Posted on 06/19/2020 11:07:42 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
Poland finds itself in a bind. For the past two years, Warsaw has lobbied Washington for an increase in American troop presence on its territory. It now appears likely that it will get at least some of what it wants, but that could be at the expense of America’s presence in Germany. Should that happen, Warsaw would find itself at odds with its economically powerful neighbor, a circumstance that — given the tragic history of German-Polish relations — the Polish government wishes to avoid.
Not surprisingly, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki made clear, “It is not [Poland’s] intention to achieve this goal [of a force increase] at the expense of reducing the American contingent in Germany.”
Poland has been a model NATO ally, meeting President Trump’s demand that member states allocate 2 percent of their budgets to national defense. It is acquiring expensive American weapons systems — another of Trump’s desiderata — notably Patriot missiles and 32 F-35A fighters. And it is currently hosting NATO’s major exercise, Defender-Europe 2020.
Polish efforts to ramp up the American military presence on its territory accelerated in September 2018 when President Andrzej Duda offered $2 billion to help defray the costs of housing a full U.S. Army division in his country. Duda’s proposal quickly came to be nicknamed “Fort Trump.” The Polish president is one of Trump’s favorites, perhaps not surprisingly, given Poland’s defense spending; the nickname was certain to further endear Duda to his American counterpart.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
If Germany is upset by a reduction they only have themselves to blame.
Easily solved. Germany and Russia can both simultaneously invade Poland and divide it. No worries.
Carving up Poland is what Prussians, Russians and Austrians do best.
Right. If one believes polling data, the German public likes the U.S. less than China. The Poles have been quite clear about a desire for an increased U.S. military presence. Germany has been indifferent at best. And just why our young soldiers should risk their lives for a nation that won’t step up for its own defense is a question that the generals trying to punk President Trump should have been asking 20 years ago.
Tell Germany to take their money and build their own army. Wonder how much we spend in Germany every year.
A Polish soldier was once asked “a German soldier and a Russian soldier are attacking you, what do you do?”
He answered, “kill the German first, always put business before pleasure.”
Poland didn’t push for Euros to save them in 1939, and you saw what happened to them.
Stand by our Polish friends. Get these bases built and troops in place.
Putting american troops are in poland is a waste. They cant be any more than a tripwire, at most hostages.
All American troops in Europe have always been a tripwire.
Keep in mind that our troops overseas are also there to get them to OTHER hot spots more quickly, NOT to “protect” Germany.
The horror, the horror. Russia AND Germany don’t like Poland? Of course Poland prefers protection from a superpower who isn’t one of its immediate neighbors.
Poland is pulling its tricks again. It was okay on USSR money until 1980s, then it was disappointed, now it is running out of German money. It is that easy.
Uh, I don't think Poland had a choice in that matter, now did they??
Nobody knows how would they describe the US military presence in 20 years.
PDJT did say ..one question for me and one question for the President of Poland. ... and pretty much stuck to it. I hope that respect for the visiting world leader continues.
Bad thing about deploying US troops to Poland is the fact that there’s no “back door” if the balloon should go up.
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