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September 30, 2008

Francisco J. Ruiz, Spanish CESEDEN, Gold Contributor (84)

There has been a Polish-Lithuanian alliance in place for centuries, as well as both are Catholic nations and even were unified as a single country in 1386 under the Jagellon dynasty.

Their rivalry with imperial Russia has also been a constant for centuries. Even Moscow was occupied in 1610 by them, and later the expansion of Russia to the west during the reign of Catherine II "the Great" was made at expenses of the Polish-Lithuanian possessions.

Obviously, the existence of the Soviet Union and the 20th Century history did nothing good to improve the tri-lateral relation, but now we are in the 21st, the USSR has disappeared almost two decades ago, and Poland and Lithuania are full members of the European Union, so they shouldn’t be playing the “revenge and resentment” card against Russia, specially in the continental framework.

Of course, the US has tried to take advantage of the different perspectives inside the Union related to several aspects in the security realm, being the most famous the division in the “old” and “new” Europe made by Donald Rumsfield in 2003. The outcome is the lack of a single voice for Europe, but not due to the Western European postures, but due to the already mentioned resentment of some Eastern countries.

As a resume, if you become member of a club, and especially if that represent a huge amount of money for your poor countries’ development, you have to accept the opinion of the majority, and if you feel more comfortable dealing with the US, to create a new association with the Americans. In that way a two-speeds Europe wouldn’t be necessary, and we could relation with Russia without paying attention to old hates.

October 2, 2008

Marek Swierczynski, journalist at TVP, Platinum Contributor (801)

By launching an aggressive anti-Russian campaign Poland found itself on the fringe of the EU and lacks the power the US should seek to improve its perception in Europe. Poland did not manage to get on board any of the big EU countries and relies on the alliance of post-Soviet Bloc countries with deep resentment towards Moscow. Not even all former communist countries share Poland's view on Russia - take the Czech Republic as example. So the Polish-Lithuanian tandem has very limited impact in the EU and has been already dubbed as "neurotic" in its anti-Russian approach. It can offer the US some short-term advantages - like the MD third site - but is unable to promote any serious plan across the whole EU. Poland is at odds with too many issues inside the EU, has probably lost a lot of its "eastern expertise" in the recent years and given the overall mood in the Western Europe the radicalism towards Russia is by far not enough to rally the rest of the continent.

October 22, 2008

Victor Kaminin

Bizarre Anti-Russian policies have made Poland look ridiculous. They also pushed Polish-Russian relationships back to the medieval times.

It was amazing to see how the US, instead of bringing countries together (is this what a real democracy would do?), jumped on the opportunity and promoted division within Europe.

October 22, 2008

Victor Kaminin

The entire idea of this article is just plain wrong. Poland and Lithuania should promote Polish, Lithuanian, and all European interests, not American. Apparently, some need Russia (or whoever) as a foe and ready to create an enemy, if necessary.

This is old thinking. I guess, the world will have to wait until you retire guys. With a bit of luck, new younger generation will see a Big Europe united, both economically and in spirit.