On the anniversary of elections that threw out the Communists, Poles greet Obama with high hopes.

The (New) Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

by Martin Ehl

In a year full of historically freighted European anniversaries, a particularly symbolic one will be celebrated this week. Poles voted 25 years ago on 4 June in the first semi-free parliamentary elections in the Eastern bloc. They voted under a (now) famous poster depicting a cowboy from an American Western, High Noon, who, instead of a gun, held a ballot and asked people to vote for Solidarnosc, the Solidarity movement. Thus, from the beginning Polish democracy had an American flavor.

This anniversary is especially meaningful for Poland, which is living in stability and prosperity without precedence in its history, according to a study by World Bank economist Marcin Piatkowski. There could be a lot of joy and celebration if it were not for the trouble next door in Ukraine, which is reminding not just the Poles, but all Europeans that freedom should not be taken for granted even in these prosperous times. The visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Warsaw, which begins today, will not be just a diplomatic and political gesture. Behind the scenes, weighty negotiations are under way about the enhanced U.S.-Poland security relationship that should – according to Polish politicians – result in a permanent U.S. military presence on Polish soil.

The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has even directly asked for 10,000 U.S. troops on the ground. There may be some kind of announcement in this respect during the visit, probably during the anniversary ceremonies on 4 June.

Simply put, a maturing Poland has decided to play a stronger European role while all other post-communist EU and NATO states are only emerging from the ashes of economic crisis and while anti-Americanism thrives in some Western European countries.

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Read more: www.tol.org

Obama’s nothing burger for Poland and friends

by Gary Schmitt

The old joke on Capitol Hill used to be, “a billion here, a billion there…after a while, it’s real money.” 

Well, now President Obama has pledged to ask Congress for one billion dollars to fund added military exercises in Europe, Navy deployments to the Black and Baltic seas and new initiatives to beef up the defense capabilities of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia—and it is a joke. 

The dollars allotted to the so-called European Reassurance Initiative is, when all divvied up, pretty much a pittance and will hardly do much to reassure our NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe. 

Combined with the decision by NATO defense ministers to increase the contingent of troops at a NATO unit at Szczecin, Poland, from 250 to 500 “perhaps,” and you are reminded once again of how shallow the administration’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been and how little leadership it continues to exercise in moving the other major allies to fulfill their treaty obligations.


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Read more: www.aei-ideas.org