Is this the final betrayal of EU citizens?

Copy of letter published in The Guardian 21/08/2019

Dear Sir,
Your correspondent Rowena Mason says in her front page article (Guardian 19th August) that Priti Patel "wants free movement to end on the dot of 31 October."
What form will this take? How will overworked border staff distinguish between resident EU citizens eligible for settled status but not yet registered and other EU citizens? Let us remember that EU citizens have until December 31st 2020 to register and so far less than a third have done so. According to the Federation of Poles, in their letter to Boris Johnson, barely 17% of resident Poles, the largest single EU national group in this country, has registered. This is simultaneously an administrative disaster for border staff and passengers, and potentially a gross betrayal of promises to Polish and other EU residents from Boris Johnson that their pre-Brexit status will be respected.
Yours faithfully
Wiktor Moszczynski
Trustee
Federation of Poles in Great Britain

Suemas Milne versus Dominic Cummings

There is only one person who could be the backroom architect of a temporary caretaker government to challenge the current no deal Brexit juggernaut. That one person is Suemas Milne, the ex Communist strategic guru. He alone could convince Jeremy Corbyn to allow the formation of a temporary cross-party coalition to replace the current no deal with either a vote of no confidence followed by an extension of the Brexit date and a call for a general election, or else a vote in support of a negotiated exit based on a customs union solution. The latter was the nearest option to command a majority in the House when moved by Kenneth Clarke in March and could still get the most support.
Arch Remainers like the Tory rebels, Lib Dems and the SNP could be kept on side in that coalition by being offered cabinet appointments and a free vote on a second referendum.
Milne should be just as ruthless and single minded as his opposite number in the Tory government, Dominic Cummings. If Milne declines this role for ideological reasons then there will be no soft Brexit coalition at all, no successful vote of no confidence and we will have the horror of a no deal Brexit on October 31st

Boris could give EU citizens proper guarantee

I am pleased that in his first appearance at the dispatch box ("I am going to make Britain the greatest place on Earth" DT26/7/19) new PM Boris Johnson is still sticking to his earlier promise to the Polish community and to other EU citizens to guarantee their rights after Brexit and, to be fair, he has been consistent about this since the referendum campaign.
However he must be aware that promises are one thing and reality another. The take up of the new settled status is still proceeding slowly as only a fifth of the 3.2 million EU citizens have registered so far. For many less IT-savvy EU citizens with poor knowledge of English the registration process is daunting and many Polish citizens in particular are still unaware of the vital need to register to stay. As nobody wants these people to be left stranded by Brexit the Government needs to include the currently agreed procedures for settled status in a new Immigration Bill to be prepared in the eventuality that his Brexit bid is successful and to prevent a new minister or civil servant changing that policy.. Furthermore Mr Johnson should ensure that the registration of EU citizens, many of them living and working here for more than thirty years, should merely be declaratory and not,, as at present, a new application and also a final hard copy certificate of their registration should be issued rather than the current online confirmation that many employers and landlords find difficult to download.

Swap tankers with Iran

In answer to Robert Spencer's piece on "Iran offers to swap seized oil tankers" (The Times 25/7/19) this is an opportunity for Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab to show real initiative and save face for all parties involved.
The UK should offer Iran the chance to sell the crude oil bound for Syria to a third party that is not subject to sanctions and even help by buying the oil for the UK if it is suitable for our refineries..
This way the UK can release the tanker Grace 2.
The iranians can then reciprocate and release the Stena Impero.
The US can be reassured that the crude oil in Gibraltar is no longer contraband and would have no legal ground to complain.
I suspect that President Trump (as opposed to his bellicose aide john Bolton) is also looking for a non-military solution to the problem of Iran and this tanker exchange could be the basis for further welcome talks between Iran and USA through British and EU mediators.

Inter-Community Racism

Unpublished letter to "i"

Dear Sir,
Your excellent columnist Patrick Cockburn is right to draw attention to the link between the Brexit campaign and the reappearance of overt racism in the community.("Brexit has unleashed the forces of racism" i 15-16/6/19). What has become a worrying phenomenon for me (and perhaps not so visible to the average white British commentator), is the growing racism in the last few years in everyday conversation between different religious and ethnic minorities that espouse Brexit thinking it makes them more British and criticize each other in their home language while remaining polite to each other when speaking English. Many of my friends from different ethnic communities complain about this and I can vouch for this happening with some East European minorities. Of course on the whole ethnic community leaders and ethnic online media continue to carry the torch for mutual tolerance and cultural cohesion but all the same it remains a worrying trend that is difficult to monitor.
Yours faithfully
Wiktor Moszczynski

No Deal Brexit 13/06/19

This is from the beginning of this week's @CommonsEUexit Select Committee. The message is clear, a no deal Brexit would devastate UK manufacturing. @hilarybennmp @NashSGC @TimRycroft_FDF @nvonwestenholz @NFUtweets pic.twitter.com/a7NpfpOBH2

— Martin Cooper (@mpc_1968) June 13, 2019

D-Day and Poland

Polish cruiser ORP Dragon shelling German positions on D-Day

Letter to the Editor of Daily Telegraph

Dear Sirs,

In reading your splendid text on D-Day {DT 06/06/19} which described the immense risks and the foreseen loss of life in the military strategic planning for Operation Overlord it is often easy to overlook the political planning behind that decision. It was made just as the Red Army was pushing the German army out of Russia and into Eastern Europe and there was concern that after the collapse of Germany a triumphant Soviet Union could dictate the peace in Europe.

The problem is that while D-Day saved Western Europe it was too late to save Eastern Europe. By refusing earlier to challenge the Third Reich through the Balkans and by delaying the Normandy landings until June 1944 the Western Allies gave the Soviet "liberators" the opportunity of destroying the independence of countries like Poland, the UK's longest most faithful ally against Germany. Despite the crucial input of Polish Armed Forces in the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic and in the campaigns in Norway, North Africa and Italy and not omitting the 11 Polish airforce squadrons, the Polish cruiser ORP Dragon, 4 Polish destroyers and numerous Polish civilian troop ships who participated in D-Day itself, as well as the subsequent role of the Polish Armoured Brigade in Normandy and Polish paratroopers at Arnhem, Poland was abandoned to its Soviet fate and eventually her servicemen were not even allowed to participate in the London Victory Parade in 1946.

Yours faithfully
Wiktor Moszczynski
Chair
Friends of Polish Veterans Association (SPPW)
Published in DT 07/06/2019

Brexit and populist European Parliament is on Putin's agenda

·
Letter published in The Guardian today. (28/05/2019)
Dear Sirs,
One important factor only hinted at in Jon Henley's analysis on "the end of cosy consensus" for the centrist groupings in the European Parliament ("The Guardian" 27th May 19) is Russia's continued success in driving forward its agenda of weakening of the European Union and other Western institutions by its support of Eurosceptic parties such as Le Pen's National Rally, Alternative fur Deutschland, the Danish People's Party, the Italian Liga and the Brexit Party all of whom improved their vote in the European Parliament. Indeed the resulting Brexitization of the Conservative Party has made the UK's no deal departure from the European Union in October that much more likely. It will also suit President Trump with his hostility to the EU, but then surely he is himself already part of President Putin's agenda?
Yours faithfully,
Wiktor Moszczynski