{"id":2096,"date":"2026-06-17T09:29:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/2096\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:29:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:29:20","slug":"poland-is-the-nato-ally-america-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/2096\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland is the NATO ally America needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States<\/a> isn\u2019t retreating from Europe<\/a> into isolation, as some critics of the Trump administration claim. It is advancing in a different direction, and it is beginning where it should, by backing Poland<\/a> as an important U.S. ally.<\/p>\n

On June 12, the administration announced a new $4 billion loan to Poland through its foreign military financing program. Undersecretary of State Thomas DiNanno told the Polish Press Agency that the U.S. would provide funds for arms purchases, raising the total military credit available to Poland to $20 billion.<\/p>\n

The same day, Poland\u2019s first F-35 fighter jets made their inaugural flight across the country. Poland is the first Eastern NATO<\/a> member to receive the planes. Their flight, along with the hefty credit increase, underscores a new national security reality.<\/p>\n

America is betting big on Poland, and for good reason.<\/p>\n

In May, the Department of War announced that it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany<\/a>. The move led some commentators to speculate that the U.S. was \u201cabandoning\u201d Europe, and perhaps even retreating into isolationism.<\/p>\n

Neither claim is true.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has adopted the age-old wisdom that it is best to help those who help themselves. This is both common sense and sound strategy.<\/p>\n

The Department of War\u2019s 2026 National Defense Strategy prioritized allied burden-sharing as one of its \u201cfour lines of effort\u201d and called for greater cooperation and engagement with \u201cmodel allies.\u201d Poland qualifies.<\/p>\n

The decision to increase aid to Warsaw is an example of that strategy being implemented.<\/p>\n

Poland has the highest relative defense spending of any NATO ally, devoting 4.7% of gross domestic product to its military. In June 2025, the Trump administration pushed NATO allies to spend 5% of their GDP on defense by 2035.<\/p>\n

Even before that, Poland was on track to meet the goal. Unlike some other allies, Poland does not need to be told to take its defense seriously.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s long history of partition and the horrors it suffered in the 20th century under both Nazi and Soviet communist occupation have left it with a searing memory of what it is to be at the mercy of foreign despots with imperial ambitions. Poland\u2019s border with Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia ensures those memories remain alive.<\/p>\n

Among its proofs as a capable and trusted ally is Poland\u2019s intelligence services. They are well regarded, and the country\u2019s special forces unit, GROM, is amongst the best in the world.<\/p>\n

The U.S. faces unprecedented threats from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, all of them revisionist powers that want to end the U.S.-led international order. America cannot confront and deter them without allies willing and able to step up and take more responsibility for their own security.<\/p>\n

Some NATO members consistently resist U.S. pressure to get them to be serious nations and shoulder more of the defense burden.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez has outright refused, calling any increases \u201cunreasonable.\u201d Canada\u2019s defense spending has hovered between 1.29% and 1.4% of GDP, making it one of the lowest spenders in NATO.<\/p>\n

In March, creative accounting got Ottawa to 2%, but only because Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s government counted its coast guard, veterans\u2019 pensions, and related administrative costs as part of NATO\u2019s operational requirements.<\/p>\n

The United Kingdom, which was America\u2019s most trusted ally during the 20th century, is now a shameful laggard. On June 11, Defense Minister John Healey resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s government over its failure to fund the country\u2019s military to a level at which it can be regarded as a credible defense force.<\/p>\n

These failures did not happen overnight.<\/p>\n

ENDING LA\u2019S HOMELESS INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX<\/a><\/p>\n

In his 2011 farewell speech, U.S. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates warned of a \u201cdim, if not dismal future\u201d for NATO if its members did not increase spending. A decade and a half later, many still have not done so, even after Russia invaded Ukraine twice.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s defense posture is changing to face new threats, and its allies will have to change with it. Increased aid to Poland sends the right message to friend and foe alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States isn\u2019t retreating from Europe into isolation, as some critics of the Trump administration claim. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[60,1787,47,151,1775,32,9,7,197],"class_list":["post-2096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-defense","tag-editorials","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-gdp","tag-germany","tag-national-security","tag-nato","tag-poland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}