Thursday 1 December 2011

So whose speech Mr Sikorski delivered?

Being rather short of time over the working week, I was not aware Mr Sikorski was going to put in an appearance in Berlin. I found out about his comment-provoking speech from Charles Crawford's (former British ambassador to Poland) blog, to which W-wa Jeziorki links, on Monday late evening. I went through the post quickly and recalled Janusz Korwin-Mikke's (Polish ultra-rightist politician) words that if your enemies (for many wacky politicians almost every politician from abroad, except our beloved allies from the United States, who incidentally not only do not know where Poland lies, but also do not give a shit about our well-being) praise you, you might be in trouble. Then I put myself to bed and simply forgot about the speech. The next day the row over the content of Mr Sikorski's speech, verging on accusations of high treason, broke out. Along with politicians of ruling coalition and leftist and liberal opposition, I would (silently) stand up to Mr Sikorski's efforts to mark our presidency. Today, while sipping tea after lunch I popped by TVN24 website to learn that Mr Crawford could have authored the outstanding speech.

Bearing in mind that Mr Sikorski, despite having studied and spending over ten years in the UK, is not a native speaker of English, it surely was a wise step to hire a skillful native to have the speech polished up by a professional speechwriter. I do not believe it was Mr Crawford who wrote the speech himself. Polish foreign office, Mr Sikorski and Mr Crawford claim in unison Mr Sikorski took Mr Crawford's advice regarding content and style of the speech and it seems to be a fair account of former British ambassador's contribution.

What I find appalling anyway is the glowing praise coming from Mr Crawford. If he really contributed to the speech, he should have dissociated himself from dissecting and extolling it. Blowing one's own trumpet in such a coarse way somehow does not befit a renowned diplomat...

No comments: