Thread by @EreaAndrzej

1. It’s April 29, 1998. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, currently serving as Poland's Supreme Leader, gives an interview to @TomaszSakiewicz, now editor-in-chief of the far-right Gazeta Polska. The interview was never published on Twitter in English. This is, by all means, a major oversight.

2. Today, in Europe and around the world, many who follow politics cannot explain why extremely anti-Russian Poland is pursuing the agenda of Putin's ultra-conservative ideology, and - on the international stage - surrounds itself with putinophiles.

https://twitter.com/EreaAndrzej/status/1561399043275870208?s=20&t=5vnypYGRFvj5ui9UF_zJvw

3. Few can explain why, in declaratively so anti-Russian Poland, members of the ultra-Catholic @OrdoIuris - as @KSuchanow exposed - linked to Russian oligarch Malofeev, occupy key positions in the Polish state apparatus.

https://twitter.com/TTarkkailija/status/1554620213357854724?s=20&t=5vnypYGRFvj5ui9UF_zJvw

4. Similarly, only a few know that J.Kaczynski gained power due to Sowa wiretapping Gate - the exposure of conversations btw top liberal politicians - engineered by individuals - as @RzeczkowskiG proved - with close ties to Russian special services.

abcnews.go.com/International/…

5. Many fail to understand reasons behind statements such as the recent words of @ZdzKrasnodebski when the MEP claims that the West is a greater threat to Poland's independence than Russia.

https://twitter.com/patrykmichalski/status/1562152357189795843?s=20&t=5vnypYGRFvj5ui9UF_zJvw

6. A frequently recurring question has been asked whether Jaroslaw Kaczynski may be aware that his confrontation with the EU and his support for illiberal democracy are moving Poland inexorably to the East, into Russia's sphere of influence. To answer it, let's go back to 1998.

7. „Is there still any traditional anti-communist electorate in Poland? Hasn't it been absorbed by the pro-Russian camp associated with Radio Maryja?” - asks Sakiewicz who 15 yrs later states: „And it is already clear who wanted to put Radio Maryja in conflict with PiS and me”

8. Kaczynski answers: "Jan Olszewski [a late PM] made the mistake of assuming that anyone who didn't like the Unia Wolności Party [liberals] is in the right. By creating an anti-communist party, however, he should have made some sort of selection of individuals coming to him".

9. Jarosław Kaczyński goes on: "I've no doubt that Russian special services are actively working on our side. Today, Radio Maryja is deeply anti-Western, hostile to the church hierarchy, pro-Russian, not at all unfriendly to the old communist Poland.”

https://twitter.com/BrianHerman14/status/1306735269714984960?s=20&t=5vnypYGRFvj5ui9UF_zJvw

10. Then adds: "Radio Maryja has a radio transmitter in the Ural Mountains. Russia may be a mess, yet they keep a good eye on some things there. So, the situation is very difficult indeed, because attempts to convince the Radio Maryja electorate are completely doomed to failure."

11. Let's stop for a moment.

Today current Polish government and Radio Maryja party together.

12. According to what @Tomasz5ek tracked down there are inexplicable situations in Tadeusz Rydzyk's life (the founder and chief of Radio Maryja) that tie him to both Polish communist and Soviet special services.

13. But let's pick up where we left off.

It's 1998. J.Kaczyński criticises Adam Michnik, the editor in chief of @gazeta_wyborcza : "To some extent, Adam Michnik's scenario has been carried out here. He wanted us to become such a right-wing party" - he finds the culprit.

14. Kaczynski puts forward the assertion of a self-fulfilling prophecy: "In the beginning he told us that this was what we were, and now he really has it."

In other words - he blames others for the shift of Polish right-wing parties towards Russia.

15. Could it be, then, that years later, Jarosław Kaczyński has realized that the only way to gain power is to sign a pact with the devil?

16. Again it's 1998. "You once said, *Now Lubyanka Building [FSB Headquarters] operates on the right* - @TomaszSakiewicz cuts off to remind Jarosław #Kaczynski his own words. "There are two models of Russian activity in #Poland." - answers PiS's leader.

17. The first model, mimicking how the old communist PPR Party worked, involved total subordination to Moscow: justified by the idea of progress. Anyway, it had its long pre-1917 traditions in the form of Slavophilism, Adam Górowski, etc [at time when Poland was a part of Russia]

18. „The second pattern I call Targowica” - continues Kaczynski.

Let me clarify. The Targowica (1792) was a confederation of magnates with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II (and Catholic Church) aimed against Enlightenment and French-inspired Polish Constitution.

19. „The desires of Her Highness Empress of Russia, ally of Poland, are and were no other than by using her armies to return to Poles the freedoms, and especially security and happiness to all citizens” Targowica Confederation Establishing Act said.

20. „Each true Pole, not blinded by the Prussian and royalist cabal, is convinced, that our Fatherland can only be saved by Russia, otherwise our nation will be enslaved” - wrote one of its leaders, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki.

21. In common sense Targowica has become synonymous with treason. This is precisely the underlying context of Jaroslaw Kaczynski's words.

Let him go on: "Targowica is characterized by appealing to traditional, Catholic, national values".

He's right.

22. "Pro-Russianism there is dressed up in a patriotic mask. Wasn't Targowica precisely national, Catholic, wasn't it alight with respect for the Polish past?" - explicates Kaczyński who nowadays is replicating the Targowica pattern.

23. "A year ago, when the openly pro-Russian SPR Party was holding court within our AWS political Alliance, I warned against this phenomenon at my PC Party congress. Today the SPR quieted down a bit, yet… their statements are being published in Radio Maryja's *Nasz Dziennik*"

24. „The issue is where the actions of common fools are over and those of outright agents begin” - warns Kaczynski.

And yes, Jarosław Kaczyński supports Donald Trump.

thedailybeast.com/russian-state-…

25. Remember, Matthew?

26. „It is no coincidence that it was the rational and pro-Western right, my PC Party in particular, that was fought with such fury; after all, we were the ones who could take over the electorate - hearts that have been won over by #RadioMaryja.”

radiomaryja.pl/informacje/tyl…

27. Today, allied with Radio Maryja and Catholic Church, Kaczynski helps Russia devastate the EU from within.

He knows he must either destroy it or push towards #PolExit.

Otherwise he will lose.

natemat.pl/429934,ziemkie…

28. That’s why he does his politics by inverting meanings and that’s why now he calls his pro-European opponents: „Targowica”.

29. Remember. Polish people make up for one of most anti-Russian societies. In Poland you just cannot directly support Russia. It will not pay off. Yet you can support it by sharing its ideas and making friends with their best buddies. [END OF THREAD]

CC: @JamesFourM

Appendix #1

Kaczynski ruled Poland btw 2005-07. After he lost his grip on power he’d say in an interview that the EU had made it impossible for him to govern in the way he would had wished for. By 2015, when he won elections, he’d already drawn conclusions.

https://twitter.com/relucyna/status/1562722477637111811