Past Polish Defense

Poland's Choice On Missile Shield Is A Decision On Polish Defense

Warsaw, Poland, 31 March, 2007 Poland's Government is now at a critical junction and its decision on the Missile Shield will determine the future of Polish defense. It will either decide that security decisions are to be made by Poland or dictated by Western Europeans with interests often contrary to Poland.

Europe is weak and depends on NATO. "NATO is, well, NATO, a Potemkin alliance that exists to the degree the United States acts." For more go to http://victordavishanson.pajamasmedia.com/2007/03/28/hostagetaking_redux.php NATO

NATO has been discussing the missile shield for four years and little progress has been made. Suddenly when the US has moved outside NATO and it looks like something will get done, there are objections. Some of them are about threatening or encircling Russia.

NATO's secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said that " Nobody needs to explain to anybody that the stationing of 10 interceptors in Poland is going to influence or harm in any way the overwhelming Russian first-strike capability or any other capability," he said. "The fact is that these interceptors cannot make a difference to Russian security. They are too close to Russia to threaten it." See

NATO wants to debate the matter of missiles going into Poland because the system does not cover all of Europe. They want all of Europe covered and not the 90% covered by the proposed missile shield in Poland.

And they want all of Europe covered without paying for it.

The US system in Poland will be paid for by the United States. If NATO countries were to put in their own system, the European countries would have to pay.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer asks, "Is it wise to say 'no thank you, U.S.?' We are not going to have that," he said. "Instead, we are going to have a system in which all the 26 NATO allies would spend billions of dollars. I don't think that would be the most intelligent approach." See

In short, the Europeans will get a free ride and that is the "most intelligent approach".

The European Union and NATO are big committees. And the way to avoid a decision and to stop forward movement is to refer to committee for debate.

Poland can choose to refer the matter to committee or to look after its own.

If it refers the matter to committee it should, based on historical precedent, know what to expect.

Europe has a poor history of looking after Poland. The current debate on the missile shield shows that nothing has changed. Economic and political interests of others are more import than Poland's security.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has already given a hint about the European attitude toward defending its members. He thinks that 10% of Europe is not worth defending as long as the US pays for a system that defends the other 90%. Under a different threat, would he consider Poland any more important than the current 10%.

The time is now. Poland can decide to throw its security to those who have never really cared about Poland or keep it in its hands and do what it has to do.

The decision that Poland makes determines the future of Poland's defense. To defend that country when Poland sees a need to act or to let others decide if Poland is worth defending. That is the choice.