Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne
Military Information Services (, or WSI) was a common name for the Polish military intelligence and counterintelligence agency. The agency was created in 1990 after the Revolutions of 1989 ended the Communist regime as a merger between the former Communist agencies Internal Military Service (, or WSW) and the Second Directorate of General Staff of the Polish Army. The combined agency was originally known as the Second Directorate for Intelligence and Counter-intelligence (); it was renamed to WSI in 1991. At first, all commanding and upper-level officers—and most of the employees—had direct personal and career links with the former Communist regimes of Poland and the Soviet Union. By a vote of 375 - 48 in favor, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland voted in May 2006 to liquidate WSI in October 2006. Polish President Bronisław Komorowski (at that time as deputy) voted against. History In 1990, the Second Directorate of General Staff of the Polish Army was joined with milita ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polish Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (, ; abbreviated SZ RP), also called the Polish Armed Forces and popularly called in Poland (, roughly "the Polish Military"—abbreviated ''WP''), are the national Military, armed forces of the Poland, Republic of Poland. They comprise five main service branches: the Polish Land Forces (), the Polish Navy (), the Polish Air Force (), the Polish Special Forces (), and the Territorial Defence Force (Poland), Polish Territorial Defence Force (), under the command of the Ministry of National Defence (Poland), Ministry of National Defence of Poland. According to SIPRI, Poland spent $38 billion on its defense budget in 2024, ranking List of countries by military expenditures, 13th in the world. In 2023, Poland spent the greatest share of its GDP for military expenditures (3.9%) among all NATO members. With over 292,000 active personnel in 2025, the Polish Armed Forces are the third largest military in NATO, after Turkish Armed Forces, Turkey ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Civic Platform
The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since 2021, it has been led by Donald Tusk, who previously led it from 2003 to 2014 and was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. It was formed in 2001 by splinter factions from the Solidarity Electoral Action, the Freedom Union (Poland), Freedom Union and the Conservative People's Party (Poland), Conservative People's Party, and it later placed second in the 2001 Polish parliamentary election. It remained at the opposition until the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, 2007 Polish parliamentary opposition, when it overtook Law and Justice, won 209 seats, and Tusk was elected as prime minister of Poland, Prime Minister of Poland. Following the Smolensk air disaster in 2010, Bronisław Komorowski served as acting president of Poland ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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History Of Poland (1989–present)
From 1989 through 1991, Poland engaged in a Democratization, democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to the foundation of a democratic government, known as the Third Polish Republic (Polish language, Polish: ''III Rzeczpospolita Polska''), following the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, First and Second Polish Republic. After ten years of democratic consolidation, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. Background Tension grew between the people of Poland and its communist government, as with the rest of the Eastern bloc as the influence of the Soviet Union faded. With the advent of ''perestroika'' in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, the opportunity arose to change the system of government, after the harsh period of Martial law in Poland, martial law (1981-83) imposed by general Wojciech Jaruzelski. Round Table Agreement and democratic transition The government's inability to forestall Poland's economic dec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Defunct Polish Intelligence Agencies
{{Disambiguation ...
Defunct may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when comp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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GRU (Russian Federation)
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate,; and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU,; is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Russia, Russian Federation. The GRU controls the military intelligence service and maintains Spetsnaz GRU, its own special forces units. Unlike Russia's other Intelligence agencies of Russia, security and intelligence agenciessuch as the Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (Russia), Federal Protective Service (FSO)whose heads report directly to the president of Russia (see Intelligence agencies of Russia), the director of the GRU is subordinate to the Russian military command, reporting to the Minister of De ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc List of non-communist socialist states, socialist republics in Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during the Cold War. The term "Warsaw Pact" commonly refers to both the treaty itself and its resultant military alliance, the Warsaw Pact OrganisationPage 22, �NATO and OSCE, Partners or Rivals?��, Edward Killham (WPO) (also known as ‘Warsaw Treaty Organization’ (‘WTO’)). The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Comecon, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), the economic organization for the Eastern Bloc states. Dominated by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Służba Bezpieczeństwa
The Security Service (; ), in full Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and commonly known as SB, was a secret police force established in the Polish People's Republic in 1956 as a successor to the Ministry of Public Security (Poland), Ministry of Public Security (UB). The SB was the chief foreign and domestic Intelligence agency, security organization in Poland from 1956 until the fall of communism in 1989. The parent agency of SB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, had been established in 1954, but the Ministry did not play a significant role until the winding-up of the Committee for Public Safety in 1956. History The post-World War II Ministry of Public Security (Poland), Ministry of Public Security (UB) was responsible for security, intelligence and counterintelligence. It controlled over 41,000 soldiers of the Internal Security Corps, 57,500 members of the Milicja Obywatelska, Citizens' Militia, 32,000 Border Protection Forces, 10,000 Prison Service (Poland ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Urząd Ochrony Państwa
The Office of State Protection ( Polish: ''Urząd Ochrony Państwa'' (, UOP) Kancelaria Sejmu, , p. 401) was the of from 1990 to 2002, when it was split into two new agencies. Foundation The UOP was founded on 6 April 1990 as a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Krzysztof Kozłowski served as the UOP's first ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 Crash
On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing List of casualties of the Smolensk air disaster, all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria Kaczyńska, Maria; the former Polish government-in-exile, president of Poland-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski; the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers; the president of the National Bank of Poland; Polish government officials; 18 members of the Polish parliament; senior members of the Polish clergy; and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk. The pilots were attempting to land at Smolensk North Airport — a former military airbase — in thick fog, with visibility reduced to about . The aircraft descended f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Opposition (politics)
In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government (or, in American English, the administration), party or group in political control of a city, region, state, country or other political body. The degree of opposition varies according to political conditions. For example, in authoritarian and democratic systems, opposition may be respectively repressed or desired. Members of an opposition generally serve as antagonists to the other parties. Scholarship focusing on opposition politics did not become popular or sophisticated until the mid-20th century. Recent studies have found that popular unrest regarding the economy and quality of life can be used by political opposition to mobilize and to demand change. Scholars have debated whether political opposition can benefit from political instability and economic crises, while some conclude the opposite. Case studies in Jordan align with mainstream though ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lech Kaczyński
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying him and senior Polish officials had crashed while they were travelling to attend ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. Prior to his tenure as president, Kaczyński served as President of the Supreme Audit Office from 1992 to 1995 and later Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General in Jerzy Buzek's cabinet from 2000 until his dismissal in July 2001. Born in Warsaw, he starred in a 1962 Polish film, ''The Two Who Stole the Moon'', with his identical twin brother Jarosław Kaczyński, Jarosław. Kaczyński was a graduate of law and administration of Warsaw University. In 1980, he was awarded his Ph.D. by Gdańsk University. In 1990, he completed his habilitation in labour and employment law. He later assum ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is . The organization's strategic concepts include Deterrence theory, deterrence. NATO headquarters, NATO's main headquarter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |