BY MICHAL KRUPA
Voices of reason about the current war in Ukraine and Warsaw’s fundamental policy towards the conflict are still a rare thing in Poland these days. Dissidents who point out that the government’s radical anti-Russian and pro-Ukrainian stance in fact has jeopardized Polish national security, made the country weaker and effectively subordinated the foreign and defense policies of Warsaw to foreign capitals and entities, are still in the minority. It is thus especially heartening to see serious scholars publicly coming out with fact based criticism of an approach that Polish public opinion seems to clearly be moving away from.
Professor Stanisław Bieleń, eminent University of Warsaw scholar of internationals relations, is a case in point. Bieleń can rightly be considered Poland’s leading voice of foreign policy realism in the academic world. His research is focused on Polish Eastern policy, i.e. regarding the nations of the former Soviet Union, especially Russia.
Much of what comes out of Poland currently from official channels is usually nothing else than a repetition of Washington talking points, such as President Andrzej Duda’s recent blunt admission to The Washington Post that “right now, Russian imperialism can be stopped cheaply, because American soldiers are not dying.” Seems some lives are worth more than others. In this light it is especially crucial to give Western audiences a feel for what a serious Polish scholar has to say on the matter.
In recent days, Bieleń has penned an article for the conservative weekly Myśl Polska, about what he calls, Polish “imperial obsessions”. Bielen’s observations should be considered a foundational diagnosis of the hubris of the vast majority of the Polish medial and political elites, which became more severe after February 24 2022.
After giving a theoretical and historical overview of the phenomenon of empire, as manifested in different national forms, Bieleń states: “Telling Poland that in the context being Ukraine’s most generous protector, it has become a mighty power in the Eastern European region, is nothing more than being harnessed to the chariot of US hegemonic policy. America has taken advantage of Russia’s weakness and found new spaces for imperialist expansion in post-Soviet areas. It needs several obedient states to pursue its strategic interests. Poland, still stuck in a satellite mentality, hostile to Russia, sniffing out treachery and threats from everywhere, lined with fear, has become the perfect executor of instructions coming from overseas.”
Every single sentence from the above quote is considered anathema in official circles. But Bieleń has been consistent in criticizing the strategy of subordination on the part of Warsaw. Already in 2004, in the context of entering the European Union, he observed: “Having Russia as a close neighbor, Poland has become entangled in the correlation of anti-Russian sentiment with the U.S. policy of containing Russian influence in the post-Soviet space. As a result, instead of taking care of repairing Polish-Russian relations, the Polish authorities practice a policy full of hypocrisy: they stigmatize any signs of Russian power projection across the Eastern border, while at the same time displaying sequacious respect for the imperial actions of the United States.”
The subject of Polish subordination to the whims of Washington has been a recurring theme in Polish politics after the collapse of Communism. Suffice to say that such luminaries of public life as the late Jan Nowak-Jeziorański or Radosław Sikorski, former foreign minister and husband of Ann Applebaum, have publicly and privately displayed their loathing of the seemingly inherent Polish incapability of saying “no” to Washington. However, in the current pre-election context, the government treats similar sentiments as either amounting to treachery or manifestations of Russian subservience, as seen in a recent campaign clip suggesting that the equally anti-Russian main opposition party led by Donald Tusk is somehow doing the Kremlin’s bidding.
According to Bieleń, Poland needs to come to terms with its actual status in the European theater of geopolitics. As he notes: “[Poland] is not present in the historical memory of the European powers. This is primarily because Poland did not exist as an independent state throughout the 19th century when imperial hierarchies were being established in Europe. This may sound painful, but Western Europe, along with Russia, not to mention America, is not accustomed to Polish leadership aspirations, and even less to superpower aspirations.” Hence, no matter how much Warsaw tries to persuade itself that it has regained some sort of semi-imperial status in Eastern Europe as a bulwark against Russia, this delusion “exposes Poland to the highest risks” and Warsaw’s position as an willing outpost of Anglo-Saxon interests “makes the area of our country the first object of destruction in case of war”.
Bieleń expands then on the true potential of Poland in the current geopolitical turbulence surrounding Ukraine: “Poland does not currently have any ‘imperialist’ potential. It is spatially limited in its expansion capabilities due to the geopolitics of larger than it and stronger states. On its own, it does not have the strength and resources to pursue a dynamic policy of clustering around it. The exuberant aspirations and political will of those in power are not enough. Especially since the Polish political scene is ‘anemic’ when it comes to conceptualizing international roles. It lacks a universalist ideological message”.
Simply put, between Western neoliberalism and Eastern traditionalism, Poland has nothing exceptional to offer nations that would seek a “third way” in Central Europe. Rabid Russophobia, closely tied to priority objectives of the United States, is not an especially attractive organizing principle to a growing number of nations.
Bieleń’s recommendations in this regard are at the same time simple and yet, mindful of the Polish cultural hostility to Russia, a seemingly a Sisyphean task. But one should not lose hope. In the context of the 2025 presidential elections, an opportunity will arise on the Vistula to “consolidate the political scene in terms of a coherent debate on the differences of interests and threats from the Ukrainian neighbor”. However, Bieleń posits that this much needed national debate “must not be gagged by the threat of imperial Russia, as this is irrational and detrimental”. The sooner Warsaw rids itself of imperial obsessions with Russia and unrealistic leadership pretensions, the more effectively it will be able to defend its – not imperial Washington’s – existential interests in the region.
With tensions brewing between Warsaw and Kiev in the recent weeks, Warsaw would do well to heed the advice of serious scholars, such as Bieleń, whose policy recommendations are not only correct and but long overdue.
Michal Krupa
Michał Krupa is a historian and commentator based in Poland. His work has appeared in Polish and American outlets. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation on the intersection between American paleoconservatism and foreign policy at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. His X handle is: @MGKrupa
This Krupa is an excellent writer, thank you.
Ok, a Pole lived next to a Russian. One day a good fairy came by and knocked on his door. The fairy said, “I’m going to give you a gift, whatever you wish for, however, I’m going to give your neighbor double what I give you. Just so you know.” The Pole said, “Put out one of my eyes.”
Jesus, enough with 1939, 1945 debates. Focus on the relevant. Focus on today.
Poles can not.
Any nation’s founding myth is “golden age” followed by a catastrophe need to be undone.
Poland lives in 17th century, when they captured Minsk, captured Moscow, almost achieving their goal of becoming the one Slavic power, but overstretched themselves and collapsed.
Hitler, Pilsudsky – those are only surface. Essence, deep and overarching, is “Vshodny Kresy”, overcoming the “catastrophe” and returning to rightful ownership of all Slavic capitals, like they almost did in their “golden age”.
They still claim, for example, that Russian tzars had given – and betrayed – vassalage oath to Polish kings.
And you say, go away from 1945…
True. People in The West have problems grasping all the hate of Poles towards Russia. Poles want to be great empire, and conquer Moscow again. They hate Russians because of not going along wiht those wishes. Catholicism plays significant role too, because Vatican hates Orthodoxy more than anything.
Poles don’t seem to recall that Britain and France encouraged Poland to play tough with Germany in 1939 because they would join in a war should the Germans attack. Once Germany invaded, they did declare war, but did nothing militarily. In 1945, the Allies screwed them again by giving Poland to Stalin. All explained in this short video “Poland Lost World War II”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOgNHBa_ZPM&t=19s
Wrong.after 1926 Poland was a dictatorship and after 1935 persecuted Jews. It had a weasel Foreign Minister in Col. Josef Beck who lied to Paris and London
FDR manipulated manners through his ambassador in Paris stirring the Poles with whom Hitler wanted to ally against USSR. Hitler admired Pilsudski who died 1935
FDR sidelined his ambassador in London who was very aligned with PM there but FDR pledged support if U.K. offered guarantee to Warsaw
In the 1920s, Ukraine applied for membership at the League of Nations (the predecessor of U.N.), for “protection against Polish atrocities.” The application was denied. Also, to my knowledge, the West, expected Poland that had a rather huge army at the beginning of WWII, to militarily tie Hitler up for months, if not the whole year, but Poland crumbled in just weeks. In 1944, Poland started Warsaw Uprising, but expected Stalin to bail them out, and when he refused to sacrificed Soviets, it produced a mortal feud.
We are having a deja vu – Poland’s “huge army” steaming through the ears and saber rattling. Poland again is biting more than it can chew, and is so conceited , it doesn’t see how again Poland will be used as a pawn by the “heavenly garden,” because whatever Poland thinks of itself, for Borrell & Co, Poland is borderline “jungles,” and the “garden” will expend Poles, just as Ukrainians.
> In 1944, Poland started Warsaw Uprising,
Not Poland but London.
And that Uprising had explicit goal of uprooting communists, as Germans were considered busy retreating from Soviet strikes, and generally sympathetic to “uproot communists” cause.
Even anti-soviet Wikipedia admits 2hat the goal of “Operation Burza” were.
@ Arioch –
Britain used Poland in 1944 and the result – blood bath for Poles. Poland lets Britain to use Poland again now. Do you want to bet on how it all will end again? Poland steps on the same rake over and over again. Just like Poland tried to install on the Russian throne the fake Tsar Dimitry 1 and fake Tsar Dimitry 2. Poland never learns and finds out the hard way.
The BEF and Dunkirk was nothing militarily? An impoverished country living on past glories with an out-dated smallish Army and operational doctrine used to fighting colonial wars with the memory of casualty numbers from a World War at the forefront of its planning (sound familiar to American ears?) that got its arse kicked by the Wehrmacht? yes, but certainly not Nothing. It has to be said that the British Army was not alone in getting its arse kicked by the Wehrmacht until they met the Russian Army, oddly enough in the Ukraine. The French political reliance on the Maginot line was a similar issue, shallow pure defence from fixed positions always doomed to be penetrated, just as it was. Still not nothing. You might consider the RAF destruction of German cities and industry, much latterly joined by the USAF was the best Brits could do in honouring the pre war commitment to support Poland, in trying circumstances. That was certainly something!
Maginot Line was never completed owing to budget cuts.
Lord Gort ordered retreat to Dunkirk once Belgium surrendered leaving British flank exposed. There were two evacuations – from Dunkirk and also from south of Dunkirk since British and French forces had been split by Guderian outrunning his fuel supplies
327,000 men is a lot to rescue and some were Polish troops evacuated by Britain and France from Romania and reformed under Gen. Maczek
By any measure Dunkirk was brilliantly executed and the sacrifice of KRRC as rearguard with instructions not to surrender was heroic as were French soldiers holding the line
France suffered more losses in 1939-40 than US lost in Korea + Vietnam
Stalin lost more troops in 1941 than US lost in entire WW2 through having them too far forward
Not that I would have wanted it to happen but, historically, the fact is Hitler held back Guderian and von Rundstedt for several days otherwise that allied force quite likely would have been completely cut off and encircled. Both Generals were furious. This per David Irving. Another interesting bit of info from Irving is the fact that while the Germans and Poles were initially in negotiations over the Danzig Corridor, the Roosevelt people were whispering in the Poles ear to essentially reject any offers by the Germans. Poland was used as a dummy for the war aims of the US and Britain. One might, fairly I believe, compare it to the situation with Poland today. The US has hollowed out Ukraine in it’s proxy war with Russia, Poland up next?
My understanding is that Hitler got all sentimental about “Britain’s contribution into the history of mankind,” (or maybe hoping for a favor returned) and let the British troops to withdraw from Dunkirk.
> Lord Gort ordered retreat
Who’s the punk? Did he have any standing?
AFAIR military commander in Chief and joint HQ resided in France. And they contemplated flank strike to cut off Hitler’s spearhead against Paris. Good or bad idea, it was military plan of the time.
Then some English celebrity comes out and calls all johnies to desert. And they readily do.
Dunkirk was not “brilliantly executed military operation”, it was world’s largest mass-desertion and military mutiny glorified by complacent media
In August 1939, the franco-anglo-soviet conversations about a 1914-style alliance against Hitler and defense of Poland failed because of Polish opposition. The Polish fascist government thought they could fight off the Wehrmacht and the Red army single-handed and at the same time. This diplomatic failure led directly to the germano-soviet non-agression pact which provided that Germany would take most of Poland and the Soviet Union recover that part which had been Russian before 1917. When Hitler invaded, France and Britain did nothing, and Stalin took his share without a fight. In 1944, as the Red army approached Warsaw, Polish resistance followed the British injunction to launch a premature insurrection against German occupation while asking Stalin to hurry his campaign in order to help install an independant, anti-communist, pro-western and russophobic government in Poland. It didn’t work. The Red army came when it could, set up a pro-soviet government instead, then closed Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor etc. and stopped the massive killings of Poles by the Germans. Stalin then gave Poland a good slice of eastern Germany to Poland in exchange for the contested slice of Poland that he had taken in 1939. As a result, the Poles became friends with the Germans and never pardoned the Russians. As we can see, we Europeans must always take into account, when dealing with the Russians as a politically more or less unified continent under American influence, with Polish realism, adroitness and sense of responsability in foreign affairs.
Poles were not friends with Germans who they murdered in ethnic cleaning 1945
Görlitz was split in half by Oder-Neiße Line and the bridges blown in 1945 were not rebuilt until 1994 by EU
GDR never reconnected the divided town with its socialist brothers in Poland
Walk across that bridge and see his different it is y as by why Poles cross the bridge now to work in Görlitz
”..and the Soviet Union recover that part which had been Russian before 1917.”
A very rare resurrection of the deep-buried Historical Truth!
Let us add :
”…that part, which had been tsarist/soviet/russian, AFTER the December 1919 agreement on the demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union, (Curzon Line), based on a suggestion by Herbert James Paton and proposed by Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curzon_Line ) and BEFORE the March 1921 Treaty of Riga (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Riga).”
”In August 1939, the franco-anglo-soviet conversations about a 1914-style alliance against Hitler and defense of Poland failed because of Polish opposition.”
Another Hidden Truth about 1939 :
”At last, on August 12 (1939), Pravda announced the arrival in Moscow of the British and French Military Missions….
In the evening a banquet was given in honour of the British and French
Military Missions, and all the Soviet top brass were there – …
The visit had been announced more than three weeks before; but the British and French had obviously been in no great hurry to come, having
travelled by slow boat to Leningrad. Needless to say, nobody had ever
heard of Admiral Drax or General Doumene.
…The British Government’s attitude to the Mission was so frivolous that it had not even given them any powers. Only towards the end of the talks, after a lot of insisting by the Soviet side, did Drax produce some sort of credentials, but even these did not allow him to sign any kind of agreement with the USSR. The credentials of the French general were no better. All they had been empowered to do was to conduct negotiations with us.”
The ‘History’ recalls that after the Soviet Government had proposed that
Britain and France send military missions to Moscow, these people ”had
taken eleven days to prepare for their departure, and had taken six more
days to travel by slow cargo-passenger boat to Leningrad and thence to
Moscow”.
”Russia at War 1941-1945” by Alexander Werth – An Avon Book – 1964 – pp. 57,58
For the friends of history :
https://www.amazon.com/Russ…
Yes. This is what I found in my history books, too. The French and the British were unserious in their dealings, the main reason being that Chamberlain as well as Daladier and Reynaud were so afraid of bolchevism that they couldn’t choose between Hitler and Stalin. It took a Churchill and a Roosevelt to make the big jump. Yet, the actual negociations, which did take place, did fail on the topic of Polish agreement to a Russian intervention which would have meant the Red army on Polish soil. The whole narration of the August negociations was published by the Soviets after the war. They are almost hilarious. The Poles didn’t want the Red army coming against the Wehrmacht as a ‘saviour’ of Poland, so they had both coming as ‘friends’. Churchill approved Stalin’s move at the time on geo-strategic grounds (October 1st speech).
By the way, the actual name of the French negociator is ‘DOUMENG’. His papers have been published in France.
Thank you, my dear friend !
Maybe the following could be of some help in your historical studies !
(For me it is too late to search for the truth…)
In a comment of a friend some years ago (I can’ t remember where), I found that the CityOfLondon wanted to force Washington to accept its economic dominance and, thus, nullify 1775, by strangling the already great american economy with tariffs. The American Industrialists decided to fight back and destroy the British Empire through the only then Power able to do so, Germany. In England there were two different opinions, one pro-war and one against the war with Germany. But, essentially, this was the result of the different attitudes of the elites to the Cesil Rhodes Plan, I think. After the H.Hess flight (May 10,1941), Germany was persuaded to attack to the east, instead of invading GB. I think that there is a Congress Resolution on April 27, 1941(?), about Germany and USSR, that USA won’t help the country, which attacks the other first. Americans wanted only GB to be attacked, so that they could enforce their economic policies on her. But it was then, I think, that Truman said, that this was wrong. They should help whichever country was losing, by turns, first one and then the other, so that the war between them could go on indefinitely and bleed them dry. The American Army at that time was almost non existant, I think it was the 18th army of the world. The german attack to the east instead of to the west, forced USA to enter the War through Japan and, finally, to win world dominance in July 1944 at Bretton Woods by making the dollar, and not the british bankor, the international reserve currency. Roosevelt was a prosoviet and antibritishimperialist patriot. He wanted ”America First”. But soon after his death in April 12,1945, Churchill (and others) persuaded Truman through General Eisenhower, (whom Truman admired), and the Roosevelt policy was destroyed and Cold War came in, just after the success of the first explosion of the atomic bomb (July 16, 1945). Then (1940s) it was an Economic Anglo-American War through the arms of Germany. Now it is the Anglo-American Strategic Partnership. The Bankers won ! (Or did they ?)
British Empire Economic Conference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire_Economic_Conference
Imperial Preference
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=1932+ottawa+agreement+on+imperial+preference
The Secret Society: Cecil John Rhodes’s Plan for a New World Order
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=cecil+rhodes+plan
Rhodes wanted to develop a Commonwealth in which all of the British-dominated countries in the empire would be represented in the British Parliament.[58] Rhodes explicitly stipulated in his will that all races should be eligible for the scholarships.[59]
It is said that he wanted to develop an American elite of philosopher-kings who would have the United States rejoin the British Empire.
As Rhodes also respected and admired the Germans and their Kaiser, he allowed German students to be included in the Rhodes scholarships. He believed that eventually the United Kingdom (including Ireland), the US, and Germany together would dominate the world and ensure perpetual peace.
John Mosier and IIRC A.J.P. Taylor : Poland had a good army that lacked armor but had plenty of artillery, mounted infantry plus a new air force to deal with mostly German Pz 1 & 2s. Gamelin was to divert Germany in the West (Siegfried LIne?) so Poland have an advantage but French armor ran into novel anti-tank mines and the Polish air force hesitated and was destroyed on the ground.
Politically, France understood that after 1870 and 1919 that they couldn’t beat Germany without allies so built their Maginot Line and wouldn’t move without Britain which, by then, had largely demobilized. Reconciliation, however, was still out of the question.
Beck had his guaranteees but failed to read between the lines, that they weren’t good ones, although allying with the Entente hegemons must have been impressive.
It’s possible that all Chamberlain had hoped to do was back Poland in negotiations with Hitler whose demands regarding Danzig and the Polish Corridor were entirely reasonable, even generous. At this delicate point, however, Churchill made too much noise about Czechslovkia which, in fact, had been indefensible since the Czechs had thoroughly disaffected the Sudeten Germans along with everyone else in the concession state.
Overall, IMO, all the post WW1 concession states were weak and stuck between Russia and Germany which had become pariahs. Breaking up the Austrian Empire sealed their fates. The Entente had to either placate Germany and Russia or keep the Austrian Empire in a collective security, but the peace commissions were engrossed in resolving dsiputes over spoils which had often been promised to multiple parties.
Have seen some of Mike Krupa’s interviews with Larry, Andrei Martyanov Douglas MacGregor. His English is suprizingly good, for a Canadian (joking), and worth listening to, if a chance come up.
It is good that there is some pushback to the OTAN coup in Poland. How successful it will be to prevent similar fate there as is ongoing in 404, we will see. Wish Poland luck, they need it.
Would be great to see a similar pushback in the Baltcs. Estonia and Latvia, who jail citizens trying to commemorate liberation from the nazis, but celebrate waffen SS veterans parades (just like the celebrations in 404) and generally oppress Russian speakers are now planning to revoke citizenship, stop pensions, and deport Russian speaking grandmothers who failed a language test. Lithuania has already begun last month to deport least 1000 residents not ‘Lithuanian’ enough. At least then haven’t re-opened the Kauen concentration camps, for Russian speakers and those with Russian DNA, yet
Not holding my breath while waiting for pushback in the Baltics …
If only the Poles would reflect on past mistakes, rise above prejudice and recognize that currently they are being used nefariously by Western elites as accomplices against Russia! Should they continue to comply with the US’s aggressive actions, the result will be devastating to them in the long run. They have limited power even with US-Nato backing and Russia will not tolerate their forceful intrusion into Ukraine or Belarus.
How much money do you think Kvartal95 TV politicians received from US for their portfolio investments ?
How much do you think Polish politicians negotiated ?
How much did Tony Blair receive ?
Poland should apply to join BRICS!
PRICS?
Catholicism with too much vodka : an ancient recipe making you forget 10 centuries of past mistakes every time you need :).
Hey – I resemble that remark!
The author gives the impression that Sikorski (who expresses contempt for the unwashed, deplorable Poles) and his rabidly russophobic, jewish neocon wife, Applebaum, are no less than voices of rebels against Poland’s vassal status.
Read their bios in Wikipedia.
“Radosław Sikorski, former foreign minister and husband of Ann Applebaum, have publicly and privately displayed their loathing of the seemingly inherent Polish incapability of saying “no” to Washington.”
They are only kvetching about Poland not getting fair value for services to its john.
With Polish “patriots” like these two Poland is in worse trouble than if it kept servicing its foreign master quietly.
Explain to me how Sikorski fled from Jaruszelski‘s Poland to U.K. and went to Oxford University and joined Bullingdon Club with Boris Johnson
Bullingdon is for sons of rich daddies
Then he became a U.K. Citizen which he revoked later to become a Polish Minister
Who is he ? Relative of Josef Retzinger ?
How did he get to Oxford and Bullingdon ?
That’s obvious: brilliance! His intellect and talent shine so brightly that anywhere he went he found helpful people willing to help him achieve his full potential. What else?
Can’t we all just get along?
No, we can’t.
It’s bad for business.
Krupa is a voice of sanity in the midst of rabid madness.
If we consider the converse scenario, if we could suppose a contrary reality possible, that Poland (and Ukraine) followed the path of national dignity, political independence and international neutrality – at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which was what was expected of all those eastern nations at the time.
We would have had today a Poland (and Ukraine) with excellent relations with all its neighbours – including a more than willing and respectful Russia – free economic relations with Russia, Germany and the rest of the world, a majority of the population still living and working in the country, a healthy political life and a peaceful social environment – simply because the demons of artificial hatred and overweening greed would have laid dormant in the land. Ditto for Ukraine, all round.
What is most noticeable and relevant is that the current quarrels in those parts are entirely artificial in nature. If not for the malignant, poisonous ferment spread upon those lands by a legion of foreign devils and a mafia of domestic fiends, Eastern Europe would have been today a landscape of tranquillity and prosperity – industry and agriculture would have been developed according to domestic needs and capabilities, with affordable energy and an able working force at their disposal.
The entirely deliberate, man-made, unnatural tragedy now unfolding in those parts has required the venom and lies of the infernal host to bring it about.
As a Russian I can very adequately express my opinion of Polish but that would involve lots of profanity. Being a lady I will not use these words but will just say that in Russia the Polish are a laughing stock and the butt of most jokes. They seem to be unable to help themselves being what they are – vain and pathetic, without good judgement, and always been like that, throughout their whole history. Must be something in the soil there. Lack of iodine perhaps?
The real message of the Ukraine war being sent to the old colonial west’s ‘second tier’ (and yes, that includes you, Poland) is that you lot are cannon fodder. Because the old colonial west cannot fight its own wars any more, or has no inclination to (after all, who wants their own territory bombed out), it uses the likes of you. You are dispensable, a meat wagon to be wheeled out and detonated somewhere or other. And don’t worry if your cities are burned to a crisp, western enterprise will rebuild them to be knocked down again at a time of the West’s choosing. This is the story of western operations in the ME. Welcome to their world.
You only need to know the game is over to listen to Macron viz Africa- demanding that France’s tame Africans get on and fight France’s war, and then hear the voices of dissent in Taiwan saying loud and clear that Taiwan does not want to become ‘another Ukraine’.
The time has come for Taiwan to break out of the western protection racket that is ‘protecting’ it, and make the great, long delayed rapprochement with China. Voices in South Korea have been demanding a rethink of their allegiances for some time. Trump was prepared to respect that. Hence the deal he was going to do with NK, bringing NK and SK into harmonious relations, had to be trashed. It would have meant the US withdrawing from SK. So SK remains a sitting duck ready to be turned against NK-China, and would have been already but for NK’s nuclear reach.
If only peace could rest on that. But now the west has started experimenting with the nuclear risk and running it viz Russia, I would advise the SKs to watch their backs.
The collective west is a vicious entity, really a tiny ever shrinking elite with long tentacles that are gradually being cut off. This elite has been insulated from the consequences of its actions for so long it has lost any ability to take ‘consequences’ seriously, but the bottom line is always real hard valuable resources, and the balance of those is squarely in the hands of what is emerging to challenge it. Interesting times.
It seems thatPoland is longin for a good old time spanking. Russia should oblige😜
Poland is more or less in a similar situation as Hungry. But, the latter is making better decisions with respect to its role in Europe. Acting like a hotheaded cheerleader for NATO doesn’t really work out for Warsaw.
The amazing thing in all this is the complete absence of historical perspective with regard to aligning yourself with Washington’s military misadventures. A simple tab of US behavior with its allies when the going gets tough would tell the dumb elites that in those situations the US follows the motto: when the going gets tough the tough get going. Just write down a list, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, broken promises leaving the natives to fend for themselves. Kissinger said it best that being an enemy of the US is dangerous but being a friend is deadly.
I think that Polish Naval special forces blew up the Nordstream II pipeline. I think that they did it at the behest of Washington, and to score points with Biden’s handlers, by proving how useful they are as minions.
The United States® will never have real allies, that are it’s equal, and therefore capable of leaving the alliance, and pursuing their own national interests, apart from those of the U.S. They will only tolerate obedient minions and sycophants, who mouth the correct platitudes about “democracy” and “progress,” while putting Washington and London ahead of their own people and nation.
The Polish government think that they’re the Kingdom of Poland Lithuania reborn. But they’re closer to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, in conception. Just a satellite state. Interestingly, it’s claimed that a plurality of the Polish People want no part of any of this. That they just want to live their lives in peace, and unmolested by the outside world.
Once the U.S. is gone from the world stage, most of the political and economic chaos will stop, or be within reach of a workable solution. And the wars and revolutions will largely stop, too.
I have spent 10 years there. Now all what remains are my flats for rent. The PIS brags about its stance on immigration but its all smoke and mirrors. They slyly managed to open their border to 20 extra european countries including Pakistan in 2022. Warsaw experiences a fast pace multicultural change. Already, Uber driver tales of nightly rapes are common. A new party has emerged, Konfederation. They crawled their way in by opposing lax immigration policy by the PIS and by a neutral positionning on the next door conflict
Lviv, Lvov, Lemberg should say it all:) Dissect the Treaty of Rapallo and the mecurial career of Tadeusz Brzezinski, maybe things clear up.
Mr. Krupa, hope you are correct in presenting Mr. Bielen’ as the vanguard of a new way of thinking among the Polish people. Poland suffered so much in the mid twentieth century, and truth be told, a lot of that suffering derived from misguided policies based on hubris. Rumors of 10K+ Polish KIA in SMO since 4th June are floating around. Why do someone else’s wet work for them? Polish leadership should concentrate on protecting the Polish nation, and Polish state sovereignty and independence. Or you will again be given the choice of speaking either Russian or German. Why go backwards?
I had to skim through this article much like the article I read a few minutes before about the diarrhea guy on an Airbus from Atlanta. More drivel from people who have disproportionate control over the lives of people who are far superior in the common sense arena than they. For the most part I like this blog and I respect the opines and comments but the disconnect from the reality of the volk and the so-called elite is scary. Every time an article written by someone in the beltway of whatever capital appears on here it is freaky ironic how the language moves the reader into feeling how much insignificant vapors rule the day. Almost like climate change!
“right now, Russian imperialism can be stopped CHEAPLY, because American soldiers are not dying.”
400 thounsand, fathers, mothers, wives and children are mourning their dead. Do you have any doubt that Duda was birthed from satan’s anal cavity?
The Poles occupied Western Belarus, and Ukraine, 1920,like a
colonial regime, they banned their
languages, and whipped people
if protests. From that the Polish-Ukrainian conflict, started with the
Bandera’s OUN, 1941 – 1944. They are not that friends today either, as we know, as even in the case of
Lithuania, and the Vilnius city, since
1920. Pilsudski’s plan was: Morza ad Morza, a federation, from the Baltic sea to the Black sea, maybe
still in Polish imaginations.
The Poles made an agreement with
Germany, and Hitler, January, 1934,
that was as sensational then as the German-Russian pact, of 1939, what the west’s MSM never informs,
us about. Then they disappointed their first supporter, since 1918, France.
Poland supported the German re-armament, of the 1930s, and Germany was silent about the Polish oppression in their Eastern
provinces, those Russia recaptured,
1939.
Poland went with Hitler, 1938, and
took back the area of Teschen, by
that supported the German revisionism, and the destruction of
Czechoslovakia, 1938/1939.
The biggest fear of both Russia and Belarus is the expansion of Poland into western Ukraine. I suspect this is an exaggerated fear given the opposition such a policy faces from the ultra-nationalists in Ukraine.
No it is not.
Regardless, the Russians will not allow Western Ukraine to become a staging platform for terrorism to bleed Russia.
The Russians are holding firm their gains from the first SMO.
They have secured the Red Sea and gave the N. Koreans the Topol system. 1.1 megatone warheads traveling at Mach 22.
The Russians have 750k troops in service with 350k in reserve.
The Russian’s goal is 1.2 million mobilized. That is insurance against any NATO suicidal manifestations.
Remember what Putin said once: if you know a fight is inevitable then strike first.
It is concerning to say the least.
What you call concerning, some might call reassuring.
These Europeons have such laughable faith in “NATO” (America). Ultimately all of the supposed guarantees (“oooh, Article Five”) are just words on a piece of paper. If America can ignore its own Constitution – as it has in many ways – it will feel free to ignore any theoretical responsibility to defend countries on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s like tiny Armenia considering ditching its supporter – Russia – to get themselves all mobbed up with Uncle Sam. Then if Russia gives Azerbaijan free rein, the Armenians will waive around some piece of paper that the US signed as if they can fend off the Azerbaijanis with paper. Why are these countries so susceptible to American bullshit? We Americans live in the other side of the planet. We don’t really give a fuck about any of them – Armenians, Poles, Germans. The whole defense pact thing is a joke. We’ll ditch them as soon as we feel it’s in our interest.
Armenians are going to elevate Darwin Award to national level. Poles and Germans at least know that no one is interested in taking their land, and wiping them off the map, except maybe themselves.
In Armenia, as in Georgia they still believe in the “mighty US dollar”. So these cretins are easily bought; as a result both countries have western puppets as “heads of state”.
On the other hand, their population is largely for good relations with Russia, being closest neighbor, not to mention that both Armenia and Georgia have huge diasporas in Russia and lots of common history which goes back centuries. So, very soon we will see some serious internal conflicts in both those countries. Which the West will gaslight and use to the max. As per usual.. but I suspect their puppets, eventually, will be thrown out and replaced with people who will not sell their country for a bag of US $$.
You get a different understanding of the late 1930s if you read up on Britain’s policy. Britain was at undeclared war with the Soviet Union since 1917. British policy aimed at getting Hitler marching east. Czechoslovakia was the country that could have resisted the Nazis, for a while. The Czechs had a defensive line built by the French. Poland was a defensive non entity, no natural barriers. Poland’s only chance was alliance with the Soviets. Relations were poisonous since the 1920 war, which Poland won, & adjusted the border. So when poor Czechoslavakia was torn apart by the euro dogs, it became obvious that Hitler was coming west!
A couple other points; the Brit ruling class wanted to avoid war, they knew another war would ruin Blighty. The French had a near death experience in WW1, & wouldn’t make any decisions that ran counter to London. The Brits & French lost in 1940 because they they moved their best troops into Belgium, to resist the Nazi invasion of Holland. Guderian cut those troops off when he crossed the Meuse. The Maginot line was never completed because the Belgians wanted to sit on the fence. At the time, many called the 30s, ‘the devil’s decade’!
Actually Britain‘s policy was shaped by France and Belgium occupying The Ruhr in 1923 which stimulated Hyperinflation and destroyed Social Democrat Weimar Republic sending it more right thereafter
The behaviour of Czechs and Poles towards Germans living in Moravia and Silesia was akin to Donbass or Latvia. Britain saw a need for rectification especially as Germany had a Minister for Occupied Territories. The British Foreign Minister was Austen Chamberlain who worked with Stresemann and the Locarno Treaty was to stop stunts by France and Belgium. It however undermined the Franco-Polish Treaty 1921
A special European “Interflex” programme with 12 member states providing military training for Ukrainian units, it’s about running in the trenches, and fire, around the corner, (in Norway), what most ordinary recruits find boring, in the sun. They encourage the Ukrainians to be canonfodder, the whole war dumbs Europe down, all over, and how many agents can Russia infiltrate these units with, and military armed foreign men, are always a risky undertaking. The Swedish instructors claiming that they will not search personal relations with this units, because of the personal pain if they fell, in battle.
Everything is shrouded, the bad performance of the national economies
the GDP losses, and the high inflation, many goods about + 20%, the increasing interest rates, when so many have mortgages in their houses,
to the roof and chimney, but all this just came: ” out of the blue”.
The wests media and political defense lines are on the same robust level as the Russian´s fieldworks in Donbass, what they dominate, but the change coming with some inches, every day, just as during the last months of WW2.
The US federal govt is supposed to work for the states, not the other way around.
It’s the contract with liberty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG7UMCobMgU&t=1s
Eventually…the states ..that are controlled by urban liberal legislatures…don’t represent the majority of the rural counties. This is the same in all US states. Reynolds VS Simms needs to be revisited. A republic form of govt…one state senator per county..would balance the powers. The “democratic” form of representation …. with demographic apportioned state senators….. has turned the USA into a communist home land.
This is a welcome analysis but still shy of stating the most uncomfortable truths. And those are that Poland’s ruling elite is totally ignorant of the geopolitical forces at play in the world, the precipitous decline of democracy in America, fraying of social trust and trust in the government, and insane neocon meddling the world over including prominently in Ukraine, that spells disaster for the object countries and mounting self-destruction for the US too. For a socially conservative country like Poland not to recognize that the US’s main international objective is the promotion of LGBTQ+ and that the American military is focused on Pride celebrations, sponsored sex reassignment surgeries for its soldiers, and conjured white supremacy piffle — while neither China nor Russia engage in similar madness– is the very definition of Poland’s deaf, blind, and dumb.
Poland ought to have recognized that it can survive and prosper only by learning to navigate between the two monsters of Scylla and Charybdis rather than let its nurtured phobia of Scylla drive it to seek shelter with Charybdis forgetting that Charybdis too is a monster. And when two predatory fish started biting each other in the murky, dirty waters of Ukraine, Poland ought to have recognized that in that situation one sits on the lakeshore with a fishing rod and fishes for oneself rather than jumping in up to the eyeballs to help the fish that must lose in its fight against the fish that will win , forgetting inter alia that the losing fish will bite its generous helper too.
The greatest tragedy is that Poland did have the chance to ascend to major historical importance by assuming the role of the supporting pillar not of an anti-Russia coalition but of anti-Europe’s-suicide coalition, i.e. the countries of the former Eastern Bloc saved from the horrible brain virus that’s well on its way to destroying the West. That vision has been articulated by Poland’s erstwhile close partner Hungary, for instance in Hungary’s appeal not to African or Asian refugees but to French, German, Scandinavian, etc. refugees from their respective countries demographic and cultural hara-kiri. But Hungary alone is too small to become the trimtab changing the disastrous course of the giant ship of EU-Europe. With Poland as the major partner and Czechia and Slovakia in tow, and the rest of the Intermarium behind them, that could have happened. I described that possibility in the book “The Camp of the Sane and the Camp of the Saints” that unfortunately found no publisher in Poland though it’s been read as far away as Tasmania, Taiwan, and Nigeria. And now, with Poland’s delusional self-hobbling in the Russia-Ukraine war, it’s too late.
Poland’s leaders need an enemy to distract from domestic failures (from joining the euro and subordinating their economic policy to German whims), do not give a rats ass if the US is democratic (as if Brussels pretends to be democratic), and see easy cash (loans for military hardware) from the US (yes for a price – but a price the average polish citizen will pay not the elite). In contrast, they would have to buck the vindictive EU bureaucracy to accept loans from China. Sure, US/Western/IMF cash is a (tasty) poison pill, but the euro approach is kick-the-can, hope the problem goes away, and relocate to Monaco pre-shit storm.
Basically, Poland is acting archetypically as a euro-vassal – like its neighbors. Stupid, as I IMHO Mr. Khinzal will hurt the elite, but neoliberalism says enriching the elite, impoverishing the rest, is optimal.
As always, follow the money.
Yes, basic geopolitics!
A central power must dominate or be dominated, neither of which is easy.
Dominance requires access to sea trade as well as a large army and navy both of which no European Power has ever maintained for long : money!
The Third Way is very studied neutrality; not isolation. Sweden traded war materiale with both sides in WW2 as a guarantee neither would attack. Trading with only one side was America’s path to intervention in both world wars.
The British Isles were free to develop a powerful navy at expense of its army while the continentals France and Germany discovered the cost of trying to do both and the perils of failing. However, Britain couldonly dabble on the continet with allies, it’s destiny inblue water empire against weaker peoples.
Partitioned Poland missed all that and, in fact, so did Ukraine, partitioned between the Russian and Austrian Empires.
The Polish Corridor today is a gift of the Soviets as is the Donbas to Urkaine, however much neither want to admit it.
Even less palatable is that neither Poland nor Ukraine can afford the navy and army necessary to defend their territories without becoming dependant upon such an alliance as would render them vassals themslves which is just what has happened.
Both would enjoy greater automony as neutrals with an efficient diplomatic staff fully cognizant of each issue and its neighbors : willing to takes sides or abjure as required to balance the powers across its territory and interests.