Roman Polanski.

In Switzerland, the lawyer for film director Roman Polanski said Monday he will fight American attempts to extradite Polanski to the United States in a sex case that goes back more than 30 years.

The 76-year-old director was arrested Saturday on arrival in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival. Polanski pleaded guilty in California to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, but then fled to France before his sentencing. French officials have expressed astonishment over the arrest, one calling it a “bit sinister.”

Should Roman Polanski be extradited to the U.S. to face sentencing in a case that is now more than three decades old?

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Watch World Remembers Beginning of World War II, a report by English-language TV station Russia Today highlighting the difficult history between Russia and Poland.

Vladimir Lensky, the New York bureau chief for Russia’s Channel One, discusses Russia’s role and responsibility in World War Two.

In a Russian language blog on Moscow radio station Echomoscow’s website, writer Sergei Shagunov comments on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent article in a Polish newspaper about the Soviet-Nazi pact to split up Poland in 1939.

Read the full post here in Russian. The following excerpts were translated from by Worldfocus producer Christine Kiernan.

It is frequently necessary to disagree with Vladimir Putin, but in his article published in the newspaper “Vyborcha” [the Polish newspaper], there are strivings for objectivity. Today this is rare thing. Of course [even-handedness] is possibly only when there is open discussion. …The 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War is reason for a sharp, honest, difficult conversation.

Poland was up until the end a [partner] of Hitler, participating in the invasion of Czechoslovakia… and its minister of foreign affairs Bek spoke about pretensions to Soviet Ukraine… It’s necessary to remember that England France from the beginning shut their eyes over Germany’s armament, then gave Czechoslovakia to her, and finally, drew out and [ruined] Moscow discussions about the creation, together with the USSR, of an anti-German coalition. So Hitler broke the East. ..

Yes, the Soviet Union was totalitarian. But even totalitarian states have their own interests…..For example, interests of safety.

A simple question: was it necessary to sign an amoral supplement to the Soviet-German pact?

Everyone was amoral, including Poland. Everyone is guilty in the war. To different degrees? Perhaps. But all the same – guilty.

Writing in the UK’s The Guardian, Anita Prazmowska says that despite Putin’s subsequent efforts to praise Polish bravery during the war, the timing of his comments will strike many Poles as misplaced. Read the full post here.

1 September is seen in Poland as a beginning of its enslavement, first under Nazi domination and then, after the war, to Soviet domination. 1 September is a time of grieving. One can’t really expect Poles to see this as a date for reflection on the shortcomings of their own governments’ policies in 1939 and subsequently. Thus Putin has on the one hand accepted that the Soviet Union was wrong, but he has also publicly reminded the Poles that they too have to address some unsavory moments in Poland’s history. The fact that he spoke of the Russian people being victims of both Stalinism and of Nazism has done little to soothe Polish anger.

During the 50 years of Soviet occupation, Lithuanians clung to their language as a not-so-quiet form of rebellion. Today, as Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report, they want to protect it — not from an occupying force, but from other languages.

Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at the U.N. climate conference in Poznan, Poland.

In Poznan, Poland, about 11,000 people from more than 190 countries met this week to lay the foundations for a treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will extend beyond the Kyoto Protocol agreement, which expires in 2012.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) hopes to finalize the new climate protocol at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.

This week’s conference has focused largely on convincing emerging economies like China, Brazil and South Africa to curb their emissions, and negotiators have agreed to free at least $60 million for developing countries to combat effects of climate change.

Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for Environment, writes in his blog from Poznan that he is optimistic although even more stringent targets are necessary.

British conservative politician and blogger Roger Helmer, also in Poznan, writes that he has witnessed “knee-jerk alarmism” at the conference and fears the third world will blackmail Western countries over climate change.

Blogger Andrew Light writes at the “Wonk Room” blog about “the American problem” — fear that the Obama administration will not support the forthcoming treaty in Copenhagen if the U.S. Congress cannot agree on a cap and trade system.

Blogger Matt Maiorana of “It’s Getting Hot in Here” expresses anger at statements from developed countries and writes about efforts of the youth movement in Poznan.

Esther Neuhaus, affiliated with Brazilian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), demands that leaders stop talking and take action on the last day of talks. Brazil plans to cut its deforestation by 70 percent by 2017.

OneClimate’s “Virtual Poznan” Web site provides videos from the conference and allows users to pose questions for conference participants.

In the following video, Daniel Nelson of OneWorld asks Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Yvo De Boer some user-submitted questions via a Second Life virtual world.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user benkamorvan under a Creative Commons license.

In Ukraine, today’s political realities and yesterday’s revolutionary dreams may not be in line, and progress has come slowly.

In Poland, the anti-Soviet Polish Solidarity movement has reinvented itself in a democratic and economically strong Poland.

In the Czech Republic, the younger generation knows little about the Russian invasion and subsequent demonstrations that took place 40 years ago, and the country has problems discussing its past.

In Hungary, people still commemorate 1956 revolution — when approximately 200,000 Hungarians gathered in front of the country’s Parliament to demand an end to Soviet rule. Even as they move forward, Hungarians never quite leave the past behind.

Correspondent Dave Marash reports in a Worldfocus signature series: After the Fall.

Correspondent Dave Marash travels to the shipyards of Gdansk, Poland, where the movement was born in 1980.

Worldfocus also explores the post-Soviet Czech Republic and Hungary in our signature series: After the Fall.

A Polish soldier salutes at an Independence Day ceremony.

It may go by many names — Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, Poppy Day, Armistice Day and even Independence Day in some countries — but every November, nations around the world commemorate those who have served in the the military and particularly in World War I (WWI).

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the end of WWI.

The conflict — fueled by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne –  pitted Germany and Austria-Hungary against the Allied Powers (the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and several others), branching out from Europe and impacting the globe.

After the Allied victory, world leaders met in Versailles to negotiate peace. As a result, Germany disarmed and lost much of its prewar territory.

Poland regained its independence as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. Blogger “Annalise” describes the festivities at Polish Independence Day on Nov. 11.

“Experiences of an English Soldier” is a blog by an English soldier in WWI, whose grandson now posts his diary entries in real time.

An Irish blogger at “For the Fainthearted” tells the story of Percy Horner, one of the Irishmen who fought in WWI voluntarily.

Blogger “Kristie” wonders if Remembrance Day should be a national holiday in Canada. At the time of WWI, Canada was still under the British Empire.

Australia was also part of the British Empire during the war, but Australian and Kiwi soldiers in WWI made a name for themselves and brought great national pride. Today, Australia celebrates Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Day (ANZAC) on April 25.

Blogger “Karena” writes from France about Armistice Day’s celebration of les poilus, as French soldiers in WWI were called.

Germany holds a national day of mourning, the Volkstrauertag, later in the month, but today marks the beginning of the German carnival season.

Photo courtesy of włodi under a Creative Commons license.

Timothy Frye, a professor of political science at Columbia University, speaks with Martin Savidge about the severity of the plan, the effect of the Russia-Georgia conflict and ways in which dropping oil prices will affect Russia’s assertive stance.

Poland’s government knew all about ‘secret’ CIA prisons?

Radio Zet has alleged that top ministers in the previous Law and Justice government were shown a report back in 2006 detailing the existence of those illusive CIA prisons in Poland used to detain Islamist terrorist suspects.

The names who saw and authored the report will be familiar to regular readers of this blog.

The author was our old friend Roman Giertych, who was heading a committee on the activities of Poland’s secret services at the time.

His report, written sometime in 2006 - confirming allegations made by Human Rights Watch back in late 2005 - was seen by Zbigniew Ziobro, state prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek and special services coordinator Zbigniew Wasserman.

Crucially, today’s allegations have neither been confirmed nor denied by the present state prosecutor, Marek Staszak.

My understanding of the evidence collected by the Council of Europe’s report - which supported the original allegations made by the NGO and the Washington Post - you can see here and here.

Government ministers, and former president Aleksander Kwasniewski have always denied the allegations, dismissing them as nonsense.

In May 2007, the U.N. Committee Against Torture called on the Law and Justice government to disclose information gathered by Poland’s parliamentary committee on the CIA prisons issue. Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski dismissed the request: “The matter is now closed,” he said. But if the parliamentary committee had had access to the report written by Roman Giertych - and is it not too dumb to presume that they had? - then he, the prime minister, knew of the existence of these places in Poland.

To read more, visit the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Associated thumbnail courtesy of Flickr user jaroslaw poctarski under a Creative Commons license.