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Admit it, we've all done it. Who hasn't worn the same shirt or jeans two days in a row? We just wish it didn't look so obvious.

Israel-based designer Tamara Salem has come up with a clever solution to this common fashion problem. Meet MORF, the latest Kickstarter project.



MORF is one shirt that can be styled in up to 24 different looks. Don't believe us? Just watch the video above.

Salem told HuffPost Style that the idea for MORF was "almost accidental." "I wanted to sew my best friend a shirt for her birthday, and I had this vague idea for a multilayer top -- black front and white back," she said. "But only when I actually held it in my hands, I discovered I could flip it and get a totally black shirt, and then flip it again and get an all-white shirt. I realized then how many different options this structure offered."

MORF, which is made of a poly-cotton blend, has no inside-out or front and back. It comes in blue, red or green; the top is void of velcro, buttons, zippers or complex ties. "The pattern is symmetrical and anything goes. There's actually no wrong way to wear MORF," said Salem.

After several prototypes and an arduous patent registration process in the U.S., Salem and her business partner Barak Kirschner launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000 for MORF. Twenty percent of their goal was funded within the first 48 hours.

A basic MORF shirt, which will be delivered in August, costs $49 on Kickstarter, or you can pledge $80 to get one of the first 1,000 MORFs in May. Salem also plans to apply MORF's multilayered concept to sportswear, men's and kids clothes.

"I believe that fashion is all about change, inviting us to reinvent ourselves," Salem said. "MORF isn't just a shirt, it's an attitude. I hope to get the attention of women who enjoy being unexpected and ever-changing, playful yet practical, effortless but stylish. I believe MORF can stretch the concept of basic apparel, allowing you to customize your look with only one item."

Click here to visit the MORF Kickstarter campaign.

Innovative socio-political solutions that promote gender equality have underpinned the Nordic welfare model for the last four decades. Over the years it has become easier for women and later men to combine family and work life, a phenomenon that has in turn come to characterise the business culture of the Nordic Region. In their current co-operation programme the Nordic Ministers for Gender Equality continue to assert that gender equality is one of the foundations for both innovation and welfare.

This perspective has contributed to a new business mindset: Social responsibility and sustainability not only have to be addressed in companies' innovation policies, but they also have to be at the heart of industrial and commercial activities. Transparency and ethical business are often cited as key prerequisites for sustainable innovation. Gender equality is just as important.

Nevertheless, a report by Nordic Innovation in 2014 identifying how the Nordic region's 500 biggest firms applied strategies that link social responsibility with innovation shows that it is still not particularly common practice for these businesses to integrate social responsibility and sustainability throughout the value chain.

Innovation is generated by highlighting and encouraging different perspectives, while a diverse range of perspectives in turn makes it easier to meet the preferences of different target groups, for instance. This diversity is, unfortunately, not forthcoming; the Nordic countries still exhibit skewed gender representation on boards and in senior management positions. Although equal gender representation is no guarantee of innovation, generally speaking companies with more equal representation on their boards perform better. It should go without saying that as women's educational attainment and experience increases the change should be reflected in recruitment to the highest positions.

Political measures of recent decades to include women in higher education and to encourage them to participate in working life and aspire to highly skilled jobs and roles on boards of directors is slowly making an impression in the business world. Most of the top 500 Nordic companies now have at least one woman on the board. Iceland and Norway lead the way when it comes to female representation on the boards of the top 500 listed companies, achieving 46% and 40% respectively. Both countries have also enacted legislation regarding gender equality in boards. The Nordic average for these companies is three women out of ten on boards. (Nordic Gender Equality in Figures 2015).

Slow progress can be seen also in senior management - 75% of the Nordic 500 located in Finland, Norway and Sweden have at least one woman in their executive management team. The average for women managers in listed companies remains below 40% throughout the Region, with Iceland coming in top at 37% and Denmark in the other end at 29%.

Innovation requires a long-term focus on gender equality. This year, the Nordic Ministers for Equality are concentrating on engaging girls in STEM subjects - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths. Conversely, in the context of equality the Nordic Council of Ministers has previously addressed increasing the proportion of men working in the care sector. An ageing Nordic population combined with restraints on public spending will make the care sector a particularly innovation-hungry one over the next 15 years.

Gender equality from cradle to grave, then? Yes, because as the Nordic Ministers for Equality highlighted at the UN's Commission on the Status of Women in New York this week, equality benefits men as well as women. And what's more, the national economy benefits too.

Follow the activities of the Nordic Ministers for Equality at the UN's Commission on the Status of Women at norden.org/csw

Now everyone can get behind #TeamWhiteAndGold.

Roman Originals -- the clothing line that designed a black and blue dress that caused an Internet uproar over its color -- has created a white and gold version to be auctioned off on eBay for charity.

People StyleWatch reported that proceeds from the sale will benefit Comic Relief, an anti-poverty nonprofit based in the U.K.

The dress had garnered 540 British pounds (about $810) as of Friday morning. Buyers can bid on the dress through March 15.

"We're hoping for it to raise as much as possible. It would be great if it goes into the 100,000 [British pounds] mark," Adrian Addison, Roman Originals' head of e-commerce, told People, noting the dress will be tailored to fit whatever size the winning bidder chooses.

@louissharp0316 Maybe it's both! You can bid for charity on Ebay to have the amazing gold and white for your wife ;) pic.twitter.com/FuFncqPlTB
— Roman Originals (@romanoriginals) March 5, 2015

An image of the dress -- originally uploaded to social media by a 21-year-old singer named Caitlin McNeill -- sparked widespread debate over its color scheme, with #TeamBlueAndBlack and #TeamWhiteAndGold forming on Twitter. The difference in perception can be explained by science.

Comic Relief raises money toward poverty alleviation initiatives in the U.K. and the developing world, such as the reconstruction of rundown healthcare facilities in eastern Uganda.

To learn more about Comic Relief or to get involved, visit its website.

To take action on poverty, check out the Global Citizen's widget below.

On the arid steppes of Asia lives an elusive and noble feline.

The Pallas' Cat, also known as the manul, is a stocky, solitary animal around the same size as a housecat. You're not likely to catch a glimpse of them in the wild, as they hang out in rocky crevices and dens at elevations as high as 15,000 feet, according to the Wildscreen Arkive.

On top of that, keeping them healthy in captivity is a challenge, since living at such high elevations has given the cats immune systems that aren't equipped to handle viruses that thrive at lower altitudes, according to the BBC.

We're convinced that the elusive nature of this wise-looking creature is the only reason why the Pallas' cat didn't become the star of the Internet long ago. Seriously, just look at these guys...




The cats are classified as "near threatened" by the IUCN. They have historically been killed for their fur, although protective laws have helped to decrease hunting, according to Wildscreen Arkive. However, Pallas' cats still face an assortment of dangers. Their primary food sources, the pika (i.e. the inspiration for Pikachu) and vole, are both poisoned in large numbers because they are viewed as pests. Additionally, habitat degradation and climate change continue to threaten the cats.

Today is International Women's Day, a day globally dedicated to acknowledging the economic, social and political achievements of women across the world. In honor of the occasion, we're rounding up some of the best interviews we've had with women in the arts, all of whom aren't afraid to tackle the tough issues women face in their daily lives. From education to beauty, success to authenticity, popular perceptions of body hair to the epidemic of catcalling, these female artists don't veer away from injustice; instead, they face obstacles head on.

Behold, 12 beautiful quotes from women in the arts:

On the importance of education:



" It's not enough to have a few women's studies courses. Why is it more important to study Paul Revere's midnight ride than it is Susan B. Anthony's 50-year effort to transform the face of America for women? When you're in school, most of the events you study are about men. Men's activities lauded and repeated over and over. What about us? What about commemorating the decades-long struggle for suffrage? Why don't we hear those stories over and over and over again. It's almost inconceivable for men to understand what it would be like to live without that constant valorization."

On catcalling:



"There are always those who want to tell women that their experiences are not valid or not important whenever they speak up. For me, as a black woman, this is particularly true. Wanting the basic right of feeling comfortable and safe and not sexualized as I walk out of my house is very much worth prioritizing." -artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (read more here)

On success in a contemporary world:

"Success is now lined up with the realm of glamour, money and accoutrement which in essence have nothing to do with an originating vision but they do have to do with establishing recognition in commercial culture. I think women artists have a chance to deflect that and break that grip apart." -performance artist Carolee Schneemann (read more here)

On finding your authentic self:




"I came of age before women's lib, and wanted to buck the stereotypes of a culture that branded me a pretty girl, thin enough to be a fashion model and not much more. Armed with my camera and tripod, I found a way to define myself on my own terms in the most authentic way I could." -photographer Lucy Hilmer (read more here)

On our culture's preoccupation with female body hair:



"I entered making this work with a sense of fascination that hair is both beautiful and repulsive in our culture. The fragile influence of context is its only distinction. We see long hair on a woman as a symbol of beauty and femininity, but as soon as the hair is cut or removed the body, we think of it as unsanitary and strange. Likewise, we seem to never have enough hair in the places we want it, and too much hair in the places that we don't want it to be!" -photographer Rebecca Drolen (read more here)

On definitions of beauty:

"The power to show real women, honest, present, complex and complete. Individuals, radiant in their own right. Not stripped of their personhood, or manipulated for a fantasy or metaphor. I like to think the power of lifting the veil from individuals helps to challenge societies darker fetishes and beliefs, perhaps shatter notions of bigotry and stereotypes... One of my greatest joys is working with women who do not usually dwell in this side of their beauty and yet in the work recognize themselves completely, as they are and magnificent." -painter Victoria Selbach (read more here)

On the realities of trans women:



"[My] series was inspired by my love for the trans women I have met online and my sympathy with the struggles they have being seen as women and people... Trans women are everywhere, but until recently have been marginalized by the invisibility enforced by the intensification of misogynist violence toward them. It is up to cisnormative society to stop questioning their femininity, embrace their beauty, and counter the disadvantages they have just by being themselves." -artist Janet Bruesselbach (read more here)

On gun control laws:



"My hope is that the young men in the 8th Ward and the surrounding neighborhoods are inspired to trade killing for creativity. Through the relationships they've developed they decide they can move past the paradigm of gangsters and guns. Healing in the neighborhood, by the neighborhood." -artist and curator Kirsha Kaechele (read more here)

On the radical nature of the selfie:



"Yes, of course they have the capability of being radical or feminist. Our generation knows the image of the self better then any other generation before, because of our access to cameras, media and sharing. And also, the language of the image is no longer in the hands of specialists. We are all experts in reading images and we know how to control and manipulate the viewer through images." - artist Melanie Bonajo (read more here)

On feminism's potential for future change:



"The Future Feminist point of view has increasingly leaned not towards striving for equal status within a male construct or a male society, but rather to invite a redesign of society based on the principles of a feminine archetype in order to create the hope of a sustainable future for us all." -The Future Feminists (read more here)

On inclusion in the art world:



"I am aware of the fact that in the bigger scheme of things in the art and literary worlds there are still a lot of gaps as far as diversity and representation goes. That is part of my personal inspiration to make art and tell stories and have more representation for women and people of color." -comic artist Yumi Sakugawa (read more here)

On hope

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, March 7 (Reuters) - Three explosions hit the northeastern Nigerian town of Maiduguri on Saturday in the worst attacks there since suspected Islamist militants tried to seize it in January.
There was no immediate official word on casualties. A hospital source said dozens had been killed in the separate explosions and witnesses saw bodies being taken away from different blast sites.
A tricycle rider with a bomb tried to enter a fish market on the Baga road in the west of Maiduguri. The bomb exploded when the tricycle was prevented from going in, Mohammad Ajia, a trader in Baga market, said after fleeing the scene.
A second blast then hit an area known as the Monday market before a car bomb exploded by a bus station near a Department of State Security (DSS) office, according to a civilian member of a joint task force.
"Men from the anti-bomb squad came a few minutes after the blast to comb the scene, then they started evacuating victims. I saw five mangled bodies being put in vehicles," Aliyu Musa, a resident in the area near the DSS office, said.
Near the Monday market, casualties were loaded onto waiting ambulances.
"I have counted five ambulances that have evacuated victims from the scene. Soldiers are shooting in the air and warding off people at the market," Salisu Yaya, a member of a civilian task force, told Reuters from the Monday market area.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, the heartland for the militant Islamist group Boko Haram which has long coveted the city as the capital of an Islamic state they want to carve out of religiously mixed Nigeria.
Suspected Boko Haram militants tried to seize the city at the end of January but were repelled in fighting that killed more than 100 people.
Boko Haram seized territory the size of Belgium last year, which Nigeria's ill-equipped army has struggled to take back, and the group gained worldwide notoriety in April when members kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election on March 28, has been heavily criticized for the failure to crush the insurgents. The vote was postponed for six weeks from Feb. 14 for security reasons.
Since the delay, Chadian troops cooperating with the Nigerians have reclaimed some important towns in Borno. The army has also been able to push the militants out of some territories in neighboring Adamawa and Yobe states. 

MOSCOW (AP) — Two suspects have been detained in the killing a week ago of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the head of Russia's federal security service said Saturday, an announcement received with both skepticism and reserved satisfaction by some of Nemtsov's comrades.

Alexander Bortnikov, in comments shown on state television, said the two suspects were from Russia's North Caucasus region, but gave no details other than their names. He said they were "suspected of carrying out this crime," but it was not clear if either of the suspects was believed to have fired the shots that killed Nemtsov as he and a companion walked over a bridge near the Kremlin on Feb. 27. No charges were immediately announced.

Nemtsov's killing shocked Russia's already beleaguered and marginalized opposition supporters. Suspicion in the opposition is high that the killing was ordered by the Kremlin in retaliation for Nemtsov's adamant criticism of President Vladimir Putin. The 55-year-old was working on a report about Russian military involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

But Russia's top investigative body said it was investigating several possible motives, including that he was killed in an attempt to smear Putin's image. It also said it was looking into possible connections to Islamic extremism and Nemtsov's personal life.

Many believe that Nemtsov's death in a tightly secured area near the Kremlin wouldn't have been possible without official involvement, and could be an attempt to scare other government foes.

Putin dubbed Nemtsov's killing a "provocation."

One of Nemtsov's closest allies in the opposition, Ilya Yashin, said on Fcebook after the announcement that "It's hard to judge whether these are the real performers of if the investigation went down a false track."

In any case, he said, "it's extremely important that the matter not be limited to detention of the shooters, whether these are the real killers or not. The key task is the identification and detention of who ordered" the attack.

"For the time being, it's very skimpy information, which tells us little, but it's good that the first results of the investigation has appeared," another opposition leader, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, was quoted as telling the news agency Interfax.

In some previous killings of Kremlin critics, especially the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, there has been wide criticism that those who ordered the killing have not been identified or prosecuted.

The North Caucasus region from which the suspects reportedly come includes Chechnya, where two separtatist rebels fought two wars against Russian forces over the past two decades and which now is in under the tight control of Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov has been widely criticized for brutality against opponents, including summary executions and abductions, and is a vehement defender of Putin. He blamed Western security services for Nemtsov's killing.

The suspects were identified as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev. No further information was given about them, but opposition figures unearthed a statement from the Chechen government from 2010 in which a Zaur Dadaev was among the police troops awarded medals.

Kremlin critics say the spiteful nationalist propaganda on state television, which cast Nemtsov and other liberals as Western stooges, helped prepare the ground for his killing.

"The atmosphere of mad aggression created by the state television ... has signaled that you could do anything to the people expressing a different view, this will benefit the Motherland," Dmitry Muratov, the editor of the Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the Kremlin, told the AP on Friday.

Nemtsov was walking with a young Ukrainian woman, Anna Duritskaya, when he was shot. The woman has returned to Ukraine after questioning by police and the state news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday quoted her lawyer Vadim Prokhorov as saying she has not been called back to Russia for testimony in connection with the detentions.

Grieving and bewildered, the relatives of Antonio Zambrano Montes gathered Friday in western Mexico and prayed over his body 3 1/2 weeks after he was shot dead by police in Washington state.

Zambrano is one of three unarmed Mexican nationals killed by police in the United States in less than a month, enraging the Latino community there and the government and fellow Mexicans here. Where similar shootings of unarmed black men have galvanized an angry public and brought federal scrutiny, the killings of the Mexicans have attracted less attention.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A masked gunman sprayed bullets in a restaurant popular with foreigners in Mali's capital early Saturday, killing five people including a French person and a Belgian national, officials and witnesses said.

Nine people were wounded including two experts at the U.N. mission, said the U.N. stabilization mission in Mali in a statement. The Swiss Defense Ministry said the two were Swiss soldiers. "I saw a masked person with a great weapon like a machine gun go up the stairs to the bar and at first I thought it was a joke, but a few second later, I heard a first shot. People started shouting and then came a burst of gunfire. It was then that I realized it was serious. I hid," said Ibrahim Coulibaly, a survivor.

"Then the hooded man came down the stairs, past the bar, and he saw the Belgian citizen who was getting into his car and he shot him," said Coulibaly. "And then the attacker got in a car and left. He did not talk to anyone, he said nothing."

Another witness, Hamadou Dolo, said he saw two gunmen run out of the establishment and jump into a car driven by an accomplice.

Mali's president and prime minister visited the scene and called it "a criminal and terrorist act." A government statement said an investigation has been opened and pledged to bring the perpetrators to book.

France and Belgium condemned the attack at La Terrasse, the restaurant and bar in Bamako, and their foreign ministers confirmed the deaths of their nationals.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders denounced a "cowardly act of terror." French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the Frenchman killed was 31 years old. Fabius said "everything must be done to find those responsible for this crime."

The Belgian killed was security officer for the European Union, said EU president Donald Tusk. "The European Union will not be intimidated by terrorism, at home or abroad," said Tusk. "We will remain steadfast in support of Mali and its people."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, currently visiting France, expressed his revolt after the nightclub attack. Kerry called the attack was an act of cowardice. "In the end, that only strengthens our resolve to fight terrorism in all of its forms wherever it exists." Kerry said such acts don't intimidate but have the "exact opposite effect."

Two people who were at the scene were questioned to determine what happened, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

Mali police investigators and French and U.N. police officers visited the scene Saturday.

La Terrasse is in Bamako's Hippodrome neighborhood where many expatriates live is a restaurant, bar and nightclub popular on a Friday night for salsa dancing.

French President Francois Hollande's office said security had immediately been tightened around French facilities. A statement from his office said the French embassy has set up a crisis cell to help expatriates in Bamako.

Hollande spoke with Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to show his support on Saturday. Hollande and the Malian president "decided on common measures to strengthen security in Mali," a statement from the French president's office said without elaborating on measures. They also looked at ways to cooperate in the investigation.

France immediately opened a judicial inquiry, a standard procedure when a citizen is killed which allows French officials to carry out a parallel investigation, according to a judicial official in Paris who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak on the matter.

French forces led a military operation in early 2013 that largely expelled al-Qaida-linked extremists from a vast area they had controlled in northeastern Mali. The military operation in that region continues, and sporadic combat and clashes take place there. Violence has been rare in Bamako despite the continued upheaval in the north.

___

By law, Poland must spend at least 1.95 percent of its GDP on its military. That's just a shade under the 2 percent that NATO asks its members to devote. Aside from Estonia, however, Poland is way ahead of the rest of the region in military spending. And when President Barack Obama visited Poland in June 2014, Poland committed to upping its allocation to 2 percent, with an expectation that it will rise to 2.5 percent in 2015. The situation in Ukraine - a divided country, with Russia backing separatists in the East - is fueling security concerns in Poland and the Baltic countries in particular.

Even before the Ukraine crisis broke, however, Poland stood out in the region for its commitment to modernizing its military. "The attitude of Polish politicians is very unique and interesting," Marcin Piotrowski, of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), told me in an interview in August 2013. "They usually are counting every zloty when it comes to other issues. But with the modernization there was and there is a consensus."

This consensus was strengthened by the short war between Russia and Georgia in 2008. That conflict was a wake-up call for many Poles that the security situation to their east remained unstable. "Poland was one of the leading forces pushing to change some assumptions within the new NATO strategy concept, which was approved at the Lisbon summit," Piotrowski pointed out. "We actively lobbied for emphasizing contingency planning in NATO and preparing for the worst-case scenario. Georgia, of course, was a main factor here."

Although the acute concerns generated by the Georgia crisis subsided, Poland remained committed to a substantial military modernization. "Compared to the situation after Georgia, and the reactions of politicians and the public at that time, we are much more confident about ourselves," he continued. "We might not be satisfied with all the aspects of the relationship with whole NATO. But we're satisfied with bilateral military relations with the United States."

Piotrowski dismissed concerns that Russia finds Polish modernization a threat. "It's probably not so much irritating for Russians," he explained. "They have some obsolete equipment. And we clearly have obsolete air defense systems - delivered during the Warsaw Pact period - so we must change this military equipment. Probably if the Georgians or the Azeris would start this kind of investment, we would see a strong Russian reaction. Also they recognize that since 1999 Poland is a serious member of NATO. Russia may recognize that Poland, like Turkey, must take this aspect of military security very seriously because of our specific geographic position."

Polish attitudes toward NATO missions have been divergent. There was initial support for the war in Iraq, but considerably less for the war in Afghanistan. In 2009, more than three-quarters of Poles wanted their troops withdrawn. "In Poland, even when we lost 30 soldiers in Iraq, this war was not so controversial in public opinion," Piotrowsky pointed out. "In Afghanistan, since the time when we increased our troops in 2007, public opinion has been largely negative. It became even more skeptical with the Obama policy and the surge. And now we have 41 soldiers who died in Afghanistan."

Still, he concluded that the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan were useful for the Polish military. "We have through the experiences of these expeditionary missions gained a certain amount of capital," he pointed out. "Even if we could imagine a worst-case scenario of military crisis in East-Central Europe, this kind of interoperability, getting to know American soldiers, and working under real combat conditions has been very useful for the military.

We talked about Polish-Russian relations, the shift in emphasis in Polish foreign policy toward Brussels, and the role of Polish peacekeeping.

The Interview

All the other countries in NATO are cutting their military budgets. Washington is trying to encourage its allies to increase spending, but they are ignoring Washington. NATO talks about "smart defense," but that seems like putting the best face on these cuts. Some of this is the financial crisis, but the trend began before then. How long can Poland buck this trend?

The attitude of Polish politicians is very unique and interesting. They usually are counting every zloty when it comes to other issues. But with the modernization there was and there is a consensus. In the Polish media, these national security issues are not prime time or on the front page of newspapers. We have a lot of portals, websites, blogs, and expert trade journals, and that's the place where the experts and politicians exchange opinions. But up to now national security issues are not a major topic in the mainstream media.

This wide consensus is a positive surprise for me. These expensive plans and this high level of military spending have support in the Seym and among the mainstream political parties. That's why the government has had the luxury to think in the long term about these investments into weapons and equipment. There's no panic, like we saw after 2008, but politicians are taking seriously this worst-case scenario. We have no interest in taking Minsk or Kaliningrad. Also, people who are in charge of this defense reform know more about the intentions and capabilities of Moscow.

The main investments should be in air defense. And that's an interesting topic: the competition between offers to sell us air and ballistic defense systems. Still, we have this luxury of a separate bill approved last year along with a decree by the president supporting long-term plan for military modernization. If our economy will still be in good shape, if there are no radical changes in the political landscape, which is of low probability, I am sure these plans will go smoothly.

Korea has been boosting its indigenous military manufacturing capacity to substitute for traditional imports, particularly from the United States. Has that been a debate here in Poland as well, to create an indigenous capacity?

We inherited a quite a big defense industry after the Communist period. It's clear that we cannot produce or design some types of weapons. For instance, when I was going to Washington, there was a contract with a Finnish company for armored vehicles for Polish land forces. Now we are producing these vehicles for export. The Finnish company sold us a license for this model. Now their factories can't produce it while our factories can. And we're selling them to different markets.

Americans provide licenses to allies - for tanks, for instance - for national security purposes. It usually doesn't make sense commercially. Why would the Finnish company undercut its own market by giving Poland the license?

Probably they didn't expect to undercut their own production. It's an irony.
Especially in our trade journals, there are clear concerns about lobbying from military industry companies. But it's also obvious, especially for politicians from districts where the factories are located, that this kind of equipment, like air defense or ballistic missile defense, is above our technical knowhow. One aspect of future contracts will be technical cooperation and production of some parts of this system in Poland.

Let's turn to Afghanistan. I don't remember where we are with Polish contributions.

We are still one of the biggest contributors - at least from Central Europe. We have 1,300-1,500 soldiers in Afghanistan. They moved to one or two bases in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan. Like many other NATO forces, they are focused on advising and supporting Afghan national forces. We had almost 3,000 soldiers in Afghanistan during the surge of 2010-2011. As I mentioned, I was responsible for the greater Middle East when I was in Washington, and I focused then on the American debates over Iraq and Afghanistan. There was an interesting paradox toward the two conflicts in Polish public opinion but also among political elites. Without conducting some sociological research or public opinion polls, I couldn't really understand why public opinion supported for such a long time the engagement in Iraq, which was criticized so strongly for instance in the United States. And yet, since the beginning, Poles always were skeptical or criticized the increased presence in Afghanistan. This would be a good topic for a political scientist or social scientist to explain this paradox in details.

In Poland, even when we lost 30 soldiers in Iraq, this war was not so controversial in public opinion. In Afghanistan, since the time when we increased our troops in 2007, public opinion has been largely negative. It became even more skeptical with the Obama policy and the surge. And now we have 41 soldiers who died in Afghanistan.

Does it have something to do with the somewhat comparable nature of the regime change in Eastern Europe and Iraq?