Living under constant threat from the Russian Federation, the Polish government has asked the U.S. Congress for a permanent military base. Concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propensity to invade countries it perceives as weak, Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said his government is willing to spend up to $2 billion a year for a permanent U.S. presence to stave off possible incursions into Poland’s sovereign territory by the Russian Federation. When Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014, it sent shockwaves through former Soviet satellites, Poland and Scandivavia. Blaszczak wants more than the current temporary “rotational” NATO arrangements where U.S. troop routinely come in-and-out of Poland. Getting the message, the Kremlin responded in typical aggressive fashion, warning Europe that the presence of U.S. troops hurts its security.
Speaking on state Radio 1, Blaszczsak admitted to holding high-level talks in Washington to work toward a permanent U.S. base in Poland. “The result of our efforts is that the U.S. Senate has contracted the Pentagon about an assessment . . . [the] permanent presence of U.S. troops in Poland,” antagonizing the Kremlin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that any move to place U.S. forces near the Russian border would destabilize the region. “On the contrary, the expansionist actions of course lead to counter-action from the Russian side in order to balance the parity which is violated every time in this way,” said Peskov. Peskov talks about NATO’s expansionist tendencies but doesn’t acknowledge the Kremlin’s propensity to annex sovereign territory where it pleases. When the Russia n army rolled into Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia Aug. 12, 2008, NATO did nothing.
Poland’s not the only country in former Soviet satellites concerned about a possible Russian invasion. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the Baltic States, all want more NATO or U.S. help to fend off a possible Russian invasion. Whether there’s any real chance of that happening is anyone’s guess. Putin invaded Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014 to punish pro-Western leaders seeking stronger alliances with NATO and the United States. When Peskov talks of NATO “expansion,” he’s referring to the Russian Federation’s propensity to grab land wherever it sees fit. Continuing to control Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Putin has no intent of withdrawing Russian forces. Nor has he shown any signs to getting out Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula where Putin houses Russia’s warm water fleet in Sevastopol. Peskov has a funny way of stating the opposite to get across the Kremlin’s message.
Russian Federation under Putin has played all side against each other, making deals with rogue states like North Korea and Iran wherever he sees some strategic advantage to Mother Russia. Peskov warns of counter-actions by the Kremlin, hinting Russia would aim more nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles at former Soviet Satellites from Kaliningrad, the Western-most point of the Russian Federation. When the Soviet Union disbanded Dec. 21, 1993 under the director of reformer Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Poland joined NATO with Hungary and the Czech Republic. It took Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia until March 29, 2004 to join NATO, antagonizing the Kremlin. Peskov’s warnings show that there’s plenty of concern in former Soviet Republics, including Poland, about possible Russian military encroachment.
Kremlin officials interpret any request by a former Soviet satellite for NATO protection as U.S. expansion into former Russian territory. Poland’s Onnet news portal says Poland seeks a $2 billion a year permanent U.S. presence to deter any expected Russian ambitions. Making the formal request to the U.S. Congress, Poland can expect 71-year-old President Donald Trump to wholeheartedly accept their proposal. Trump’s all about getting West and East European countries to pay their fair share for NATO’s defense umbrella. Poland isn’t concerned about Peskov’s war-of-words, it’s focused on building a credible military deterrent against a possible Russian invasion. Kremlin officials see NATO as expansionist when, in fact, it about better defense of former Soviet satellites. Poland doesn’t want its borders or frontier breached by the Kremlin, as it’s done many times in the past.
Setting up a permanent U.S. military base in Poland would send a loud message to Moscow that there’s no chinks in the NATO Western alliance armor. Offering to pony up $2 billion, Poland’s doing precisely what Trump’s been asking of NATO countries: Start pulling your own weight. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton slammed Trump for trying to break up NATO. Trump wanted nothing of the kind, only to see NATO countries pay their fair share for defense. Whatever happened in Georgia and more recently in Ukraine, it’s highly unlikely that Putin would invade West or East European countries. When NATO flexes its muscles, Moscow must accept the growing reality that it’s not bringing back former Soviet satellites into the Russian Federation. Since dealing with draconic U.N. sanctions since invading Crimea, Russia learnrf the hard way what happens when you violate sovereign states.
