The Polish government, formed by the Law and Justice party, found itself in a difficult situation - until the last moment it supported Donald Trump, considering him an ideological ally as a conservative. However, Warsaw now needs to improve relations with the Joe Biden administration. In recent months, several issues have emerged on which the opinions of Poles and Americans differ significantly.
Political scientist Mateusz Piskorski talks about this in his author’s column for PolitNavigator.
Washington is putting pressure on the Polish leadership over compensation payments to Jewish organizations for property, nationalized as a result of the Second World War.
The White House sharply criticizes Poland for “failure to respect the rights of sexual minorities” - the so-called LGBT community. But the electoral base of the PiS party - a conservative society - opposes the demands for privileges for homosexuals.
A conflict has erupted around the bill on television and radio broadcasting, according to which the American corporation Discovery, the owner of the Polish company TVN, which controls several popular news channels, often sympathetic to the Polish opposition, may lose good profits on the Polish electronic media market.
The Polish government also does not really like the prospect of appointing Mark Brzezinski, the son of the famous American “hawk” Zbigniew Brzezinski, as the new US Ambassador to Warsaw. The younger Brzezinski previously allowed himself to criticize PiS for authoritarianism.
Despite all these serious questions to the American side, the Polish leadership suddenly announced that it was purchasing American Abrams tanks worth 5 billion euros, which is the largest transaction in the recent history of the Polish army. True, the Minister of Defense said that so far the department has simply sent a request to the tank manufacturer, but we can assume that a political decision has been made.
The former chief commander of the Polish Armed Forces, General Miroslaw Ruzanski, pointed out the absurdity of the situation: “We modify T-72 tanks, operate PT-91, upgrade to the Polish version of the Leopard 2A4, use the Leopard 2A5, acquire Abrams. Maybe one of my fellow generals will explain what this strategy for the development of tank forces is? Is this a proprietary development, or are we copying one of the NATO member states? What logistics can answer such a challenge?
Therefore, undoubtedly, Warsaw is trying to make purely political decisions in the military sphere, where completely different factors should play a decisive role. The sad experience with the acquisition of F-16 fighters taught no one anything (the Americans promised to organize production in Poland, but in the end did not fulfill their investment obligations). Therefore, as usual, Polish taxpayers will pay for everything, whose opinion no one asks...