By David Engels
Time and again one finds with astonishment that the views of Polish conservatives about the USA are completely different from those of the French or Germans, also and especially against the background of the current Russian-Ukrainian crisis. This may be a truism, but it should not be forgotten, especially in these increasingly difficult times for Poland and the trimarium region in terms of foreign policy, but should be actively dealt with. The geopolitical starting point is well known: since Poland is wedged between Germany and Russia, its strategy has always been to turn to peripheral allies who could offer a political guarantee of survival against these two overpowering neighbors without having territorial interests themselves. However, the practical clothing of this doctrine shows that, due to historical developments, these external powers were usually those that showed a pragmatic interest in the survival of Poland, but whose ideology de facto hindered rather than promoted Polish conservatism.
A first example is undoubtedly the alliance with Napoleon, which is still cherished today, who rendered great services by re-establishing Poland as a vassal state of France and partially reversing the “divisions”, but whose actual policy was based precisely on those “revolutionary values” that were intended in the long term to undermine the fundamental spiritual values not only of Polish but also of every other European society.
Another example is the alignment of the newly founded Polish nation-state after the end of the First World War with the Western Entente powers, which also pursued a decidedly anti-Christian, internationalist and plutocratic ideology – an orientation that was also attempted in the Second World War, but ultimately ended in territorial mutilation and two generations of Soviet rule.
The current alliance with the US is also in this continuity, and it is to be feared that the negative consequences will only become apparent when it is too late.
Admittedly, the idealized image that many Poles have of the US seems miles away from such fears, especially since it was apparently confirmed by the presidency of Donald Trump and his short honeymoon with the current Polish government. From the Polish point of view, the US is regarded as the ultimate model of a freedom-oriented republican order, deeply rooted in the Christian faith and characterized by a strong will for individual freedom; two factors that seem to harmonize most beautifully with the (Catholic) religious convictions of Poland and the Polish tradition of the “liberum veto”. It is also understandable that during the time of the communist dictatorship the USA became an ideal image of prosperity, democracy and freedom and, from the Polish point of view, seems to represent a very enviable model of success due to the practical comparison with the catastrophic conditions of socialism that actually exists.
However, the realities of the 21st century no longer have much to do with such a generation-outdated ideal, as it was already criticized in the 20th century by many Western intellectuals, who got to know the USA not in contrast to the real existing communism, but rather through the critical examination of the actual consequences of Americanization (and thus actually only Tocqueville’s lucid fears from the 19th century). Even then, it was clear even to France that the Anglicization of the language would lead to a decline in the mother tongue, that U.S. ultra-liberal capitalism would lead to a dictatorship of a few major oligopolies, that the Americanization of culture (and especially gastronomy) would lead to a worrying decline in its own cultural developments, and that the naïve and often ignorant and egocentric transmission of its own democratic standards would lead to an uninterrupted series of foreign policy catastrophes for non-Western states, the consequences of which would be that not only the United States, but also many European states around the world are now seen in an extremely unfavorable light.
In the meantime, this development has been enriched by other worrying phenomena. An unbiased look at the reality of life in the U.S. shows how much the U.S. has come under the influence of that self-destructive ideology often referred to as “political correctness” or “wokism,” which reached an unprecedented climax under the presidency of Joe Biden.
Today, the US no longer stands for individual freedom, democracy and joie de vivre, but for the ruthless enforcement of multiculturalism, LGBTQ ideology, the transformation of democratic structures into oligarchic structures, mass immigration, de-Christianization, casino capitalism, the condemnation of one’s own historical past, the persecution of supposedly toxic masculinity and much more.
So one should not be under any illusions: at least under the current political circumstances, an alliance with the US is becoming increasingly unnatural for the conservative Polish government, and the guarantee of the political survival of the Polish state would have to be paid with a high price, namely with the abandonment of internal cultural autonomy, which is hardly less bad. However, these remarks should in no way be read as a call to break away from the long-standing partnership with the US or even to submit to one of the two immediate neighbors, because on the one hand the ideology currently prevalent in Germany (and the EU) hardly differs from that in the USA, while on the other hand the alleged Russian conservatism is little more than a cover for a fragile oligarchy, Whose alleged “love” for Christian-Western culture was revealed only a few weeks ago when it flew tens of thousands of Muslim migrants into the Belarusian forests to send them against the Polish border.
Rather, these lines are intended to show the reader how Poland is alone, with the exception of its current Central European allies, above all Hungary, actually, in world politics and that even traditional partners such as the USA will at best demand a high price for their support if they do not simply refuse it in the worst case – which is also a painful experience of Polish politics in the 18th, 19th and 20th century. It therefore seems essential to take a pragmatic and deliberately pessimistic view of reality in order to be able to coolly calculate beyond naïve hopes and idealizations what positive and negative consequences the various alliance constellations can actually offer, what price they would charge for them and what actual stability they can develop in the long term. The fact that all potential partners can therefore only be viewed with great skepticism allows only one conclusion:
Poland must change its one-sided orientation towards the US in that it urgently needs to look for other partners who, while of less practical military importance, can create a foreign policy climate in which Poland is treated with sympathy and respect even off the beaten path of the East-West context, because soft power will still be of great importance in the 21st century.
Therefore, one should first of all remember to intensify relations with the modern “Central Powers”, which have so far received little attention in Polish foreign policy, such as Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Mexico and many others. Another important point is the urgent further development of the Visegrád alliance system and the Trimarium idea, both of which have been repeatedly highlighted for a generation now as the ultimate goal of Polish European policy, but in reality have had little success and whose core seems to be endangered by the recent elections in the Czech Republic. It is therefore more urgent than ever to equip this Alliance with solid substantive and institutional structures in order to be able to ensure the pursuit of common goals even outside domestic political situations, and to finally establish those economic and political cooperation of the trimarium states which, in view of the current threat not only from the East, but also from the West, urgently need to intensify through cohesion. The window of opportunity for such an independent foreign policy of Poland is getting smaller and smaller with the intensification of the conflict with the European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany – especially since the upcoming “Conference on the Future of Europe” could lead to developments that could further marginalize Poland’s current position in Europe. It is to be hoped that the Polish government, which is currently being shaken by the disagreements over The Covid policy, still has the energy and foresight to use the last year of its governing majority that lies ahead of us to its advantage…