Political Analyst: Fort Trump Idea in Poland Will Fade Away

Sputnik: Do you think US bases in Poland contribute to the country's security?

Krzysztof Podgórski: This is a very controversial issue. Surely, such a viewpoint exists among a part of the US military, which is quite consistent with the strategy of their state in moving its military infrastructure to the borders of a potential adversary, namely Russia currently is seen as such.

First of all, the US military wants to place launcher pads that limit or minimize the combat effectiveness of the Russian nuclear capacity as close as possible to the border. Therefore, the so-called anti-missile shield is located in Poland. Secondly, the military units deployed here can reduce the time from the moment of mobilization of American forces to their possible actions, and the base depots allow you to use weapons in the event of a conflict in a very short time.

The exercises, which NATO forces have recently carried out in Poland under the code name "Anaconda", have a pronounced offensive character, since they involve operations involving an attack and a counterattack in the Kaliningrad region, which makes it impossible for the Russian troops to unblock their own forces in the region from the Belarusian direction.

This all corresponds to the strategy of the American military but is it in Polish interests? The answer is unequivocal: my country during the two greatest catastrophes of the twentieth century was a battleground, since during World War I both the Habsburg Empire, i.e. the Austrian Empire, and the First Reich, i.e. Germany, fought with the Romanov Empire exactly on the territory of Poland. This front changed its location several times, resulting in huge losses — material and human, after which Poland healed its wounds for a very long time.

World War II brought our country particularly great misfortunes. After all, Nazi Germany attacked us first, followed by the actions of the Soviet army. The USSR fought hard battles that ended with the collapse of the Third Reich, as the battles were fought on Polish territory, and Polish cities were occupied by the Germans, the Soviet troops had to take them with a fight. After the War, we had to rebuild our country for several decades.

Nobody who thinks logically in Poland will advocate for the country to become once again a testing ground on which, perhaps, the American forces will clash with Russian ones. We have learned these history lessons quite recently, some 70 or 100 years ago, and this is a fairly close retrospective. Witnesses of those terrible eventful days are still alive.

READ MORE: Poland Says 'Fort Trump' Construction is Certain, but US Fails to Confirm It

Sputnik: Official Polish sources report that negotiations with the Americans are under way and have advanced quite far. But it seems that there is no unity overseas. And President Andrzej Duda did not express regret over the resignation of the head of the Pentagon General Mattis since supposedly he was not a supporter of Fort Trump in Poland. Do you think this idea will become a sustainable reality?

Krzysztof Podgórski: I believe it was an unsuccessful idea of the Law and Justice party (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, ab. PiS) from the very beginning. The PiS is planning to deploy Fort Trump, the American Panzer Division, with Polish taxpayers' money in the amount of $ 2 billion.

This idea was not supported by certain circles of the American Command, including General Mattis. I also do not think that the new leadership of the Pentagon supports it.

I consider these plans to deploy the US military in Poland as the US struggle for spheres of influence with China. Americans consider it to be enemy No. 1 and Russia as their enemy or challenger No. 2, referring to the economic struggle and the arms race that has already begun, and which we are witnessing right now. So far this will be a struggle for military superiority on production and technological levels.

In fact, the actions of the forces and their movement will be the last step that the Pentagon will take under the new leadership. In my opinion, that means the idea of President Duda will die out, and the report of the American analysts is just a swan song of the circles that Trump still alienates from himself. Personally, I think that no real actions will follow these intentions in the near future.

The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.