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Then like a rocket landed on Polish territory, “from Brussels to Berlin” they fear that Warsaw will do “something reckless” against Moscow, to which the Polish authorities have “deep antipathy”. Instead, Poland has put its army on alert and is awaiting further developments, writes the American newspaper Politico.
The publication says that this calm was the product of a simple reality that has eluded most of Europe for many years: Poland, perhaps the best military in the EU and will only get stronger.
Poland has started to increase defense spending from 2.4% of GDP to 5%, Germany, which spent 1.5% of GDP on defense last year, is now being debated whether it can to meet NATO's 2% target.
Poland's army already has more tanks and howitzers than Germany's and will have a much larger force of 300,000 troops in 2035 compared to Germany's current 170,000. Another matter is whether Polish military power will translate into political influence in Europe, the authors note.
Now Berlin supports Warsaw's aspirations to strengthen its defenses, seeing the country as a buffer separating it from the Russian sphere of influence. In Washington, they see this as an attempt by the German leadership to “lie back in a hammock” while others “do all the work”.