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Notes -
Can anybody explain the Polish perspective on the Ukraine war?
I went to Poland and it looked like what Western Europe should look like. The urban areas were clean and seemingly safe. Indeed the people living there are mostly European or Slavic.
My understanding is that most of the tsunami of African or Middle-Eastern immigrants of the 2000s would rather go to Western Europe or Scandinavia for better welfare or economic prospects.
Still, Poland used to get in trouble with the EU for not wanting to take in a certain amount of them.
Moreover, Poland has also faced reprimand from the same union for their policies toward non-heterosexuals.
Why did Poland even join the EU? Did they really need the money so badly at the time?
Now it seems that Poland is going toward ever more alignment with the EU and US.
Are they really so scared of Russia that they would drink the corn syrup and give up on whatever is left of their culture/sovereignty/demographics?
Is anybody of relevance in Poland even attempting to contradict the pro-Western turn?
A lot of what we now regard as the Russian sphere of influence used to be the Polish sphere of influence, including much of Ukraine, until the dwindling of Polish imperial power led to the loss of these territories to the Russian Empire, and the occupation and gradual irrelevance of Poland. Poland exists as the bumpkin cousin of the great European empires, never counted among the likes of Britain, France, Austria, Spain or Russia, and the Tsars in St. Petersburg were a major part of why - even before the Soviet era, Russia played the role of humiliator in the Polish psyche, the rocks against which Poland's great power ambitions ran aground. There's unlikely to be any Polish-Russian rapprochement for a long time.
Ok that makes a lot of sense.
Yet it would be apropos, considering that they are both seemingly nationalist countries in the same area with common interests, and facing an existential risk at this point.
It's even somewhat ironic that they would go to such great length for the integrity of Ukraine's borders, when Ukrainian nationalists themselves would love to claim a slice of Poland.
Who would say no to a slice of Poland?
Rather famously, the British in 1939. And angry Brits can express this quite vigorously at time - roughly what you would expect from a soccer riot commanded by Sandhurst-trained officers.
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