US Ambassador Thomas Rose sparks controversy after Polish politician refuses to back Nobel nomination for Trump, declaring “we won’t accept insults to our president.”
Controversial US Ambassador Interview in Poland
US Ambassador Thomas Rose, in an interview with “Rzeczpospolita,” responded to his pledge to “break off contact” with Polish politician Włodzimierz Czarzasty. The diplomat’s declaration came after the Marshal of the Sejm announced he would not support the Nobel Peace Prize nomination for Donald Trump. “We will not accept or tolerate scandalous insults against our president. Every Pole has the right to express their opinions, but we also have the right to react to those opinions. And that’s exactly what I did,” stated Rose.
He clarified that the decision to “break off contact” was not solely motivated by the Polish politician’s lack of support for the Nobel nomination. “It’s not everything that Czarzasty said,” he indicated. Asked about maintaining diplomatic relations with more controversial figures, such as Vladimir Putin, Rose retorted, “I don’t have to explain that.”
Reactions to the Ambassador’s Comments
“The US ambassador in Poland speaks like a world emperor’s viceroy. He doesn’t need to explain himself, justify himself. He said it, so it is,” commented Maciej Milczanowski, deputy director of the University of Rzeszów’s Institute of Political Science and Security. Estonian politician Toomas Hendrik Ilves wrote that when he was foreign minister from 1996-2002, a EU ambassador spoke “with almost the same arrogance” as Rose. “With the difference that at least he had enough sense not to do it publicly,” he noted.
Social activist Jan Śpiewak stated that Thomas Rose behaves “like a narcissistic child,” and “not a very smart one.” “It’s shocking how low the United States has fallen,” emphasized the activist.
Rose Compared to “Soviet Ambassador”?
“Who would have thought 40 years ago that a US envoy would start imitating a Soviet ambassador—while a Polish journalist, upholding professional and ethical standards of independent journalism, asks all the difficult questions?” commented journalist Szabolcs Panyi from VSquare portal. Dominika Wielowieyska of “Gazeta Wyborcza” joked that Jędrzej Bielecki, who conducted the interview with the ambassador, “will no longer get a visa to the US.” “Very interesting questions, the answers (or lack thereof) say a lot about the ambassador’s way of thinking,” praised Marek Twaróg, editor-in-chief of Polska Press.
