Concerts planned by former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters were canceled in Poland this month after the left-wing rocker insisted that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s brutal invasion of its neighbor.
Authorities in Krakow, Poland, canceled the 79-year-old rocker’s concerts on Monday saying that they would not tolerate someone who is so ill-informed and who has such objectionable ideas about the war between Ukraine and Russia, according to the Associated Press.
“He doesn’t realize the truth,” Krakow Councilman Lukasz Wantuch told the media. “He doesn’t understand what is going on in Ukraine.”
Wantuch invited Waters to tour areas of Ukraine beset by Russian forces to see the extent of Russian war crimes. The official, who has engaged in 27 humanitarian missions to Ukraine since Russia invaded, also filed a resolution declaring Waters to be “persona non grata” in Krakow over his mistaken views about the conflict in Ukraine.
The Polish politician also blasted Waters for calling for an end to military aid for Ukraine.
“You are calling on the West to cease military aid, which in fact means the capitulation of Ukraine,” Wantuch said. “Ukraine will not give up, it will fight, but because of people like you, because of what you say and write, it will be a much harder fight.”
For his part, Waters blasted Wantuch for implementing a “draconian censoring of my work,” adding, “Wantuch seems to know nothing of my history of working, all my life, at some personal cost, in the service of human rights.”
The argument arose after Waters wrote an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska blaming Ukraine and NATO for Russia’s invasion and telling her that “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.” He also blasted western nations for funding Ukraine’s war effort in the letter.
Ukraine was not the only country open for censure, as far as Waters is concerned. Last month, Waters accused U.S. President Joe Biden of being a “war criminal” for sending Ukraine military aid to fight the Russian invaders and claimed that Biden is “fueling the fire in Ukraine.”
Waters has a long history of sticking up for tyrants, despots, and sponsors of terrorism. In August he sided with Cuba’s demands that the U.S. end sanctions. And he has been a virulent critic of Israel and supporter of the Palestinian National Authority, and has often accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
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