Jarosław Kaczyński on war
It is very puzzling, the calmness with which public opinion received the statements of the most important politician in the country on the real possibility of a war with Russia (and Belarus) and the need to start major preparations for it.
Something like this should be expected in a great debate about the army and its modernisation, about the state’s strategy for the next decades, about the great civilisational change, which was actually announced by Jarosław Kaczyński and Mariusz Błaszczak, who accompanied him at the conference. In fact, one would even expect a shock in a society blissfully lulled by thirty years of geopolitical sleep.
Meanwhile, nothing like that happened. There is no shock, no great debate, no concept of the use of armed forces presented to us, no great “story” on the part of the government to drag society with it into this costly and difficult reform, and there are no meaningful voices from the opposition. As for the importance of the topic and the scale of the planned expenses, and above all because of consequences that may affect us all, it is shocking that this topic has not dominated all transmissions for a very long time.
What happened to our community, what about the level of our strategic culture, that we do not want to or know how to talk about it and in this process form this culture?
Meanwhile, Jarosław Kaczyński spoke openly about the change in the geopolitical environment, about Russian policy, about the deteriorating international situation, about our reaction to this change in the form of the expansion of the armed forces. Last week was a very important moment in the history of Poland and it was a historic press conference.
At Strategy&Future, we have been talking about these challenges for a long time. Over a year ago, anticipating the development of events, we launched the project of the twentieth war, which turned into the project of the New Model Forces. For years, we have believed that Poland should stand in this new strategic situation, as befits a subjective state. You can imagine how we feel today.
But most of all, we have a mobilising conviction that it is very late and that we are not ready as a country. Poland has potential, we have all the premises, unlike in the past, to cope with it, but for various reasons we have not started to prepare properly so far. As with many security issues in the last 30 years.
Now the status and security of Poland will be decisive. Jarosław Kaczyński made it clear when he spoke about a possible war. The manner in which we all proceed in this matter will be assessed in the long memory of the Republic of Poland. There were many things that the Polish Republic did not provide for its sons and daughters. However, one thing is always guaranteed: a long memory.
The line between respect and glory and disgrace can be very thin.
