Rospuda Valley - The Final Countdown

Sanctifying our Domination over Nature
Next Sunday will witness a regional referendum in north-east Poland on the highway construction project, via Baltica, part of a highway linking Warsaw to Helsinki via the Baltic states. Thousands of residents will don their Sunday best, enter their local church, utter the Nicene Creed (without ever questioning what it means, who wrote it, or how it came about to be written), receive a Holy Communion wafer transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, pray their prayers whilst kneeling on uncomfortable wooden pews, then advance onwards to the polling stations to cast the final death knell of the unique Rospuda Valley. Church leaders in the region are firmly behind the government's plans - one would wonder whether they have also joined the property speculation along the route?

The President has spoken
Reuters reported Polish president Lech Kaczynski speaking yesterday to residents of Bransk, a small town in the region, saying

"We are fighting today for Poland's right to rapid development. If we allow restrictions and obstacles by every group to block such a major investment, then Poland's great opportunity will be lost."

El Presidente's comments of enticement to support the motion come despite the fact that the highway development will breache the Natura 2000 directive which grants protection status to ecologically sensitive conservation sites.

Crusty Alert, Crusty Alert
Environmentalists fear that the proposed major routeway, which would dissect the beautiful Rospuda valley and replace rare species with trucks clocking up food miles, amongst a host of other vehicles and their inevitably adverse environmental impacts, will result in doing irreparable damage to one of Europe's largest wetlands and peat bogs. Green activists have had to put up with lots of false accusations including that they were being sponsored by Commie forces, that they were pawning from the State, etc. Yeah, go get a fucking job Crusties! Oh wait, you mean to say that you have a job, but also give a fuck about your country's environment -hmmm, and you can do both at the same time?! Ok, but you're still liberal/libertarian scum so go back to where you came from.
A Piece of PiS Democracy
If only Kaczynski applied his high 'democratic' credentials of holding referenda to the controversial anti-ballistic missile system the U.S. want to base in the south of the country. The first official talks between offcials from the U.S. and Poland were due to commence today. The U.S. plan to have 10 missile interceptors to counter (non-existent)potential terrorist threats from Iran and Korea has evoked memories of the Cold War amongst political analysts, media commentators, and the general public. But of course, you can't trust citizens with issues of national security so a referendum is out of the question regards this issue (Hint, hint - polls conducted here have given a clear indication that there is widespread opposition to such a development taking place).

The Euro Championship boosted infrastructural development frenzy seems to be aiding the tearing up of any notions of environmentally sustainable development. Though the results of the referendum are not binding, it will certainly give the PiS administration the 'green' light to proceed with the bulldozers and chainsaws.

Rospuda Video on YouTube