If it is above all hatred of Russia that has cemented the recent ties between Poland and Ukraine, to the point of even considering at least intellectually a merger of the two entities, this same hatred of Russia has blinded Poland to the Banderism that is difficult to uproot at least in Western Ukraine and in power in Kyiv.
Poland could pay dearly for it. But Europe could also, at the end of the conflict, which would see Ukraine destroyed and reduced to nothing, suffer a serious backlash. Zelensky has already implicitly issued threats in the form of a warning if Europe does not make more efforts to help Kyiv's Ukraine.
The irony being that Poles and Ukrainians do not like each other much.
Want to tork off a Pole? Want to send a Stasiek or Gosia into a spitting mad Donald Duck meltdown?
Remind your stalwart Pole that, whatever bad things Russia or the Soviet Union might have done, the only reason that there are Polish people alive today in Poland is becausse of the Red Army.
Historical feuds can rarely, if ever, be totally resolved, even when political leaders on both sides try to. For many people, that kind of resettlement and massacre are deep pains cutting into the bone, and perhaps even etched there. Eventually, there has to be a generation or two willing to abandon whatever historical claims and try to live and let live in the modern era. Such "internal" bickering is also a sign that the losing war is eroding their minds, and to some extent, human dignity. Too often, blind pride becomes the better part of the human dignity.
People nuture historical gripes and ethnic beefs when they want to, and forget them when they want to.
Poles and people in the Batlics are encouraged to lovingly keep alive the memory of historical wrongs committed by Russia, some of them hundreds of years old. At the same time, the people of Iraq or Vietnam, who suffered millions of casualties as the result of wars of aggression and well within living memory, are told to forgive and forget.
For the Baltics and Poland, obviously keeping that memory of hatred gives them financial benefit (at least to some of the people there). But for Vietnam, at the moment it is a win-win. For Iraq, not so much, but at least there are not that many American boots on the ground. For Phillippine, not so much, as USA is pushing Phillippine into war.
I don;t think the benefit is so much financial for Poland and the Baltics, so much as it is an opportunity to show their American Master how useful they can be.
Lycus
If it is above all hatred of Russia that has cemented the recent ties between Poland and Ukraine, to the point of even considering at least intellectually a merger of the two entities, this same hatred of Russia has blinded Poland to the Banderism that is difficult to uproot at least in Western Ukraine and in power in Kyiv.
Poland could pay dearly for it. But Europe could also, at the end of the conflict, which would see Ukraine destroyed and reduced to nothing, suffer a serious backlash. Zelensky has already implicitly issued threats in the form of a warning if Europe does not make more efforts to help Kyiv's Ukraine.
The irony being that Poles and Ukrainians do not like each other much.
Want to tork off a Pole? Want to send a Stasiek or Gosia into a spitting mad Donald Duck meltdown?
Remind your stalwart Pole that, whatever bad things Russia or the Soviet Union might have done, the only reason that there are Polish people alive today in Poland is becausse of the Red Army.
Poland has created a monster that it is struggling to control!
Historical feuds can rarely, if ever, be totally resolved, even when political leaders on both sides try to. For many people, that kind of resettlement and massacre are deep pains cutting into the bone, and perhaps even etched there. Eventually, there has to be a generation or two willing to abandon whatever historical claims and try to live and let live in the modern era. Such "internal" bickering is also a sign that the losing war is eroding their minds, and to some extent, human dignity. Too often, blind pride becomes the better part of the human dignity.
People nuture historical gripes and ethnic beefs when they want to, and forget them when they want to.
Poles and people in the Batlics are encouraged to lovingly keep alive the memory of historical wrongs committed by Russia, some of them hundreds of years old. At the same time, the people of Iraq or Vietnam, who suffered millions of casualties as the result of wars of aggression and well within living memory, are told to forgive and forget.
For the Baltics and Poland, obviously keeping that memory of hatred gives them financial benefit (at least to some of the people there). But for Vietnam, at the moment it is a win-win. For Iraq, not so much, but at least there are not that many American boots on the ground. For Phillippine, not so much, as USA is pushing Phillippine into war.
I don;t think the benefit is so much financial for Poland and the Baltics, so much as it is an opportunity to show their American Master how useful they can be.