[Malesherbes]

Atomicpossum is right. There is a tendency to forget Poland - a country of 38 million relatively young well-educated people with a strong sense of their own history and culture. Poland is and will be a better ally than most of the countries of western Europe.

[Wallace T.]

Poland is a great nation in a horrible location. To both the east and the west lie larger countries (Germany and Russia) that have repeatedly invaded and conquered Poland. While the nation has deep water access through the Baltic Sea, Germany can easily block that access. While a shadow of its former Soviet power, the Russian Navy far surpasses anything Poland has.

The Poles saved Western Europe from Islam at the Battle of Vienna in 1681. The soldiers of that nation are well known for military courage in the face of desperate odds. However, Poland was dealt a poor hand with regard to its geography, with wide plains suitable for large scale hostile military forces to advance rapidly. In 1939, Britain and France could do nothing to prevent Hitler and Stalin from dividing Poland among themselves. At this point, American military power would be equally ineffective should a neo-Communist regime in Russia decide to restore the Warsaw Pact by conquering Poland.

Without a regime change in Germany to restore that country to a pro-American stance, an American alliance with Poland would benefit neither Poland nor the United States.