When coalition forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, Polish special forces seized the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr to enable immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the rest of the country. Since then, Poland has expanded its commitment in Iraq: at one point, it maintained 2,500 in-country soldiers, more than...

As close as Polish and American relations are, Washington has been a bit slow to see that maintaining the relationship will require more effort on its part.

Enjoying a fascinating visit to Berlin, newly designated capital of the (you must bail out the) Eurozone. One cannot help but feel for Chancellor Merkel, who is meant to be fixing the Eurodisaster on her own by creating a Eurofinance system relying on newly powerful Eurocrats who will remain without an actual democratic mandate from, you know, Europeans. But I get ahead of myself.

Solidarity was successful in Poland but many societies worldwide are still waiting for democracy, stated the participants in Tuesday's Solidarity 25 Years Laterconference in Gdansk.

The managing director of the New Atlantic Initiative Radek Sikorski believes that the experience of the Solidarity trade union can build up confidence among opposition activists in undemocratic countries. This will be the aim of the Solidarity 25 Years Later - Lessons in Freedom Struggle conference to be held in Gdansk on Aug.30.

Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, a Polish Second World War hero who spent his life fighting for an independent democratic Poland, died late on Thursday aged 91. A symbol of Polish patriotism, Nowak-Jezioranski is revered by his countrymen alongside anti-communist icon and Poland's first post-communist President Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul.

If France, Germany, and the Benelux countries want to continue deepening their integration in the spirit of their hitherto actions, Poland will do best to keep its distance.