Posted on 01/25/2006 10:42:28 AM PST by lizol
Poland will set own course, defense chief vows
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2006
WARSAW Poland's new defense minister, Radek Sikorski, has firmly staked out the country's position as a rising regional power in Europe that will bend neither to Brussels nor Washington but intends to set its own line.
Just three months into his job, Sikorski made it clear in an interview Monday night that he intended to pursue an ambitious international military agenda while modernizing the armed forces of a country that, he said, too often paid a high price for being weak in the past.
Sikorski, who joined the new rightist government in November after a spell in Washington at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, confirmed that Polish troops would remain in Iraq this year, reversing a decision by the previous left-of center government to bring home the troops by this spring.
Poland will also take over the command of NATO's 9,000-strong International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during the second half of next year as the U.S.-led military alliance starts to move from peacekeeping missions to combat operations.
This would be the second time Poland has taken the command of a multinational military operation since joining NATO in 1999. In 2003, a year before it joined the European Union, it agreed to lead a multinational division in central Iraq at a time when Washington's invasion of Iraq was pulling Europe apart, with Poland and most of the other former Communist countries of Eastern Europe rallying around the U.S. decision.
Poland's new assertiveness in NATO and its staunch defense of the trans-Atlantic relationship have rankled some of its European allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
...he intended to pursue an ambitious international military agenda while modernizing the armed forces of a country that, he said, too often paid a high price for being weak in the past.
Good!
You mean?
GO POLAND!
In charge of:
NATO in Afganistan
Central Iraq coalition
Air Patrol in Baltic States
Poland is becoming a partner in the US anti-missile shield.
I mean that the EU was dithering over how Poland's ambitious workforce could throw a monkey wrench in their Utopian shared distribution economic model by refusing to scale back their productivity to keep from outpacing and 'stealing' market from lower performing members. Now they are facing a Poland that dwarfs that annoyance by not only defying the EU's appeasement mentality, but by having the audacity to support U.S. policy on the WoT.
After being betrayed by nearly everybody exept Burkina Faso this is a logical reaction. One thing is for sure: Poland will be a strong force on the side of freedom - no matter on which side of the Atlantic it will be found.
To execute the plan outlined on your map I think we definitely need Chuck Norris's help. Go Chuck!
"...rising regional power..."
Yeah. At least this time they didn't say anything about G8.
You will get severe problems to pay all the social welfare to us and the Russians that is nessecary to keep us in good mood. I am happy that we have finally found someone who is obviously impatient to do so. The Polish plumbers will have to work like hell!
BTW - This map is a proof that you Poles can forget. The name of the big blue landmass must have been "Canada", if you would have taken the party in Yalta too serious.
Hey man- since when do we give up Alaska? You better step off!
:)
Nothing personal, it is all about oil :)
Plumbers
FAQ czyli odpowiedzi na Wasze pytania
- O co chodzi z Burkina Faso?
- Pewnego pieknego poranka Burkina wypowiedziała nam wojne. Potem przeprowadzila eksperyment z bronia jadrowa i od tamtej pory jest zamknietym poligonem atomowym.
Oh, so even they betrayed us. Sad... :( Fortunately there's one ally we will always have - the USA!
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