World Notes POLAND

Sitting side by side last week as Poland's Senate reconvened for the first time since it was abolished in 1946 were Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and Communist chief General Wojciech Jaruzelski. If their propinquity reflects the vast changes overtaking the country, so does the scheduled arrival of George Bush this week, paying the first U.S. presidential call in Warsaw in twelve years.

Although Jaruzelski has renounced his own election as head of state, it is he who will greet Bush, because the new mixed government has been unable to settle on a presidential choice. Bush said he planned "to inspire but not to incite" during his two-day visit. Yet last week in an interview with Polish journalists, he suggested that the Soviets unilaterally withdraw their 40,000 troops stationed on Polish soil; Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev called the idea "propaganda." Bush has vaguer ideas about how to lend Poland more practical help, but aides warn that any U.S. plan won't be accompanied by a "potful of money."