Thursday, June 16, 2005

US Embassy in Warsaw wants another left-liberal to replace Szlajfer

Why does the State Department persist in warming to the Left?

With admitted secret police collaborator Henryk Szlajfer quitting his all-but-certain appointment as ambassador to the United States, it appears that the US Embassy in Warsaw is quietly pushing for another left-liberal to take his place: Jerzy Kozminski, who served as Poland's envoy in Washington during the Clinton administration.

Kozminski currently has a cushy job heading a US-sponsored foundation in Poland, raking in a salary of more than $100,000 a year - by Polish standards a fortune - and some doubt that he will accept the post. Others are betting that he will, anticipating an electoral victory of conservative and center-right political parties in the upcoming parliamentary presidential elections. Then, Polish observers say, Kozminski will be out of his foundation job - but if the former Communists can name him ambassador before the elections, he will be set for the next few years.