When Eastern Europe Views Russia in Bad Odour -- Donald Trump, Meet Donald Tusk
"We must be aware that Poland must reach for the most modern capabilities also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons.""That is why we are facing a very serious race, and it is a race for security, not an arms race.""[Poland aims for a] new model [for the military to be prepared by the end of the year, ensuring that] every adult male will be trained for war.""We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war, so that this reserve is comparable and adequate to the potential threats.""We’re talking about the need to have an army of half-a-million in Poland, including the reservists."Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
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| Polish soldiers at the first part of the East Shield at the border with Russia, in Dabrowka, Poland, in November. Damian Lemanski / Bloomberg / Getty Images |
Warsaw's government has plans for a record 197 billion zloty ($70 billion) commitment as a defence expenditure this year, representing 4.7 percent of its economic output. Greatly exceeding its spending last year of 3.5 percent. Sharing a border with Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and in view of Russia's muscle-flexing in its territorial expansion aspirations viewed in live explosive colour in Ukraine for the past three years, persuaded Poland to ramp up its armed forces, buying weapons from the United States and South Korea, anxious to upgrade its military resources as well as replacing military equipment it has given to Ukraine.
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| Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Aleksandra Szmigiel / REUTERS |
"Every healthy man should want to train to be able to defend the homeland in case of need.""We will prepare it in such a way that it will not be a burden on people.""[Women would also be able to volunteer, but] war is still, to a greater extent, the domain of men.""Poles will not adopt the philosophy that we are completely powerless and helpless, if President Trump has decided to adjust policy."
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| Tusk underlined this is not a return to conscription, which ended in Poland in 2008. | Omar Marques/Getty Images |
Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, issued a warning that Europe could conceivably face a war with Russia within the next few years. Given Russia's current aggression against Ukraine, nursing Vladimir Putin's fetish for absorbing the huge geographical territory of its neighbour, and the nervous response of Russia's near-abroad in eastern Europe, that assessment can hardly be argued with. Speaking to his parliament in Warsaw, Mr. Tusk stated that Poland is in "serious talks" with France with respect to President Emmanuel Macron's proposal that his country's nuclear capabilities would be used to defend his European allies.
Poland is fast becoming NATO's top spender on defence as a percentage of gross domestic product, resulting from its emergency ramping up of the country's military investment. The country already is certified as having one of the largest standing armies in NATO, and Poland is on track to improve that already impressive standing. A plan was unveiled on Friday to increase the size of the country's armed forces to half a million soldiers. Part of the plan is military training provided to every adult Polish male.
There is, said Mr. Tusk, "no doubt" that Moscow is rearming and mobilizing on a massive scale. The suggestion to the rest of Europe is that the Kremlin is in preparation for a full-sale military confrontation. That would be linked to an ambition that not only visualizes the downfall of Ukraine swelling the Russian Federation's territory, but contemplating "somebody significantly larger", within the next three to four years.
Europe is now faced with a need of great urgency to build its own deterrent against Moscow's ambitions, as a reflection of US. President Donald Trump's having signalled a wish to wind down America's role in protecting Europe. Poland also intends to cooperate with Ukraine on drone production as part of its overall self-defence aspirations, extending outward to the rest of regional Europe.
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"Our deficit has been the lack of the will to act, having no confidence, and sometimes even cowardice. But Russia will be helpless against united Europe.""It’s striking but it’s true. Right now, 500 million Europeans are begging 300 million Americans for protection from 140 million Russians who have been unable to overcome 50 million Ukrainians for three years.""Poland's job is to guard its eastern border, which is also the border of NATO and the European Union."Polish President Donald Tusk
Labels: Europe on Alert, Poland's Growing Military Strength, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 09, 2025
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