said, there are no two sides in this debate. And if you’re over-debating that, you’re really far away from what the central public moment calls for.”

“This is an extraordinary presidency. And part of what the piece [in The Atlantic] is saying, is that you have the extraordinary events of this president, which have nothing to do with the presidency. These are special, unique circumstances for this president. But there’s also the way in which he participates in his office that illuminates a lot of these challenges with the presidency.

Thinking only about presidents and presidencies as the same thing is a kind of presentism and momentary thinking… Unless you pull those two things apart, you just repeat the same mistakes over and over again.”



The Atlantic: “The Hardest Job in the World — What if the problem isn’t the president—it’s the presidency?” — “The emotional burden of these responsibilities is almost unfathomable. The president must endure the relentless scrutiny of the digital age. He must console the widow of a soldier he sent into combat one moment, and welcome a championship-winning NCAA volleyball team to the White House the next. He must set a legislative agenda for an often feckless Congress, navigating a partisan divide as wide as any in modern American history. He must live with the paradox that he is the most powerful man in the world, yet is powerless to achieve many of his goals—thwarted by Congress, the courts, or the enormous bureaucracy he sometimes only nominally controls. ‘In the presidency there is the illusion of being in charge,’ George W. Bush’s former chief of staff Joshua Bolten told me, ‘but all presidents must accept that in many realms they are not.’

Even Trump, not one to readily admit a mistake, has acknowledged that he underestimated the difficulty of the job. ‘I thought it would be easier,’ he told Reuters 100 days into his term. A blunt admission—and one much mocked by his critics—but one every president eventually makes. Lyndon Johnson made the point in his earthy way: ‘The office is kinda like the little country boy found the hoochie-koochie show at the carnival,’ he said. ‘Once he’d paid his dime and got inside the tent: It ain’t exactly as it was advertised.'”</s>Poland's hopes at the World Cup depend on Robert Lewandowski.

The Bayern Munich forward scored 16 goals in 10 games - a European qualifying record - to propel Poland to its first World Cup in 12 years.

Lewandowski offers hope of a return to the fruitful period during the golden era in the 1970s and 1980s when Grzegorz Lato and Zbigniew Boniek were on the team and Poland played in four straight World Cups, finishing third in 1974 and 1982.

Former international Adam Nawalka has crafted a hard-working cohesive unit since taking over as coach from Waldemar Fornalik in 2013.

Poland was 69th in the FIFA rankings when Nawalka took over. After qualifying for the 2016 European Championship, where the team lost on penalties to eventual champion Portugal in the quarterfinals, and a strong qualifying campaign for Russia, Poland is now 10th.

Here's a closer look at the Poland team:

Nawalka, who has never worked outside of Poland, was handed the job after the country failed to qualify for the last World Cup. He ensured qualification was never really in doubt this time, a 4-0 loss in Denmark notwithstanding, as Poland won every home game.

Nawalka, who played at the 1978 World Cup for Poland, coached several Polish teams, including three stints at hometown club Wisla Krakow before leading Gornik Zabrze to promotion six months after taking over in 2010. Gornik was at the top of the Polish league standings when he took over the national team.

Nawalka was also briefly an assistant to former Poland coach Leo Beenhakker during qualification for Euro 2008.

Wojciech Szczesny, now playing for Juventus as an understudy to Gianluigi Buffon, started Euro 2016 but missed the rest of the tournament after picking up an injury in the opening game against Northern Ireland.

Former Arsenal teammate Lukasz Fabianski, now with Swansea, filled in and helped the team reach the quarterfinals.

Fabianski played most of the qualifiers but Szczesny returned for the final two. Roma goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski should provide additional backup.

The 190-centimeter (6-foot-3) Kamil Glik marshals Poland's defensive line and provides a commanding presence at center back.

Tough-tackling and hard-working, Glik also excels in organizational skills, and is adept at quickly switching play to wingers Kamil Grosicki or Jakub Blaszczykowski.

Glik, formerly Torino's captain, played a big part in helping Monaco win the French title in 2017.

Borussia Dortmund right back Lukasz Piszczek will be another who ensures Poland gets forward quickly from defense.

Apart from the tireless Blaszczykowski and Grosicki, Poland has a new creative force in 23-year-old Piotr Zielinski. The Napoli midfielder played in every qualification game and is among the first on Nawalka's teamsheet.

Grzegorz Krychowiak is another vital cog for Nawalka. A move from Sevilla, where he had excelled, to Paris Saint-Germain in 2016 didn't work out as well as he hoped, and the 28-year-old defensive midfielder has been playing this season on loan at Premier League club West Bromwich Albion.

Krychowiak epitomizes the team's hard working ethic and is already a veteran for Poland after making his senior debut in 2008.

While Lewandowski is undoubtedly the star, Poland does have another option in attack in Arkadiusz Milik, a teammate of Zielinski's at Napoli.

Milik had little success for Bayer Leverkusen or Augsburg in Germany, but excelled in a loan spell at Ajax, which consequently made his loan permanent.

Napoli signed the 24-year-old Milik as a replacement for the Juventus-bound Gonzalo Higuain in 2016. Two serious knee injuries have blighted his time in Italy. Milik made five appearances for Poland in qualifying.

Even with Milik at his best, however, Lewandowski is irreplaceable for Poland. The 29-year-old Lewandowski provided more than half of the team's goals in qualifying alone. Clinical in front of goal, strong and skillful, Lewandowski is the key to success.

Poland will be based in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and will begin its campaign against Senegal in Moscow on June 19. The team then faces Colombia in Kazan on June 24 before wrapping up Group H play against Japan in Volgograd four days later.
Poland takes over the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council.