Report: Polish minister says US ties worthless
Source: AP/Yahoo News
WARSAW, Poland (AP) A Polish magazine said Sunday it has obtained recordings of a conversation in which Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says the country's strong alliance with the U.S. "isn't worth anything" and is "even harmful because it creates a false sense of security."
In a short transcript of the conversation, a person identified as Sikorski by the magazine Wprost tells former finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, that Poles naively believe the U.S. bolsters their security. Using vulgar language, the person argues that such beliefs are nonsense, and that the Polish-U.S. alliance alienates the Russians and Germans.
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Sikorski has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and has strongly criticized Russian actions in Ukraine this year. In the past he was a strong supporter of the United States, though he has become more critical of Washington in recent years.
He has also been widely mentioned as a possible successor to Catherine Ashton as the EU's foreign policy chief. Poland officially put him forward as a candidate last month.
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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/report-polish-minister-says-us-ties-worthless-102515845.html
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)US is a bad ally to have. We always double cross.
Turbineguy
(37,331 posts)for the US Senate as a republican.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)Pretty much the same thing.
ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)another_liberal
(8,821 posts)Alliances with countries like Poland are good for our economic interests, as well as for the economic interests of a few wealthy Poles I'm sure. As far as military concerns go, however, all we could really do if Russia attacked Poland (all we could do which might stop them) would be to use tactical nuclear weapons.
In other words, there is nothing acceptable and effective that we could do.
James48
(4,436 posts)Poland is now a NATO member country, which means we would defend them to the fullest extent possible.
More than just tactical nukes- we would deploy anything and everything to their defense. We have to.
Besides, they signed a deal to buy F-16's.
You think our defense contractors would let them go down?
Not a chance.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)We could deploy, but deploying is not the same as stopping the Russian forces. If Moscow really wanted Poland, we could not hope to stop them with our conventional forces alone. Were they willing to make the sacrifices required, only our nuclear weapons would be able to prevent them from seizing anything in eastern Europe they really wanted.
Our military is now constituted for the missions of fighting terrorists, defending middle east oil patches and keeping the World's sea lanes open. We no longer even have an army capable of fighting a major land war against a powerful, well equipped enemy, especially not one who is on his home ground, in the middle of the Eurasian land mass.
We would not even arrive with a creditable force before the fighting was over. Are you expecting Germany, France and England to go to war with Russia over eastern Europe? NATO or no NATO, I have serious doubts they would.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Big_Mike
(509 posts)There are no longer tactical battlefield nukes in the US arsenal. The artillery and demolition charges went away under Reagan and Powell. The Air Force stuff is dial-a-yield, and maybe could be used tactically, but they are likely reserved as strategic weapons.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)After disarming, of course.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)The foreign minister from Warsaw is everything that Deshchytsia is not. Having studied in Oxford, he speaks perfect English. And he knows exactly what he wants. Kiev, he says, must push through reforms, battle corruption, improve the control of its borders and do everything in its power to stop the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. And, he demands at the end, the Ukrainian government should finally eliminate import quotas for Polish products.
Married to US journalist Anne Applebaum, Sikorski, 51, has led the Polish Foreign Ministry since 2007. But his role in the European Union and its relations with its eastern neighbors has become much more crucial since the eruption of the crisis in Ukraine. Europe's history, he warned before anyone else, would be decided in Ukraine. At the time, though, nobody listened: not the French, who were more interested in the Mediterranean, and not the Germans, who were blinded by their efforts to maintain positive relations with the Russians.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/polish-foreign-minister-sikorski-in-the-limelight-in-ukraine-crisis-a-972239.html
fujiyama
(15,185 posts)Maybe Poland didn't get all the oil they had bargained for when they cut a deal to join the Iraq War.
I don't really feel sorry for him. It's been over twenty years since the Cold War ended. Why can't Eastern Europe form their own Goddamn defense pact against the Russians if they're so afraid of them? I'm really sick of these countries all reliant on the US for everything.
Psephos
(8,032 posts)More like good hygiene.
I agree that it's time for a different defense arrangement. I do not agree with the, umm, smart diplomacy that creates trust failure.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)...that it took this long to figure out.
- K&R
Psephos
(8,032 posts)WhoWoodaKnew
(847 posts)Or should I say, crawling.
warrior1
(12,325 posts)He can go pound sand.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)I'm sure they could get their hands on them if they wanted to.
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)Although Poland isn't the worst offender.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)maybe they are worth something to the 1%ers, but not to you and I.