Mr. Piskorski and Mr. Ochsenreiter, you have announced the start of a frequent podcast. What is it all about?
Piskorski: It will be around 30 minutes long where Manuel Ochsenreiter and I will discuss and comment on the geopolitical news of the week.
What will be the title of the podcast?
Ochsenreiter: We chose a nice German-English mix: ‘Die Guten Menschen – Public Enemies of the Deep State’. Since Mateusz and I frequently tell each other what good and fabulous people we are and since we are both politically persecuted in the EU by deep state structures, it suits us quite well, right?
Piskorski: Absolutely right! Well, the pressure of the system on traditional media is growing, therefore we share the view, that it’s quite reasonable to present a dissident voice.
Mr. Piskorski, you were in a Polish prison for three years and were released just in May. What were you accused of?
Piskorski: I remain accused, the trial is going on. My case is completely unique not only in a Polish, but in the whole European legal environment. I’m accused of deeds, which – according to criminal law and universal standards – are not a legal offense. They have accused me of cooperation with a foreign intelligence service against the interests of Republic of Poland. Article 130 of Polish criminal codex defines it as espionage.
But what is espionage? According to all commonly known definitions and all existing vocabularies, it is about passing secret information about one country to the intelligence units of another one. The charges against me have nothing to do with collecting and passing any secret information to anyone. The whole case is about – to quote the National Prosecutor’s Office – about “influencing public opinion” and “taking part in the information war” by voicing political positions and calling for certain political solutions.
According to the Polish state, a call to leave NATO, opposing US military presence, protests against Ukrainian nationalism and calling for economic cooperation with the Russian Federation, and for lifting sanctions, are all activities against the interests of Poland, and as such may be perceived as a crime.
Mr. Ochsenreiter, your name also appeared in a Polish court room: A Polish alleged criminal mentioned you as someone who ordered and paid an arson attack on a building in Ukraine. There is now an investigation against you by Berlin state attorney?
Ochsenreiter: Yes, but the whole accusation is as absurd as it sounds. My lawyer is taking care of it. It is a Kafkaesque situation: The same German journalists accusing Poland of being an illiberal and authoritarian, anti-law-state are now acting as the loudspeakers for Polish prosecutors. It is a disgusting campaign.
Piskorski: This case is very interesting. It shows: For the moment, they use the Polish state to repress not just Polish citizens, but also others. Take a look at the case of Manuel, a German citizen, who has been falsely accused by Polish prosecutors. The only strange thing for me, is that German authorities take Polish activities seriously. I mean, every mainstream politician in Germany knows and admits publicly, that there is no rule of law in Poland. It’s quite obvious. However, they respect and treat the demands of Polish prosecutors concerning a German citizen seriously.
This means that the Polish authoritarian state is capable of repressing citizens of other EU countries. It seems absurd, but unfortunately this is true. It’s quite dangerous not only for the citizens of Poland, but other EU member states, as well…
Will you speak about your cases in your podcast?
Ochsenreiter: That would bore the audience to death. But we will speak about the political persecution in Europe, about the geopolitical struggle of the Western wannabe-hegemon to silence all the critical voices in Europe. We will speak about the media lies, the fake news and the huge betrayal against the European citizens by their media and politicians.
Piskorski: The Atlanticist camp is currently facing in a critical period since US-critics from both left and right are getting more and more support. Washington realised that it has to fight back. And one of the sharpest swords wielded by the West is information warfare. And we should take that war seriously. It puts people like me in a prison for no reason and destroys the lives of many other EU citizens – just because they argue against the US storyline.
So, you will mainly speak about international politics in your podcast?
Piskorski: Not just that. We will have a short intervention by Prof Alexandr Dugin in every show speaking on a geopolitical or philosophical topic. We will also present books and even interesting music. The whole concept not only looks into current politics, but also meta-politics, which is even more important nowadays.
Ochsenreiter: The concept is to show the audience that “our sphere” is far more than just discussing international politics, it is its own culture…
Piskorski: (laughs) …even a lifestyle, if we manage to avoid being blocked by the Internet corporations!
So what will the audience have to expect?
Ochsenreiter: Information, entertainment and hopefully always a positive surprise!