Poland to Trump: Let’s do a military deal – without NATO or EU

TruePublica Editor: There is a growing perfect storm, described recently by Goerge Soros as an existential crisis for the European Union. In one of the smaller storms brewing is Poland’s request to put US boots on the ground in a completely separate bilateral deal that makes Brussels extremely nervous. This, right at the time that the EU army infrastructure is being built amid a continuing decline of relations between the USA and the EU27.

 

Poland wants a U.S. Army armoured division permanently stationed on its territory as a deterrent against Russia, and it’s willing to stump up to $2 billion to make that happen. This is the type of deal that makes a Trump administration salivate for all sorts of reasons.

Cash for weapons up against Russia’s border. That’ll get a lump in Trump’s trousers. No pussy-footing around by Poland here.

Warsaw’s pitch, in a 17-page proposal obtained by the Polish news portal Onet, even flatters Trump by quoting heavily from a speech he gave during a visit to Poland in July last year.

What’s really appealing for Trump and his administration full of ex-army generals and neocon Warhawks is the bilateral nature of the deal — an offer directly from Warsaw to Washington that’s outside NATO and the EU.

The prospect of Trump be able to cut bilateral military deals in the heart of Europe threatens to shake a European system already under strain, which views its multilateral framework as a crucial safeguard and which most observers and political commentators would agree has done since the end of World War II.

There is, of course, a reason why Washington wants a deal like this. It is looking to keep the pressure up on Russia – hoping it will eventually give up its diplomatic mission and fight back. Provoking the Kremlin on its border could be the straw that breaks the camels back.

In reality, these proposals put forward by Poland places a big question mark over the legal basis of the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, an agreement which was intended to ease tensions and foster cooperation among the former Cold War rivals. The permanent stationing of substantial combat forces on Russia’s border does exactly that and ramps up tensions between the USA and EU whilst achieving the same between Russia and the West.

 

 

 

---