Is there a future for Belarus as an independent nation, or must it choose between being absorbed by the Poland-Lithuania-NATO constellation of power or by metropolitan Russia?
For centuries, the land on which the contemporary sovereign state of Belarus sits has been a fiercely contested borderland between Poland and Russia. It has changed hands many times over the centuries. It has seen bloody wars, forced annexations,...
... and somewhat challenging. The country is in the zone of interest of the USA and the Russian Federation, as well as Europe. This makes it a point of contention between powerful... ... revolution. Institutionally, this path implies the country’s aspiration to join the EU and NATO. Recent amendments to the Ukrainian constitution legitimize this drive.
The European... ... data, in 2017 Ukrainian export to Russia was 3 943 217.84 $ (9.08%), by comparison — Poland is the second (6.28%) and import — 7 196 562.10 (14.56%), China is the third...
... the build-up of reserves for the deployment of a division-level unit in the event of a crisis appears to be a more significant factor. The same goes for the expansion of NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).
Changes are taking place in Russia as well. Moscow has managed to implement a massive, the four NATO battalions deployed in Poland and the Baltic states and apparently successful, military reform, creating " more compact, mobile, and possibly more efficient armed forces. A number of military units have been restored; in particular, three divisions were deployed on the ...
... territory. A feeling emerged that there were first and second category members, for which Poland has never given consent. This preference to have NATO boots on the ground was reinforced after the annexation of Crimea along with the military build-up of Russian forces. Having NATO soldiers in Poland and in the Baltic states is obviously a part of reassurance policy badly needed under current circumstances. It is not something that strategically changes the existing imbalance: from the perspective of Russian capabilities it’s almost nothing,...
On November 4, 2016 Center for European Policy Analysis, CEPA, hosted a «
Warsaw Summit 2016 – What’s Next for NATO?
» conference in Warsaw.
The following issues farmed the agenda of the conference: NATO on the Eastern Flank, the development and the future of the Alliance, Russia-NATO relations.
Natalia Evtikhevich
, Programme Manager, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), was one of the speakers at the discussion session «What will Russia do? NATO-Russia relations».
This session was also marked by ...
... political processes in Eastern Europe against the background of implementing the European Union’s Eastern Partnership policy, the author emphasizes the specifics of relations along the Ukraine–EU and Ukraine–Russia lines.
Ilya Kramnik:
NATO Exercises: More Provocations
from Poland
Without Ukraine, Russia will be unable to implement its foreign political projects. This is why the Kremlin is ready to pay a high price for its attempts to keep Kiev in its orbit. Piekło doubts that the European Union is capable of reacting to Moscow’s aggressive ...
To What Extent Does the U.S. Aegis BMD in Europe Threaten Russia?
In May 2016, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced that its ballistic missile defence (BMD) base ... ... Adaptive Approach (EPAA) announced by Barack Obama in 2009. Immediately thereafter, construction of a similar base in Redzikowo, Poland began
as part of the third EPAA phase
. These events force us once again to reflect on the potential threat that the United ...
... Ukraine seems to have come from Poland.
Why Poland?
Regrettably, the Polish defense and political elites of today have been traditionally unsympathetic to Russia. And the resultant tense relationship is a major factor shaping Warsaw's actions. Besides, Poland has been using anti-Russian rhetoric to assert itself in the North Atlantic alliance. Hardly a NATO major player but rather a burden, Poland is incessantly demanding help, mainly from the United States which eagerly provides it to a "frontline state." But to make things happen, the Polish leaders must tirelessly imitate struggle.
Exercises ...
... the Polish People’s Republic) and the left-wing populist Your Movement party led by Janusz Palikot. The Union failed to pass the 8 per cent threshold needed for coalitions to gain representation in the Sejm.
In the event that relations between Russia and the West deteriorate any further, we will probably see a NATO base appear in Poland.
Among other things, the United Left’s defeat created a situation whereby, for the first time ever, not a single left-wing party was represented in the Parliament of Poland – not even those parties that are associated with the socialist ...
... Baltic–Black Sea Region as a whole will increase sharply.
On August 6, 2015, Andrzej Duda was sworn in as the new President of Poland. In the weeks since, he has managed to cause quite a stir with his speeches, the essence of which has been that Russia poses an exceptional threat to Poland to which NATO must respond by providing additional security guarantees to the country. “The question must be raised without equivocation: we need greater guarantees from NATO. Not just Poland, but the whole of Central and Eastern Europe, which has been placed ...