It's All Poland's Fault

In a recent opinion piece, Hervé de Charette spoke of the mistakes of the Americans; the mistakes of the Israelis; and the intransigeance of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranians. Everyone was/is at fault, it seems, except for (drum roll) France and the EU.

"Il est donc urgent d'agir."

This brings us to Célia Chauffour's article on Poland's attempts to reintegrate itself with the EU.

The death penalty, an insulting cartoon, a Berlin exhibit on European expulsees, everything is Poland's fault. "Poland's relations with the Union have become more complicated since last spring's formation in Warsaw of a coalition between conservatives, populists, and the far right."

Notice that the mainstream media always uses the passive tense when it wants to avoid tackling the subject of whether leftist decisions (and opposition) might be based on partisan (and base) grounds. The reverse holds for whomever it opposes. Thus, we read that Jaroslaw Kaczynski's "government reproaches violently the construction of a German-Russian gasline which would bypass Poland through the Baltic Sea" (emphasis mine).

The "recent deterioration of Berlin-Warsaw relations." Not a word on the ethics of bypassing Poland (especially when it will cost far more than simply going through that country), mind you. Not a word on whether the Schröder's decision was right or based on ethics. No. The word "violently" is enough to know who is right and who is wrong in this case.