In the age of good-changeism, Poland demonstratively signals its désintéressement with being a part of the project aimed at strengthening European defense. Our government seems to be focused on keeping its eyes and ears closed as far as what is in store for Washington is concerned. And that’s a big problem since the national leaders keep thinking in calques and used patterns and an average Polish Law-and-Justicer simply cannot conceive that not every president of the United States is like Ronald Reagan and that not every German chancellor is like Adolf Hitler. And when forced to choose between Reagan and Hitler (when it comes to looking for allies for Poland), the decision should be a no-brainer, right?

It looks like 2017 could go down as a very interesting year. On January 20 Donald Trump will take over the presidency in the United States and the global geopolitical jigsaw will be on the brink of radical changes. European capital cities already experience a state that could be described as a study on the various stages of panic. Evidently, none of the mainstream politicians expected that Americans could suddenly, in an way still unexpected just a few months ago (when they optimistically envisaged scenarios of a competent presidency of Hillary Clinton) fold down the safety umbrella which until recently hovered over Europe and that the prospect of Brexit (that could become reality in approximately two years) would put a question mark on whether the British military potential shall be even considered while analyzing the capacity of European defense forces. Well, too little too late – we already got the short end of a stick. Because the truth is that even the U.S. leaders who were friendly towards Europe – such as Bill Clinton or Barack Obama – have in good faith warned us that such a day may actually come, that the “cold war” has ended and tha the U.S. must now focus on the Pacific and Asia. Not much of it got through to the ladies and gentlemen from the Brussels’ “family photos”.

So now there’s panic. Now, the joint efforts in building a common European defense system must pick up the pace. It has actually already been accepted that in a mere moment Putin will end the suspended offensive in the Eastern Europe and will test new ooportunities brought about thanks to the presidency of Donald Trump (who will nominate for the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a close friend of Kremlin, and that general Mike Flynn – a propaganda puppet of Russia Today – will become National Security Advisor). Not only in Ukraine, but possibly also in Latvia or Estonia. Or maybe even in Lithuania, where he might use the hands of the citizens of Polish origins, who are the favorites of the current Polish government. In these circumstances even the Italians and the French might get scared so no wonder that the countries to the east will do their utmost to contribute to building a common European defense system. Or at least, it seems like it.

In the age of good-changeism, Poland demonstratively signals its désintéressement with being a part of the project aimed at strengthening European defense. The ruling party is focused mostly on loosening the ties with the EU and so any new projects are not to its taste. In this way, it will willingly provide yet another argument to create a hard core of EU integration without Poland’s participation. Our government seems to be focused on keeping its eyes and ears closed as far as what is in store for Washington is concerned. And that’s a big problem since the national leaders think in calques and used patterns and an average Polish Law-and-Justicer simply cannot conceive that not every president of the United States is like Ronald Reagan and that not every German chancellor is like Adolf Hitler. And when forced to choose between Reagan and Hitler (when it comes to looking for allies for Poland), the decision should be a no-brainer, right?

And that’s how Law and Justice will put the safety of our country on the plater and place it in the hands of Rex Tillerson, for whom keeping Warsaw in the American sphere of influence lost any appeal along with the failure of shale gas extraction on our territory. And Tillerson will pass the plater on to his friends in the East. Indeed, he might hesitate for a moment. But he will be convinced to do so by a claim that Poland is culturally closer to Russia than to the Western Europe. And, after all, to come to such a conclusion one needs to simply read any analysis of the “evolution” of the rule of law in the Polish state after autumn 2015.Or let’s make things even easier and simply have Mr Tillerson read the new Polish Constitution – the one that will be passed behind the closed door of the Collumn Hall in the Polish Parliament right after the New Year’s eve, when nobody will be looking.

The article was originally published in Polish at: http://beniuszys.liberte.pl/2017-latwo-pojdzie/

Translated by Olga Łabendowicz