I know, I know. In the past I have said:
...And because of Poland's history the people have an almost genetically endowed talent for punching far above their weight-class (smaller population than California) in the diplomacy/strategy game.
I still believe that but what follows is not an example of that acumen.
From Kyiv's Ukrayinska Pravda via Yahoo Finance, March 19:
Polish Ambassador to France: Poland will be forced to enter war if Ukraine fails to defend itself
Poland’s Ambassador to France Jan Emeryk Rościszewski said in an interview that a situation could arise in which Poland would have to enter the war. The embassy urged audiences to refrain from sensationalising his words.
Source: Rościszewski in an interview with LCI, a French TV channel; Rzeczpospolita, a Polish media outlet, citing Poland’s Embassy in France
Quote from Rościszewski: "It is not NATO, Poland or Slovakia that are mounting ever more pressure, but Russia, which has invaded Ukraine. Russia, which is seizing its territories. Russia, which is killing its people. And Russia, which is abducting Ukrainian children.
Therefore, either Ukraine will defend its independence today, or we will have to enter this conflict. Because our main values, which were the basis of our civilization and our culture will be threatened. Therefore, we will have no choice but to enter the conflict."
Details: Following the ambassador’s remark, Poland’s Embassy in France issued a statement saying that it has been interpreted by some media "out of context".....
....MUCH MORE
I can imagine that hanging out with the diplomatic crowd in Paris might be brutally stressful.
Night after night of diplo-parties take their toll but let's just say this kind of talk is whackadoodle loony. On stilts.
If he is saying something that is top-of-mind in Warsaw he needs to be recalled and replaced.
If he is fronting for the Americans and the rest of the west he really should read up on the history of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the Montagnard tribesmen and Hmong in 1975 and what the Afghan interpreters and fixers found out in 2021.
Loyalty to the West means nothing. And being the frontline NATO member, the idea of also being the stalking horse out in front of the whole gang is so existentially dangerous that the role should be avoided at all costs. Let Washington or NATO HQ in Brussels make the pronouncement if it is a group decision.
When I say existential I mean the very existence of Warsaw and Poland as a polity.
As we saw in March 2022's "When the Ukraine war spreads to a NATO nation", less than one month into the war:
Should the war expand and, God forbid, go nuclear, Paris is the European capital that would suffer the worst effects from a single Russian 800 kiloton nuke launched on the Topol SS-25 missile:
Estimated fatalities: 1,606,610Estimated injuries: 2,833,150By comparison the same weapon used on London, again, a single, less-than-one-megaton bomb would result in:
Estimated fatalities: 947,080Estimated injuries: 2,295,450Further east:
BerlinEstimated fatalities: 629,400Estimated injuries: 1,281,850WarsawEstimated fatalities: 501,470Estimated injuries: 792,920BudapestEstimated fatalities: 363,350Estimated injuries: 770,220PragueEstimated fatalities: 359,720Estimated injuries: 489,160That is six bombs. Smaller ones.We can't let things go nuclear. PeriodFor comparison, the largest ICBM-launched U.S. nuke, 9 megatons, would result in:ParisEstimated fatalities: 3,940,720Estimated injuries: 3,918,390
MoscowEstimated fatalities: 4,200,750Estimated injuries: 4,916,950
....MUCH MORE
