BAD DAY FOR GREAT BRITAIN AND ITS ECONOMY

Judging by the successful nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker to head the European Commission, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain has chosen the wrong battle. The European Union states voted 26-2 to appoint the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg to be the next president of the European Commission. It appears that instead of obtaining concession from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr. Cameron has brought Great Britain closer to secession from the European Union. Unfortunately for Mr. Cameron and the United Kingdom, the secession would cost the latter approximately 3 million jobs. David Cameron forced a vote in an attempt to block the selection of Jean-Claude Juncker, seen as a backer of closer political union, which U.K. vehemently opposes. But EU states voted 26-2 to appoint Mr. Juncker to the presidency. Apparently, Mr. Cameron's strategy had "totally failed" and he has been "comprehensively and humiliatingly" outvoted, as per the words of Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Only Great Britain and Hungary voted against the appointment. Another victory for Angela Merkel and the concept of closer political union in EU, another defeat for David Cameron and his model of loose ties binding the members of EU. I have to admit that in light of the United States disengaging itself more and more from the European matters as it switches its attentions to Pacific Ocean countries and starts to deal with growing China economic power, there is not much choice for the Europeans but to bring to a closer union its member states even if those states would cede some of their sovereignty to the EU. In fact, in light of Russia's recent actions and the United States looking toward the Pacific, the European Union should create their own rapid units of military forces to counteract growing might and appetites of Putin's Russia. To me, born in Poland, the country which experienced so much suffering and destruction from both Russia and Germany commencing with the partitions of Poland in the second half of 18th century, through 19th century uprisings and World Wars of the 20th century, until the victory over the communism brought by the Solidarity movement, there is no other way but to embrace a closer EU. The U.K. has a choice, it can always go its own way.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City attorney writing on legal and other important community topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

LONDON 2012: OLYMPICS IN CONSTANT TROUBLE

It appears that Mitt Romney got it right: the 2012 Olympic Games in London, known as London 2012, are in huge trouble. Day after day, one scandal is being chased by another one. It all started with shortages in security personnel: turned out, that organizers were missing approximately 3,000 people necessary to provide safety to the olympians and their audience! It was too late to train the necessary personnel, so, the organizers had to call in the military forces to cover for the shortages - Thank you Sir Sebastian Coe for converting the civilian holiday into a military operation! Then, as soon as the olympians from all over the world started to arrive in, the London airports were not able to process them, the baggages were misplaced, the buses were getting lost in traffic, unable to reach their destinations for hours. Finally, before the opening ceremony was wrapped up, one country after another started to protest the treatment of their teams, the most vocal being the team of India, who felt humiliated by an exposure given to unknown woman marching by India team's flag-bearer; the intruder dominated the 10 seconds spot of the tv coverage, granted by the organizers to the second most populated country in the world. We are now only in the fourth day of the 2012 Olympics, yet scandal follows a scandal. Country after country experiences so called false flag shocks, to be associated forever with London 2012; the most crude example being the football match between North Korea and Colombia, prior to which North Koreans walked off the pitch. Eventually, as a result of organizers' display of their enemies' (South Korea) flag as a purported emblem of North Korea, the match had to be delayed for approximately one hour. Yesterday, it was the Chinese's turn to get offended by display of their flag at a lower height than South Korea's flag; swimmers from those two countries were classified both in second position and both received silver medals, and the olympic etiquette required that both countries' flags should have been placed at the same height. Well, I never thought the English were so lackadaisical! And, most of the times, the olympic venues shock with huge patches of empty seats! Some of the observers must be quipping that BBC Panorama and Sol Campbell had something to do with it! I can understand that the US liberal media jumped on Mitt Romney to show his purported lack of diplomacy and inexperience on international scene, in an attempt to score a point for Obama campaign in the US presidential elections. Yet, Romney's words, perhaps crudely undiplomatic, were definitely warranted and the majority of the media, instead of pouring the scorn on him, should have rather applauded Romney for the sincerity, which the same media often says is so needed in the politics. Let's hope that the Londoners finally will get a grip on the olympic machinery and redouble their efforts in the remaining days of the 30th Olympiad. Yet FIFA, the world footbal (soccer) authorities, should be applauded in their collective wisdom for not gratning England's bid to organize the 2018 World Cup. For once, FIFA got it right! And let's hope that England, before applying for organization of another international sporting event, would first hone their organizational skills. Perhaps, they should consult the Poles and the Ukrainians, the hugely successful organizers of Euro 2012 - whom, paradoxically, the London and English media denounced so prematurely, prior to the kick off of Euro 2012, for alleged racism, xenophobia, lack of infrastructure, and expected calamities. Well, those dark predictions at Euro 2012 did not come to fruition, instead, the English now have to constantly blush for their own shortcomings. I presume, with some dose of satisfaction and "schadenfreude", that English media, including BBC's Panorama (and Sol Cambpell), Guardian, Telegraph, the London Times as well as their loud tabloids, enjoy the quality of British paper while eating their own words. Bon appetit, mes amis!

Janusz Andrzejewski, is a New York based attorney, writing on legal and other important community topics. You can contact him by telephone: (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com