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Posted on 05/20/2026 10:02:40 PM PDT by Cronos
Two senior Polish defense ministry officials are on their way to Washington to get more information on why the U.S. suddenly canceled the deployment of 4,000 soldiers on a planned rotation to the country.
Paweł Zalewski and Cezary Tomczyk — both deputy defense ministers — will try to get details on what Zalewski called "the incident."
"No one in Poland knew that the rotation of the American brigade would be suspended," Zalewski told TOK FM radio on Monday morning.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth blindsided Warsaw by halting the long-planned deployment of soldiers with the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said the move was "not an unexpected, last-minute decision.”
There are about 10,000 U.S. troops in Poland, most regularly rotating through the country for stints of several months; Warsaw sees them as key to its ability to deter Russia. Hegseth's decision was criticized in Washington by lawmakers from both parties and left Poland confused.
The U.S. earlier said it would pull 5,000 troops out of Germany after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the conduct of U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, but Poland has not condemned the war and is the highest defense spender in NATO as a percentage of GDP.
“You have the most loyal ally. It is worth remembering that, because America will not find a better ally anywhere,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday during a ceremony announcing the opening of a Polish repair center for U.S.-made M1 Abrams tanks.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.eu ...
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That leads to complacency.
Poland is big enough to stand on her own and should do so
Tusk is embarassing Poland by going cap in hand
Warsaw needs to boost its territorial army (a supplement to the main army) to be like Switzerland where every citizen has to put in time training
It’s true that Poland is an ally of the US. They are the most friendly European country to the US.
But they do need to learn to develop a military for themselves, with a bit of help from Americans to develop a competent military.
Poland has a reasonably competent military. More than that it needs to learn on its own and not be reliant on anyone else.
The dumb politicians keep looking for a big brother to help, forgetting about 1939.
But we are heading into a new world order, where the US, Argentina, Poland, Israel and Iran may have to form a pact to defend themselves from the globalist liberal nations.
They deserve our support more than the krauts.
Think about the fact that there is too much to not like about all those countries. It’s no wonder the continent’s history has been so bloody. We got elements of al those countries here and most get along. Might be the freedom to capitalize on all our freedoms. Why fight if there are better things one can strive for? Tell it to the left.
That pact is not going to happen.
Maybe those 4,000 troops represent $$$ to the Polish economy.
Perhaps NATO should be scrapped as it is an historical anachronism. Neither Soviet Union nor the Warsaw pact exist. The enemies, which served as a basis for NATO, are gone. The counterweight to the past threat continues to tilt at windmills.
NATO exists now because Putin revived the dream of the Muscowite empire
That happens when the Antichrist comes aboard and not until then.
They started building and buying tanks in large numbers at the beginning of the Ukraine war. So give them credit for that. However, the lesson seems to be we all need more drones and anti-drone gear. Palmer Luckey is on it, for us.
But, again, give the Poles credit. FDR did screw them over, and since the fall of the Wall and the USSR, they’ve been a creditable NATO ally, or at least more so than Germany. That said, Eisenhower’s words on the subject still apply.
Eisenhower said a lot.
Care to enlighten us as to which words you mean?
Regards,
The Russian Federation has more nuclear-tipped missiles pointed at America's heartland than does any other nuclear power.
When the Russian Federation no longer has any missiles pointed at us, then we can talk about disbanding NATO!
Regards,
NATO is no deterrent to Russia’s nuc’s. Where did you pull that from?
You are strawmanning my argument!
I never said that NATO was a deterrent to Russia's nukes.
Rather, I referenced the fact that Russia has more nuclear-tipped weapons pointed at America's heartland than does any other nuclear power.
The implication being that that fact clearly demonstrates that the Russian Federation is hostile towards the U.S. (One doesn't target a friend.)
So, my argument - if I have to spell it out for you (and apparently I do) - is: As long as Russia is THAT hostile towards the U.S., our continued membership in a military association that aims to contain that hostility or at least curb that hostile enemy's ambitions is justified.
Put another way: Our having allies reduces the chance of Russia making a (conventional) move against us (or our interests).
I freely stipulate that NATO could be doing a better job than it is - so please don't now come with the "Demand for Perfection" fallacy!
Regards,
On the other hand, they have been one of the major supporters of continuing the war in Ukraine.
President Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine and he is putting pressure on Poland to support his positions.
President Trump was trying for a Grand Deal between Ukraine and Russia last year where the war would end the reconstruction of Ukraine would begin, To fund the reconstruction of Ukraine Trump put together an entire network of well thought out, mutually supporting deals that would have helped rebuild Ukraine for the Ukraine people, block the carpetbagger grifter class that was planning on buying up the distressed assets of Ukraine for pennies on the dollar and also help fuel an economic boom in the United States.
Poland, while not the primary obstructionist, was not helpful to this plan. Trump has withdrawn from the Ukraine peace process to let reality sink in to all the stake holders.
Part of this reality is that the US is not going tolerate Poland trying to have it both ways. Trump is telegraphing this message o Poland - if you want US support, you have to support US policies.
Defend yourselves, what a novel idea.
1951, upon becoming the first commander of NATO forces:
“If, in 10 years, all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States, then this whole project will have failed.”
Why is the DOD asking to essentially double their budget next year, to $1.5 Trillion, when we are withdrawing forces from the field?
Normally, withdrawing forces would indicate a reduction of threats, which would subsequently indicate less of a budget need, not more.
Or is the request to double the DOD budget based on the possible calculation that if we go it alone, without NATO from here on, and it’s going to be us against the world without any allies helping us to defend ourselves, it’s going to cost us twice as much to do it?
I’m sure several here will quickly say we are already going it alone, but that is simply not true.
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