Poland is a frontier country, heavily involved in supporting Ukraine and fighting off the brutal Russian invasion. That is why Poles need to look upon all events around them from this perspective, too. Without making decisions and becoming paranoid, because life goes on, misfortunes and disasters happen.
It could be that the Oder River was poisoned because of someone’s greed. It could be that the ecological catastrophe was caused by a number of factors, mainly natural ones, but I would not exclude the possibility that someone in Moscow planned such an “operational combination.” If they blew up weapons depots in Czechia and poisoned adversaries in Great Britain, could they not poison a river?
Maybe the results of the ongoing research could make this clear.
This event itself is one thing, but the reaction of the state and the most important public figures is another. From what I understand, the institutions responsible could have reacted more quickly.
The opposition tried to use this topic to cause panic. A word was used that has almost the same horrible connotations as atom bomb — the word mercury. Reports were already created to the credit of the Polish Press Agency, showing how and who shared this fake news.
More importantly, we need to understand the role played by the opposition’s most important man, Donald Tusk.
His tweet that “not only the fish in Oder are dead, the entire country under the rule of Kaczyński is dead. Law and Justice (PiS) is like mercury” was quickly repeated in different ways.
However, hardly anyone understands this instant and strong replication of the lie about mercury in the Oder. It is the next attempt to scare Poles, to cause shock, unrest, and panic.
Equally cynical is Tusk’s game regarding the war in Ukraine, where he treats hardships created by Putin as his own political weapons. He acts similarly with regard to the recovery funds from the EU — with one hand he does everything he can to make the European Commission block them politically, and with the other, he writes allegations against the government because the funds are yet to arrive in Poland.
I believe that in Tusk’s heart and mind, the words “truth,” “lie,” and “treason” simply do not exist. I am convinced he laughs inside at people who consider these words to be important. His entire great career to him is proof that ditching his moral compass is very profitable.
How can we fight it? The same as before, by persistently promoting the truth and not allowing the manipulators to tire us out. Fight for every topic, every fact, and every person hurt.
The Polish society needs to know how to look at Tusk through this “mercury” story. He pushed it so quickly and so strongly because it is what he is made of. From at least 2005 when he lost the presidential elections against Lech Kaczyński, he has launched a campaign of disdain, becoming the mercury giant of Polish politics.
He spills buckets of it, turning one group against the other, lying, devastating, giving proof of his hate of the Polish state and Poland’s historical and cultural community.
All that he writes or says should be seen through this made-up “mercury.” Pathological lies coming from such a high position cannot be considered normal, because then it is over for us.
