Poland is right to be worried. There have been 35 wars between the Poles and the Russians in recorded history. 5 more than there have been between Britain and France. Poland is right in the way of Russia’s expansion plan, and Poland knows they can’t count on Russian restraint or Western guarantees (cough, World War 2). They need to be able to fight off Russia alone. And by god, they will throw whatever they have to at it to maintain their independence
Statement:
Poland, as a nation that in living memory was a puppet state of the Soviet Union, and one that is now a member of NATO but also immediately adjacent to the Russian sphere of influence is preparing for a physical conflict with their expansionist neighbour. Seeing what has happened to Ukraine over the past number of years, and hosting a sizable number of displaced Ukrainians, there is a renewed sense of urgency to preserve their sovereignty in the face of an aggressive neighbour. To this end, there has been a higher-than-average amount of military spending and recruitment in the nation, and also initiatives to broaden strategic alliances in the region.
Some key parts of this profile:
>This year, the country will spend nearly 5% of its gross domestic product on defense — more than any other NATO member, including the United States. As President Trump tries to end the war in Ukraine, Poland is doing all it can to prevent another Russian invasion. As a neighbor of Ukraine and host to more than 2 million of its war refugees, Poland has seen, heard and felt what Russia is capable of, and it is now preparing for the worst.
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>Poland also shares a 500-mile border with Russia and Kremlin ally Belarus, and it is not only building up defenses there. This year, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on all Polish men to begin military training, announcing to parliament in March that by the end of this year, the aim is for every adult male in the country to be trained in the event of war.
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>…
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>Poland recently announced it was withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, a 1997 international treaty banning the use of land mines.
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>Misiarz points to an undulating strip of land about as wide as a football field. “What we’re seeing here,” Misiarz says, “is what much of the 500-mile-long border between us and Russia and Belarus will someday look like: a very long ditch, columns of concrete hedgehogs, and land mine fields. This is going to be a lot of work.”
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>Poland has set aside more than $2 billion to build this border barrier, and its treasury is buying up land from farmers along both the Russian and Belarusian borders for this new initiative.
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>But that’s not all the action happening along this tense border. Hundreds of miles east along another stretch of the same border, U.S. soldiers conduct training exercises, setting off a live explosive before surveying the scene.
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>”We have developed a strategy to counter any kind of mass land grab or mass land invasion or incursion that would occur,” says U.S. Army Lt. Col. William Branch, commander of the forward land forces multinational group Poland, a group of 1,000 U.S. soldiers at the Bemowo Piskie training area in northeastern Poland.
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>Branch’s troops help defend NATO’s eastern front, along a stretch of land known as the Suwalki gap, a narrow corridor of borderland between Poland and Lithuania where Kaliningrad and Belarus are closest to one another. Military strategists say it is a region Russia would likely target if it were to attack NATO member states.
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>…
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>But Marszalkowski says the challenge now is figuring out President Trump — and whether the United States would defend Poland if Russia attacked. Marszalkowski says Poland’s government has handled this question in vague diplomatic terms, but its actions, he says, show that it’s beginning to look elsewhere for help.
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>”The Polish government sees hope in France, which has an extensive nuclear arsenal and the terms under which it can use these weapons are different from Britain’s, which require American consent before they deploy them,” Marszalkowski says. “So from a security perspective, France is the safer option from where to seek assistance.”
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>In the next few months, he says, Poland and France will sign big strategic deals on security cooperation that may include Poland’s purchase of French air tankers, submarines and weaponry, and may also include an agreement that Poland will now be inside France’s protective nuclear umbrella.
We can hope that these potential points of conflict in the region do not erupt into something larger, but given the recent history of Russia and its leadership, this is not guaranteed. With the current American government in place, it is an open question as to how much help they might receive from the US in the face of Russian aggression even if they are, on paper, members of the same alliance.
Is Russia really that stupid to invade Poland and NATO? Ukraine turned out to be a horrible idea, but Poland?
Ok reddit
Why target Poland?
The Baltics are much smaller and harder to reinforce. Poland would just be another Ukraine, whereas the Baltics, if WW3 isn’t triggered, would actually have the potential to be a short and victorious war for Russia.
7 comments
Hopefully there is no war.
Poland is right to be worried. There have been 35 wars between the Poles and the Russians in recorded history. 5 more than there have been between Britain and France. Poland is right in the way of Russia’s expansion plan, and Poland knows they can’t count on Russian restraint or Western guarantees (cough, World War 2). They need to be able to fight off Russia alone. And by god, they will throw whatever they have to at it to maintain their independence
Statement:
Poland, as a nation that in living memory was a puppet state of the Soviet Union, and one that is now a member of NATO but also immediately adjacent to the Russian sphere of influence is preparing for a physical conflict with their expansionist neighbour. Seeing what has happened to Ukraine over the past number of years, and hosting a sizable number of displaced Ukrainians, there is a renewed sense of urgency to preserve their sovereignty in the face of an aggressive neighbour. To this end, there has been a higher-than-average amount of military spending and recruitment in the nation, and also initiatives to broaden strategic alliances in the region.
Some key parts of this profile:
>This year, the country will spend nearly 5% of its gross domestic product on defense — more than any other NATO member, including the United States. As President Trump tries to end the war in Ukraine, Poland is doing all it can to prevent another Russian invasion. As a neighbor of Ukraine and host to more than 2 million of its war refugees, Poland has seen, heard and felt what Russia is capable of, and it is now preparing for the worst.
>
>Poland also shares a 500-mile border with Russia and Kremlin ally Belarus, and it is not only building up defenses there. This year, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on all Polish men to begin military training, announcing to parliament in March that by the end of this year, the aim is for every adult male in the country to be trained in the event of war.
>
>…
>
>Poland recently announced it was withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, a 1997 international treaty banning the use of land mines.
>
>Misiarz points to an undulating strip of land about as wide as a football field. “What we’re seeing here,” Misiarz says, “is what much of the 500-mile-long border between us and Russia and Belarus will someday look like: a very long ditch, columns of concrete hedgehogs, and land mine fields. This is going to be a lot of work.”
>
>Poland has set aside more than $2 billion to build this border barrier, and its treasury is buying up land from farmers along both the Russian and Belarusian borders for this new initiative.
>
>But that’s not all the action happening along this tense border. Hundreds of miles east along another stretch of the same border, U.S. soldiers conduct training exercises, setting off a live explosive before surveying the scene.
>
>”We have developed a strategy to counter any kind of mass land grab or mass land invasion or incursion that would occur,” says U.S. Army Lt. Col. William Branch, commander of the forward land forces multinational group Poland, a group of 1,000 U.S. soldiers at the Bemowo Piskie training area in northeastern Poland.
>
>Branch’s troops help defend NATO’s eastern front, along a stretch of land known as the Suwalki gap, a narrow corridor of borderland between Poland and Lithuania where Kaliningrad and Belarus are closest to one another. Military strategists say it is a region Russia would likely target if it were to attack NATO member states.
>
>…
>
>But Marszalkowski says the challenge now is figuring out President Trump — and whether the United States would defend Poland if Russia attacked. Marszalkowski says Poland’s government has handled this question in vague diplomatic terms, but its actions, he says, show that it’s beginning to look elsewhere for help.
>
>”The Polish government sees hope in France, which has an extensive nuclear arsenal and the terms under which it can use these weapons are different from Britain’s, which require American consent before they deploy them,” Marszalkowski says. “So from a security perspective, France is the safer option from where to seek assistance.”
>
>In the next few months, he says, Poland and France will sign big strategic deals on security cooperation that may include Poland’s purchase of French air tankers, submarines and weaponry, and may also include an agreement that Poland will now be inside France’s protective nuclear umbrella.
We can hope that these potential points of conflict in the region do not erupt into something larger, but given the recent history of Russia and its leadership, this is not guaranteed. With the current American government in place, it is an open question as to how much help they might receive from the US in the face of Russian aggression even if they are, on paper, members of the same alliance.
Is Russia really that stupid to invade Poland and NATO? Ukraine turned out to be a horrible idea, but Poland?
Ok reddit
Why target Poland?
The Baltics are much smaller and harder to reinforce. Poland would just be another Ukraine, whereas the Baltics, if WW3 isn’t triggered, would actually have the potential to be a short and victorious war for Russia.
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