What happens between Poland, Belarus and NATO
Poland has deployed 10,000 soldiers to support border guards with Belarus. How NATO is changing. Federico Guiglia's notebook
Tension is rising in Europe, as shown by the political and military, and not just economic, implications that Vladimir Putin's endless war against Ukraine is provoking.
The latest testimony comes from Poland, a country born over 20 years ago, which has deployed 10,000 soldiers in support of the border guard with Belarus, which is the main ally of the Russian aggressor.
INTENTIONS AND MESSAGES OF POLAND
In reality, the intent would not be of a warlike nature. Warsaw wants to control the continuous flow of immigrants that Lukashenko, the Belarusian president loyal to Moscow, is allegedly favoring – the authorities accuse – to destabilize the European Union through their entry into Poland. Nation which in turn represents the main and closest European support on which Kiev can count.
But it is clear that such a massive deployment of troops is also a political signal that NATO, through Poland, sends to those who have been striking day and night for almost a year and a half a sovereign nation eager to be part of the Atlantic Alliance. The defense minister of Warsaw, Mariusz Baszczak, says it clearly: "We want to scare the aggressor so that he does not dare to attack us".
The Poles are also concerned about the presence of Wagner mercenaries, apparently now in retreat, from Belarus.
THE NEW ROLE OF NATO
Precisely to avoid tragic surprises such as the one experienced by Kiev on 24 February last year with the sudden and improvident Russian invasion, NATO has long been redefining its strategic role in matters of defense and security between the nations of Europe and the North America adherents. A role that seemed almost obsolete and destined for the archives of history, thanks to the decades of peace found in the West and, above all, after the end of the cold war between the USA and the USSR in 1991. Instead and paradoxically, Putin has given NATO a new meaning in decline and rekindled Euro-Atlantic awareness of the need for a common geo-political defense of sovereign, independent and allied nations. An indirect defense in the case of Ukraine, in the center of Europe but not of NATO, and therefore helped in every way, even if out of the way, to resist in the face of the aggressor.
NATO's new task has involved not only the recent accession of Finland and Sweden, nations with an ancient and consolidated neutral tradition, among the 30 countries that make up the military alliance, but also a series of exercises and relocation of soldiers especially on the flank Oriental.
In addition, the commitment to allocate 2 percent of the national GDP to military expenditure has been reactivated, according to the agreement signed by the member countries.
Thus, the Polish decision reflects the great tension and great uncertainty that the war continues to arouse well beyond Ukraine.
(Published in L'Arena di Verona, Il Giornale di Vicenza and Bresciaoggi)
www.federicoguiglia.com
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/nato-polonia-bielorussia/ on Wed, 16 Aug 2023 03:56:31 +0000.