Poland

Did Putin Seal The Missile Shield Deal For Poland?

Warsaw, Poland 14 February, 2007 Vladimir Putin's speech in Munich last week disturbed many in Poland. And it may have moved Polish politicians to decide to go forward with the missile shield without delay. It is now likely not a matter if the shield will be agreed to but only a matter of how much the Polish Government can get from the United States to sign the agreement.

Poland did not have a representative at the Munich meeting. But Putin's speech echoed across the news services and had people buzzing.

To the Polish people, the Great Russian Bear might be coming out of hibernation.

Poles tend to react emotionally to anything that they perceive might affect Poland. And that tendency is prevalent even among senior members of the Government. For example, Marek Kuchinski, Head of the Law And Justice Parliamentary Club, said that it was good that Poland did not have a representative at the Munich meeting because he would have had to pound on the table and leave the room.

But others in the ruling circles reacted without undue emotion. And they reacted with a reasoned sense of the long term in mind.

Prime Minister Kaczynski held a meeting with the leaders of all the Polish parliamentary clubs on Monday. He commented that the meeting was necessary because the shield is an issue that will concern Poland long after his Government is gone.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of one party leader, Andrzej Lepper, Samoobrona, calling for the decision on the shield to be made after holding a public referendum. And behind that are recent poll results that show a majority of the people in Poland are against the shield.

After the meeting, the Prime Minister said, "There is no reason in holding a referendum on whether Poland should house the American anti-missile shield".

And he added, "While the parliamentary leaders did not reach absolute unanimity on whether the anti-missile shield would reinforce our Poland's security, only one parliamentary group opposed the idea".

Poles know the yoke of domination by the Russians. Even though they are now the Eastern border of the European Union, there is an underlying uneasiness with Russia. And they look West for support and security.

One would expect that as members of the European Union they would look there. But Poland it still looks to the United States in matters of security.

They believe that the US can be more likely depended upon than an EU that has gone soft and does little more than wage empty talk. The feeling is strong enough that the Polish Government continues to support the US in Iraq over the objections of its people.

Putting the missile shield equipment in Poland, again over the objections of its people, will essentially guarantee that the US will be sure to defend Poland if for nothing else but to defend the shield. It gives Poland a big brother with a very big stick to ward off a marauding bear.

Putin gave the Polish Government a base for the reasoning that will be provided to the Polish people when the Government announces that it has come to agreement with the United States.

How fast will that agreement come into being?

Kaczynski's comments are very telling. They probably mean that Poland will start laying plans to get as much as it can as fast as it can to sign the deal.

Putin rekindled bad memories of days that Poland does not want to experience again and the Government is not going to delay.

The deal is all but signed. Just the terms have to be agreed to.