Liberty. Democracy. Europeanism. European values. They are very repeated concepts but from which many have deserted at the most critical moment.
The consequences of forgetting our own history
The West believed itself to be at the top of history. The most used expression of our times is the one that consists of being surprised that something can happen "in the XXI century", as if having come this far had vaccinated us from all the ills that have affected humanity in the past. But it is precisely forgetting the past that has led us down a very dangerous path. A past that occurred less than a century ago, when Hitler threatened war if they did not give him the Czech Sudetenland, and the British and French gave in in fear. And in the end they had dishonor and war, as Churchill warned.
The exception of Poland, a country faithful to its roots and that does not forget its past
While the rest of the West sank into decadence, drunk on a cocktail of moral relativism and contempt for its own roots, Poland has remained faithful to its Christian roots and remembering every day the horror it experienced because of communism and nazism. Thanks to those roots, the Polish people were not swept out of history by those totalitarianisms, because their national identity was anchored in their faith. That fidelity to its roots has led it to be persecuted by the elite of a European Union that wants to drag Poland into that moral decadence, imposing abortion and gender ideology on it. This is the true cause of this persecution, and not the excuse of a Rule of Law that this elite tramples on with these purely anti-democratic ideological impositions.
The lukewarm attitude of many 'Europeanists' in the face of Putin's threats
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought down many masks. Those who most presumed to be "Europeanists" have looked the other way, as if the fate of the Ukrainian people mattered less because that country is not in the EU or NATO. This indifference is explained, to a certain extent, by the fact that part of the European political class, especially the German one, has done enormous favors for Putin, leaving Eastern Europe at his feet with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The Polish government has years warning of the risk that this gas pipeline entailed. It was not listened to, and today we suffer the consequences.
The prophetic announcement of the Polish Prime Minister in November 2021
Last year the situation was repeated with the migratory attack of Belarus against Lithuania and Poland. "This is just the beginning. Dictators will not stop,” Polish Prime Minister Madeusz Morawiecki warned in November, referring to Lukashenko and Putin. Once again, the EU elite went about their business. The urgent thing was not to stop those two dictators, but to impose the leftist agenda on Poland and Hungary. On November 23, Morawiecki insisted on giving the alert: "The EU is being blackmailed with Russian energy", and added a few words that now seem prophetic but that were limited to confirming something predictable: "Countries that remain outside the EU, such as Ukraine and Moldova, must receive a signal that they are not alone at the mercy of Moscow’s neo-imperial policy."
Poland has made several arms shipments to Ukraine
Morawiecki added another diagnosis that has been confirmed by the invasion of Ukraine: "Europe today has become a continent of fear again and it should be a continent of peace. Poland is the guardian of European peace and will maintain this guard." And so it has finally happened. As Europe cowered in the face of Putin's threats, Poland once again set an example to the West. Already at the beginning of the month, Poland sent weapons to Ukraine to prepare it for an invasion that was also foreseeable, in view of the Russian military mobilization. The day before yesterday, Poland sent a new shipment of weapons to the Ukrainians. But his actions did not stop there.
The Polish Army prepares for a Russian invasion
Already last Tuesday, hours after Putin's order to attack Ukraine became known, the Polish government reacted by announcing a Law for the Defense of the Homeland to increase the personnel of the Polish Army from 111,500 to 300,000, increase the defense budget, improve the training of its soldiers and the incentives to enlist and improve the defense culture of the Polish people, among other purposes. In short: Poland is preparing to defend itself by arms against a possible Russian invasion, since after Ukraine, the most likely thing is that Putin will set his target on that country and on the Baltic republics, which were already invaded by the USSR in 1939. and 1940.
Poland opens its doors to Ukrainian refugees
In addition to taking on that challenge, Poland has opened its doors to Ukrainians fleeing the invasion, offering to take them in and provide medical assistance to the wounded. Yesterday, many Poles stood in long queues to donate blood for the wounded Ukrainians. Simultaneously, 120 Polish hospitals were preparing to receive those wounded, offering 7,000 beds for people requiring additional surgical or orthopedic operations.
As I explained to you here in 2018, there were already 2 million Ukrainians in Poland as a result of the exodus that began in that country due to the Russian invasion of 2014. The Polish people bore most of the weight of that exodus, welcoming and employing those Ukrainians fleeing the war, who today have integrated well into the country that received them. And all this while a part of Europe accused the Poles of being unsupportive and xenophobic.
Ban of Russian flights and block of Putin's propaganda media
In the political arena, the Polish government has been one of the most active calling for forceful measures from the EU against the Putin government, demanding a complete exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT system (Morawiecki traveled to Germany yesterday to convince the reluctant government of that country about). And not only has he asked for them, but also Poland has implemented harsh measures against the Russian tyrant. On the very day of the Ukraine invasion, Morawiecki defended "the most far-reaching sanctions against Russia" in the Polish parliament.
That same day, Poland blocked the broadcasts of Russian propaganda channels on its territory (RT, RT Documentary, RTR Planeta, Soyuz TV and Russija 24) both for cable, satellite and internet broadcasts. The next day, Morawiecki announced the closure of Polish airspace to Russian airlines. In response, Russia has banned Polish flights over its territory.
The President of Poland calls for an urgent way to integrate Ukraine into the EU
In addition, yesterday Polish President Andrzej Duda called for an urgent path to Ukraine's integration into the EU: "Candidate status must be granted immediately and membership interviews must start immediately after. Ukraine will also have access to EU funds for reconstruction," he noted. This request is a clear challenge to Putin, who intends to decide for the Ukrainians what the fate of their country should be.
If the leadership of the European Union had been as firm against Putin as Poland has been, we might not be experiencing this serious situation today, caused largely by the weakness shown to Russia not only by the EU, but also by Joe Biden. Instead of opposing the tyrant, Brussels preferred to copy his authoritarian model by turning the EU into an ideological dictatorship that persecutes the dissident, as the European elite has done against Poland and Hungary. Europe must now decide what it prefers: to show firmness in the defense of Freedom, as Poland does, or to drift into a drift of decadence, cowardice and submission to Russia, as the EU elite has been doing until now. There is no middle path.
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Photo: Tomasz Bidermann / Shutterstock.
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