US Embassy Warsaw Archives

TedLipien.com, Truckee, CA, February 08, 2011 — One would think that the centennial of Ronald Reagan’s birthday could be a perfect public diplomacy theme for all U.S. embassies in Central and Eastern Europe — a great opportunity for embassy-sponsored events to strengthen ties with America among diverse nations that owe their current independence and freedom in large part to President Reagan’s vision combined with his steadfastness in standing up to the “Evil Empire.” And yet, both highly-trained and highly-paid U.S. diplomats working in the countries of the former Soviet Block by and large completely ignored the anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birthday. Only two diplomatic post out of more than a dozen in the region sponsored a public event designed to remind older and younger generations of East Europeans of Ronald Reagan’s contribution to freeing them from Soviet domination.

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Leaked State Department Cables Show Obama and Gates Naive on Russia

By Tadeusz Lipien November 30, 2010

by Ted Lipien

Opinia.US Truckee, CA, November 29, 2010 — Leaked secret State Department cables may help to resolve the mystery as to why President Obama chose September 17, 2009 to make his announcement on canceling President Bush’s missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The announcement pleased the Kremlin, which had been pushing for the cancellation of the planned system for years. But why the Obama White House made the announcement on September 17, the anniversary of the Soviet military invasion of Poland in 1939 under the secret terms of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, is still not clear.

Poland

America Mourns with Poland – U.S. Embassy Warsaw

By Tadeusz Lipien April 12, 2010

April 11, 2010 America Mourns with Poland – U.S. Embassy Warsaw American officials and Americans around the world are expressing their condolences to Poland. After his phone call with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President Barack Obama said, “President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman who played a key role in the Solidarity movement, and he was widely admired in the United…

Public Diplomacy

U.S. Embassy blames diplomatic gaffe on a Polish translator but a problem runs much deeper

By Tadeusz Lipien October 27, 2009

TedLipien.com, SAN FRANCISCO — Bill Clinton might have asked what the “enhanced” definition of “to enhance” IS? The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw is busy blaming a Polish translator for mistranslating U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein’s TV interview answer about Polish troops in Afghanistan, which caused a diplomatic uproar in Poland. In an interview broadcast last Saturday, Ambassador Feinstein thanked Polish prime minister and…

Poland, Public Diplomacy

More diplomatic confusion between U.S. and Poland

By Tadeusz Lipien October 27, 2009

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. media has not yet picked up on the latest diplomatic controversy between Poland and the U.S. But the public disagreement between president Obama’s new ambassador in Warsaw Lee A. Feinstein and the Polish defense minister over plans to send additional Polish troops to Afghanistan is drawing media attention in Poland. Ambassador Feinstein made a…

Poland, Public Diplomacy

Kryzys dla nowego ambasadora USA

By Tadeusz Lipien October 16, 2009

Lee A. Feinstein, the new U.S. Ambassador to Poland Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — Lee A. Feinstein, nowy ambasador Stanów Zjednoczonych w Polsce, przybył do Warszawy 13 października. Rozpoczyna on pracę w atmosferze poważnego kryzysu, wywołanego decyzją Prezydenta Obamy o wycofaniu z Polski antyrakietowej tarczy obronnej. Obawy i podejrzenia w Warszawie znacznie pogłębiło dyplomatyczne fiasko ogłoszenia decyzji 17 września, w 70-tą rocznicę inwazji ZSSR na Polskę.

Brak wystarczających konsultacji i wykonywane w środku nocy telefony Prezydenta Obamy do przywódców środkowoeuropejskich można uznać za dodatkowy dowód, że był to jednen z najbardziej niefortunnych błędów dyplomacji amerykańskiej w ostatnich latach.

Ambasador Feinstein ma przed sobą niełatwe zadanie naprawy stosunków polsko-amerykańskich. Jeszcze przed jego przyjazdem do Polski, w geście bezprecendensowej śmiałości jak na amerykańską placówkę dyplomatyczną, Ambasada Stanów Zjednoczonych w Warszawie przyznała w wiadomości opublikowanej po angielsku i po polsku na swej oficjalnej stronie internetowej, że zdaniem Polaków wybór “tak niezręcznej pory” — jak to określiła ambasada — na ogłoszenie decyzji Białego Domu o zmianie podjętego przez prezydenta Busha planu budowy tarczy antyrakietowej w Polsce świadczy o tym, że “Obama nie rozumie Polski.”

Video

Lee A. Feinstein Senate Video

By Tadeusz Lipien October 16, 2009

Ambassador Feinstein was nominated by President Obama on July 20, 2009 and was confirmed by unanimous consent by the U.S. Senate on September 22, 2009. As it came just two days before President Obama’s controversial announcement on removing the American missile shield from Poland, his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 15, 2009 did not…

History, Poland

US Embassy Warsaw sees insensitive timing of Obama’s missile decision

By Tadeusz Lipien September 29, 2009

English and Polish, acknowledged that “the timing of Obama’s announcement upset Poland and Polish Americans because it came on Sept. 17, the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II.”

Public Diplomacy, Russia, Video

US Embassy Warsaw Farewell Interview with Ambassador Victor H. Ashe, Sept. 17, 2009

By Tadeusz Lipien September 21, 2009

The interview with the outgoing US Ambassador to Poland Victor H. Ashe was conducted by a US Embassy Warsaw press attache on September 17, 2009, the day of President Obama’s announcement about discarding the American missile defense system in Poland and Czech Republic. The Polish government saw the missile shield as a major US security guarantee and protection against any…