Polish foreign minister scorns U.S.-Poland relations in leaked tape

WARSAW , Poland, June 23 (UPI) -- In a leaked tape recording, the second in weeks, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski was critical of ties between the United States and Poland.

In excerpts of tapes held by the magazine Wprost, Sikorski called Poland's position regarding the United States "downright harmful, because it creates a false sense of security."

The tapes indicate Sikorski told Jacek Rostowski, former Polish finance minister, "The Polish-U.S. alliance isn't worth anything." Using a racially-provocative term, Sikorski suggested an attitude of enslavement on the part of Poland. He referred to his countrymen as "suckers, total suckers. The problem in Poland is that we have shallow pride and low self-esteem."

Other secretly-recorded tapes, which included an alleged conversation between Marek Belka, the head of the National Bank of Poland, and Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz concerning an upcoming election, were the basis of an article published in Wprost this week.

By law, the central bank must not involve itself in politics, and electronic eavesdropping to obtain information is illegal in Poland.

A police raid on the Wprost office in Warsaw last week to obtain the tapes, broadcast live on television, earned widespread criticism after the magazine editor refused to surrender his laptop computer.

In an attempt at damage control, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said the United States remained a "very important ally and partner."