Sovereignty is not given, it is taken.
Kamal Ataturk
Once again, Poland was stood up by her allies.
Before WWll we had military agreements with the governments of Great Britain and France regarding common defense in case of military aggression on either country. We also had a nonaggression agreement with Russia. On September 1st, 1939, Poland was invaded by Hitler’s Germany. Three days later, Great Britain and France condemned the invasion, and that was the extent to which they manifested their obligations to help us. On September 17th, we were invaded by Soviets from the East. And this land grab didn’t happen the first time in our history.
So much for the integrity of our international agreements.
Our entire history is a squeeze between two, three, and sometimes four powerful neighbors. One can see borders changing constantly.
There is no other more pro-American country in Europe than Poland. Our ties are historically strong. Many Poles were fighting for the budding American nation, and our first constitution was mirroring ideas from the new continent. Many Poles thought, that by fighting for the freedom of any other country, they were also fighting for theirs. This was clearly visible during WWll with numerous Poles fighting in Russia, Iran, Italy, France, Great Britain and in Africa, to name just a few. We were “awarded” in Yalta with a country which only in the name was ours. De facto, we were another soviet republic. I know, I grew up under these conditions.
After the advent of solidarity and forming of truly democratic country, we were trying to make our ties with the West stronger. Our forces fought in Iraq. We were promised American bases in Poland. We saw it as a deterrent against Russian expansionism. The plans were scrubbed in a hope for “resetting” the relationship with Russia by a new administration. We all know the results.
Then it was a Ukrainian invasion by Russia, and suddenly the threat to our borders became more real. The German government, which was very supportive of Poland, now is displaying a new attitude Russlandversteher, which is trying to understand and explain Russian aggression. This has more to do with politics, economic ties and gas supplies from our eastern neighbor. The same is with France. Polish borders are liquid as ever. None of its neighbors existed before 1991. This is a result of the fall of the Soviet Union in the East, division of Czechoslovakia in the South and unification of Germany in the West.
Recently came to the point, when the Polish Foreign Minister said, that ties with the USA are worthless.
There are many criteria for a country to become an independent nation. One of them is an ability to control its borders. Our history shows the validity of this point. Having a rich common history, strong cultural heritage and language and homogenous ethnicity is obviously not enough. One has to be able to defend itself.
