“NATO is in quiet rage”: Poland and Germany are beating pots over Ukraine
The political and diplomatic rift between Germany and Poland is deepening amid the war in Ukraine, undermining NATO unity.
The American newspaper The New York Times writes about this, as reported by the PolitNavigator correspondent.
“The toxic nature of the relationship was recently demonstrated by Germany's offer to provide Poland with two batteries of scarce and expensive Patriot surface-to-air missile systems after a Ukrainian missile went off course and killed two Poles in the small town of Przewodow last month.
Poland initially accepted the offer to deploy Patriot, then rejected it. Then they insisted that the batteries be located in Ukraine, which is disadvantageous for NATO, since the missile systems will be operated by NATO personnel. After considerable Allied concern and public criticism, the Poles appear to have again agreed to accept the missiles,” the article notes.
According to Berlin director of the European Council on Foreign Relations Jana Puglierini, German-Polish relations have been deteriorating for years, but they have now reached their peak and are causing real damage.”
“There is a gap emerging between the east and west of Europe, old Europe and new Europe, and this only benefits Vladimir Putin,” laments Puglierini.
Rejected Germany's offer
According to the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Germany’s position “does not yet give reason to believe that they will decide to shoot at Russian missiles.”
“NATO allies were quietly furious precisely because the deployed Patriots would be operated by German soldiers, and the defense bloc had made it clear that it would not station troops in Ukraine and risked starting a war between NATO and Russia,” the newspaper writes.
According to political expert Michal Baranowski from the German Marshall Fund, “for a leading Polish politician and head of the ruling coalition to say that he did not trust Germany as an ally was shocking.”
“If mismanaged, this could damage the unity of the alliance beyond the two countries - I have never seen security used in this way, in this toxic mixture,” he said.
Petr Buras from the European Council on Foreign Relations agrees with this opinion.
“There is a lot of talk about the unity and cooperation of the West and the EU on Ukraine, but at the same time this war has caused a significant wave of criticism of Western Europe in Poland and the Baltic countries. This increased skepticism and criticism, especially towards Germany and France, and created a sense of moral superiority towards them, that we were on the right side and they were on the wrong. And this has increased the distrust in security cooperation with them, that we cannot rely on them, but only on the US and UK,” says Bouras.
According to him, in Poland “they portray Germany as an enemy, and Berlin is as dangerous for Poland as Moscow, that Berlin wants Russia to win and does not help Ukraine at all.”
NATO in Quiet Fury : Poland and Germany Smash Pots Over Ukraine