Obama Hails Poland as Model for Arab Nations in Upheaval

Obama Hails Poland as Model for Arab Nations in Upheaval

WARSAW — President Obama held up Poland as a model for Arab nations undergoing political upheaval on Saturday, saying its peaceful overthrow of Communism provided lessons for Tunisia and other countries struggling with the chaotic aftermath of popular revolts.

Mr. Obama, wrapping up a six-day trip to Europe with a stop in this staunch American ally, paid tribute to the elders of the Solidarity movement, which led the uprising in Poland, as well as young activists just back from Tunisia, where they offered advice based on Poland’s experience.

“Poland has navigated that process as well as any country in recent history,” Mr. Obama said at a meeting that included Solidarity leaders, though not Lech Walesa, who was out of the country. The president said he wanted “all states undergoing similar experiences to learn from Poland.”

Mr. Obama’s 24-hour visit to Poland, a mix of ceremony and substance, allowed him to offer belated condolences to relatives of the victims of the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and much of the country’s civilian and military elite.

The president had planned to attend Mr. Kaczynski’s funeral but had to cancel the trip after the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano grounded flights in Europe. There were brief fears Mr. Obama would be thwarted again by another ash cloud over Northern Europe.

On this trip, Mr. Obama announced that he would support efforts to admit Poland into the State Department’s visa waiver program, which would make it easier for Poles to visit the United States. Polish officials have criticized the United States for keeping Poland out of the program, even after admitting most other European countries.

Congress must approve the move, and administration officials released a letter from Mr. Obama to crucial lawmakers, asking lawmakers to change the law in a way that would make it easier for Poland to qualify for visa waiver status.

Polish officials portrayed the change in the visa requirements as something that would benefit the American economy by allowing more Polish tourists, with their growing incomes, to visit and shop in the United States.

“We very much want you to shop on Fifth Avenue, and everywhere else in the United States,” Mr. Obama said.

Reminding him that Polish tourists have other options, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, “There are many other places in the world where you can buy and spend your money.”

As he did on previous stops in Britain and France, Mr. Obama reaffirmed the centrality of the trans-Atlantic alliance. The visit is also meant to reassure Polish officials that efforts to “reset” relations with Russia would not come at Poland’s expense.

On Friday, Russia drew closer to the United States in its position on Libya, with President Dmitri A. Medvedev saying that he wanted to play a role in easing out the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The lingering suspicions between Poland and Russia were evident outside the gates of the presidential palace, where a group of protesters held up placards asserting that Russian had played a role in the crash that killed Mr. Kaczynski. One poster even claimed the crash occurred in Russian territory, not in the Polish city of Smolensk, demanding that the United States release satellite photos that the protesters said would prove the claim.

Mr. Obama joined Poland’s president, Bronislaw Komorowski, in condemning the political repression in Belarus, where dissident political figures have been jailed.

“A country like Belarus is backsliding,” he declared after his meeting with Mr. Komorowski. “The kind of repressive actions that we’re seeing in Belarus can end up having a negative impact over the region as a whole, and that makes us less safe and makes us less secure.”