Russian Drones in Poland. Coincidence or by Arrangement?
(Translated)
News:
On September 11, DW reported that (on the night of September 10, at least 19 Russian drones crossed the Polish border, with a large number of them coming from Belarus. In addition to the Polish Air Force, fighter jets from other NATO countries were also deployed to intercept them. The wreckage of these aircraft damaged a residential building in the village of Wierejki near the border with Belarus and Ukraine, but there were no casualties. Warsaw stated that Russia deliberately attacked Poland, and requested consultations with its NATO allies in accordance with Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told the Bundestag that Russian drones were clearly launched deliberately on Polish territory. According to him, there is no reason to believe that this was a course correction error.
The Russian Ministry of Defense responded by saying that it does not plan to strike targets in Poland. The Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Wiesław Kukuła, said that the Polish army had received a warning from Belarus about the movement of drones. He said: "The Belarusians warned us that drones were heading towards us through their airspace.").
Comment:
For several years, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that he has no intention of attacking NATO countries. His last statement was in St. Petersburg on June 19. At that time, Putin denied claims that Russia was planning to attack NATO countries. Today, Russia is not ready to open a new front, but perhaps there is a plan behind this aggression against Poland, Romania and the Baltic states, and it is not coming from Russia itself, but is most likely one of the United States' maneuvers.
On July 10, in an interview with the American channel NBC, Trump stated: "We send weapons to NATO, and NATO pays for them in full. Thus, the weapons we send to NATO are sent, and then NATO supplies Ukraine with these weapons, and NATO pays for them."
A few days later, some European countries objected to this statement. France, Italy and the Czech Republic refused to pay for American weapons for Ukraine. A few days later, in an interview with TASS news agency, Viktor Vodolatsky, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, said: "The refusal of four European countries to buy weapons from the United States for later transfer to Ukraine is a transient phenomenon. In any case, Trump will convince them of this, and they will do what he says." Where does this confidence come from? Perhaps he knows some details of the agreements between Putin and Trump.
Shortly after these events, on September 4, Trump announced that America would stop funding the armed forces of Eastern European countries. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were the main recipients of the funds. America justified these measures with Trump's policy of re-evaluating and redistributing foreign aid, and the need for Europe to take responsibility for its own defense. These American actions and statements, which leave Europe unprotected from the Russian threat, reveal an intention to encourage Europe to buy American weapons more quickly. This is supported by the lack of a firm response from America and NATO to the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones, except for strengthening border security. In return, Poland has asked its NATO allies to provide it with air defense systems and technologies to combat drones.
It is worth noting that Russian drones flew from Belarus, and President Lukashenko had appeared on the scene before that. Trump had spoken with Lukashenko by telephone the day before his meeting with Putin in Alaska on August 15. Negotiations between America and Lukashenko began long before that. Some sanctions were lifted against Belarus in exchange for the release of political prisoners, including Americans, a new development in the history of Lukashenko's rule.
Until now, Europe has been talking about Ukraine as a buffer zone on its southern borders, but the Russian threat on its northern borders via Belarus remains unresolved. The United States has left the Baltic states without assistance, and is establishing relations with Lukashenko, which has greatly concerned Europe, and will likely push it to buy American weapons immediately.
The Baltic states, Poland and other countries have always served American interests faithfully, whether in Europe or in the Middle East, but despite this, America easily uses them as a bargaining chip. Friendship with America brings good to no one. Here, it is necessary to quote Henry Kissinger, who said after the famous events in South Vietnam: "Being an enemy of America is dangerous, but being a friend of America is fatal."
Written for the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Eldar Khamzin
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
