Korybko To Nawrocki: A Forever War In Ukraine Isn’t In Poland’s Interests

The same goes for tacitly accepting Ukraine’s status as an anti-Polish state after all the fuss that he made about this earlier in the summer.

Polish President Karol “Nawrocki Envisages Poland Playing The Leading Role in Containing Russia” as confirmed in his major speech last week. He declared that it’s in Poland’s interests to help Ukraine continue killing Russians “as long and as effectively as possible”, which amounts to supporting a forever war. His conspicuous decision not to condemn the flying of Bandera flags in Ukraine while condemning them over Poland, however, suggests that he also tacitly accepts Ukraine’s status as an anti-Polish state.

These policies aren’t in Poland’s interests. Beginning with the last-mentioned, Ukraine is now Poland’s German-backed rival for regional leadership, which was elaborated on here in general and here as regards the Baltic States in particular. This role is directly due to its new status as an anti-Polish state that was confirmed by Zelensky’s recent state-level glorification of the Volhynia Genocide’s OUN-UPA culprits that in turn prompted Nawrocki to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from him.

“Poland Could Quickly Denazify Ukraine Without Firing A Single Shot” by threatening to stop having Poland facilitate the transit of Ukraine’s arms imports from NATO, which would either be sufficient for Ukraine to comply before they’re cut off or it would likely do so shortly after, but it’s not considering this. That’s because both Nawrocki and his rival liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk lack the political will. The first prefers that Ukraine continues killing “Moskals” while the second won’t dare to defy Germany.

The end result is that Ukraine remains an anti-Polish state under German tutelage as opposed to being transformed into a Polish-friendly state under Warsaw’s tutelage like is indisputably in Poland’s interests. Just as objectively bad for Poland’s interests, and even arguably worse in some ways, is Nawrocki’s de facto support for a forever war in Ukraine that would inevitably blow back into his own country. This policy entails the risk of radical escalation, another Ukrainian migrant wave, and an influx of illegal arms.

It’s therefore much better for Poland to quickly denazify Ukraine, or if Nawrocki and Tusk still lack the political will to do so, at least support a political end to the conflict pronto. Given Poland’s role as the most powerful military force on NATO’s Eastern Flank, which is confirmed by it commanding the largest army in European NATO nowadays and importing more arms than any other member of the bloc, it’s uniquely positioned to be European NATO’s main force for interfacing with Russia in the post-war period.

As was explained here, the hypothetical resumption of Russian-Polish talks could result in a post-war modus vivendi that would position them to jointly lead the construction of a new security architecture, which could reduce the risk of a NATO-Russian clash around 2030. It’s indisputably in Poland’s objective interests to pursue this leading role in European security instead of accepting the minor one that Germany and Ukraine envisage for Poland therein at the possible expense of its national security.

Nawrocki isn’t a professional politician and he deeply hates Russia, the latter of which was proven during his tenure as head of the Institute of National Remembrance (when he also oversaw the demolition of many Red Army monuments), but he also deeply loves Poland. It’s therefore possible that he let his emotions get the best of him, which is an explanation and not an excuse to be sure, and might thus return to his senses if his base with which he’s closely connected constructively critiques him for this.