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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   7303 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026

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Poland also refused to transfer two patriot batteries over, and France refused a request from Israel to use its airspace for weapons transfer. This is the logical conclusion of the boiling, seething contempt that the administration has for Europe (which is of course mutual).

The Poland thing seems to be fake news. The US made a general request to all the allies for Patriot batteries, and Poland said no -- but Poland only HAS the two, so this was probably expected.

As for the Euros, they probably think the US will give up with Iran in control of the strait and are trying to position themselves to be able to suck up to Iran for oil.

Poland doesn't have burning seathing contempt for the US, or vice versa, get real. What they do have is Russia next door to them.

Come on. Poland gave 4.5 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, a country which is fighting a very bloody war with Russia. Obviously Poland believes that NATO will protect them from Russian aggression (which is a reasonable assumption when Trump is not president).

That’s partially it though, Europe gave a lot scarce military equipment to Ukraine and now their belts have to be a lot tighter.

Poland's donation of military aid there has (presumably) also degraded Russian military effectiveness without casualties on their part. Which is better for Poland, ATGMs in warehouses, or destroyed Russian tanks (in Ukraine)? Certainly the latter is better than Russian and Ukrainian tanks attacking them like Czechoslovakian troops in 1939.

They also sent tons of hardware (something to the tune of 400 tanks, IIRC), but the logic wasn't just "NATO will protect us" (which, again IIRC, is a gamble - isn't the official battle plan to start giving proper resistance at the Oder river?), it was also (if not more) "if they steamroll Ukraine, we'll be in a much worse position to defend ourselves".

Either way, none of it says anything about "seathing contempt".

This. The only potential enemy European tanks are useful for defending ourselves against is Russia, and if we are going to defend ourselves against Russia we should be doing it in Ukraine and not in Poland.

Poland doesn't have burning seething contempt for the US

Sadly not yet and far to go, but attitudes are shifting. I said previously, the neediness, the entitlement, the lies, even heavily insulated normies notice and shift. I sound people on this often (interesting, plus to agitate), I think it goes well beyond "orange man bad". In the mainstream (TV etc) "discourse", that US is a reliable ally and a positive force in the world used to be near axiomatic, not anymore.

As for contempt in the US for Poland, among the elite, I'm positive it is there. They see us as an unserious country with weak elite core, and fair enough.

MAGA respects Poland and their accomplishments and views them as a real country with ho girls.

In the mainstream (TV etc) "discourse", that US is a reliable ally and a positive force in the world used to be near axiomatic, not anymore.

I suppose if we ignore not just Trump I, but also Bush II, Reagan, Nixon, and of course Eisenhower over the whole Suez Crisis.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but praise for the US was never axiomatic even from Europe, let alone other places.

I suppose if we ignore not just Trump I, but also Bush II, Reagan, Nixon, and of course Eisenhower over the whole Suez Crisis.

Hmm, I sense a commonality between those Presidents.

As for contempt in the US for Poland, among the elite, I'm positive it is there. They see us as an unserious country with weak elite core, and fair enough.

Doesn't Poland often get honorable mention as the non-freeloading part of NATO from the American elites? And what's with this "unserious country" nonsense? No one on the western side talks about it like that anymore, you gotta ditch that inferiority complex of yours.

honorable mention as the non-freeloading part of NATO from the American elites?

Head pats in public for a retarded puppy and rightoids projecting their fantasies onto "based Poland". We carry water for the US, we buy US weaponry, we can and are used to sabotage Europe, ask for very little in return. And since "US is a reliable ally and a positive force in the world used to be near axiomatic" and our elite quality is laughable, praise was and still is effective and sought after.

US elite consider us suckers, taking ideology/propaganda seriously, satisfied with an army unfit for operation outside US framework, weak internally, transparent.

you gotta ditch that inferiority complex of yours

I resent this, you don't know what you're talking about. There is not a shred of inferiority complex in a typical Pole; he is cynical, a pessimist. Appearance of strength is enough for outsiders, not for people invested in the outcome.

A country in our position should have domestic arms industry fit for modern war, own satellite recon, civil defence and reserve at Finnish level, elite loyal and capable of running a nuclear program without someone instantly running to snitch to the US. We don't have any of this due to a combination of skill issues, bad historical luck, and meddling.

non-freeloading part of NATO

I reject this framing, by the way. In fact, with the inability to keep trade routes open under even slight pressure, and the benefits of European integration into the NATO, the US is the freeloading party.

You may well be right, but FWIW there is a lot of genuine respect for Poles from other countries that maybe wasn’t there before. Not just militarily, they’re often seen as very serious, very capable people who’ve known real hardship and don’t get fooled by trivial griping. One of the best engineers I knew was Polish.

I don't doubt this, I'm thinking here of Poland, the nation/country.

When I hear "unserious country" nowadays it's usually someone on the right talking about the U.K. or Germany.

I really wonder how many Poles still have anxiety over Russia. The very few of them that I’ve met seem to like Russia. Historically Russia and Iran never liked each other either. In 2026, they’re fairly close allies.

Flatly stating you like Russia would produce a mildly negative reaction in almost any company, but using a slur for Russians, describing them in strong negative terms, would not. Russian are 4 years into a horribly destructive, clearly pointless war, so reactions are biased, and anxiety about Russia as an aggressor is the default for near everyone.

Historically Russia and Iran never liked each other either

Not exactly comparable, Iran is on the periphery of Russia, Poland is in the way. But the divide is fixable, mistrust is permanent but hatred not, a change in Russian leadership, a decade, push to focus on similarities. And in certain configurations, inflexibly standing in the way of Eurasian integration will be just dangerous in practical terms, and will force us.

This Pew research report suggests almost everybody in Poland has a negative view of Russia.

79% is definitely not “almost everybody.” I originally would’ve thought it’d be less than a quarter.

The chart at the top shows 70% very unfavorable and 20% somewhat unfavorable (90% total). The 79% is the average across the countries surveyed.

21% is less than a quarter...?

I said I originally thought it’d be less than a quarter (e.g. <21%).

I think if you were to look at opinion polls, or their justifications for increasing cooperation with NATO, you would see a lot more anxiety towards Russia.

It might not be recognisable as the American/Western European form of anti-Russia sentiment as they also have some friction with Ukraine and they're still friendly with Hungary, but Kaliningrad and Belarus are right beside them.

Obviously I can't speak for the "Polish street," but their government has been unrelentingly hawkish towards Russia for over a decade.

What’s the influence of political Catholicism like there? At least that’s where I’ve heard of support for Russia. The Russian ‘Civilizational State’ paradigm of foreign policy seems to attract a lot of former enemies they had in Europe that persisted since the Soviet times.

Political Catholicism is occasionally instrumentally cooperative with Russia, just like other movements outside the western mainstream(Russia's funding/assistance in western countries is an enormous grab bag including everything from greenies to texas nationalists and everything in between), but it's not ideologically pro-Russia.

Russian nationalism is tied to politicised Orthodoxy, and therefore anti-Catholic.

Turning American politicised evangelicalism from a force which was primarily anti-Catholic to a force which is primarily anti-Left was a multi-decade project.

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