I think Poland is not like Europe in the sense they do not consider themselves Europeans being a former Soviet bloc nation ...
I'm sure Europeans look down their elitist noses at the Polish people...
Certainly they don't look for Poland to be a moral compass...
Just my humble opinion...
I believe you are correct about Europe’s elite in the past allowing Poland to exist/not exist depending on whose whim. Perhaps no more, unless the rest of Europe enjoys being granted dhimmitude status by their new muslim masters. Oh, the irony. May the winged Hussars come back and save the snobs one more time, before they become extinct.The snobs that is, not the Poles.