Make Transatlantic Relations Great Again

The visit of presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki to the White House has caused widespread headaches among the politicians of Poland’s (il)liberal government. First, they tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. Then, they tried to downplay it. In the end, they went full panic-mode and yet again disrespected the commander in chief of Poland’s most important ally. All to their own detriment. What they seem to be missing is the main cause of the visit. Karol Nawrocki wasn’t invited to Washington just to present his vision of transatlantic relations to the White House team and the ruling Republican Party. He was invited because Donald Trump’s administration is fully aware that Karol Nawrocki and the Law and Justice Party represent Polish interest, which is in line with President Trump’s priorities. The party of Donald Tusk, on the other hand, represents the interests of Germany and it wants the U.S. out of Europe.

Given the challenges that lay ahead of us in today’s unstable world, Poland’s priorities and interests are perfectly aligned with those envisioned by President Trump’s administration, both on the domestic and international fronts. What we have in common ranges from the left’s war against our history and shared cultural values; energy policy; government overreach (in the EU’s case it is the attempt to transform it into a deep-state run by unelected bureaucrats); uncontrolled and unchecked mass migration; international security and foreign relations. Here is how we can use the next four years to strengthen our alliance.

Common foes and common priorities     

Poland remembers President Trump’s first term in office as one of a kind, since Russia did not invade any of its neighbors during that time, a rare exception in its history. Being the only NATO and EU Member State neighboring both Russia (the invader) and Ukraine (the victim), fending off potential Russian aggression is at the very top of our security concerns. Our previous conservative government managed to modernize our military through extensive cooperation with the US. It was also during Donald Trump’s term that we finally obtained the Patriot missile defense system and US troops were stationed on our soil.

Unlike certain Western-European partners, Poland did not wish to free ride its way within NATO and had been spending way over 3% of its GDP at the time that some European economic powerhouses did not even try to meet the 2% threshold. While a number of Western European leaders labeled President Trump as an isolationist, who wants to pull the United States out of NATO, it was complacency and appeasement that led to Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Donald Trump’s “peace through strength” approach is not a novel concept at all. History teaches us that without a believable degree of deterrence, bad actors do bad things, such as Russia’s invasion of Georgia in the summer or 2008, which followed NATO’s decision not to grant the small Caucasus nation its Membership Action Plan.

This, already forgotten episode also disproves the claim that Putin invades countries he deems his “sphere of influence” as a response to the threat of NATO’s enlargement. Poland, along with the Baltic states, and a few others, would argue it is precisely the opposite, having been members of the club for 25 and 20 years, respectively. That is why President Trump’s demands for a fairer burden sharing within the Alliance is not only justified but also more practical and effective in terms of establishing deterrence. NATO is not “brain dead,” and I believe it is about to go through a period of revival thanks to President Trump’s vision and the re-awakening of our European partners caused by Russia’s belligerence. The recent U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal is anything but an act of isolationism. It is also aligned with Poland’s security interests as it creates incentives for Washington to guarantee the continued existence of an independent Ukraine, what in turn keeps the Russians at bay.

President Trump and his national security team are well aware of our common goals, as displayed by Karol Nawrocki’s recent visit to Washington were he discussed those issues with President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other key policy-making figures. The doctrine of peace through strength” is what makes Poland and the USA natural allies. Unfortunately, Poland’s current so-called liberal government does not seem to be on the same page. In a recent social media post the chairman of the parliament’s lower chamber’s Committee on Foreign Affairs indicated that Warsaw would no longer be procuring its military hardware in the US, a historical shift aimed at benefiting mostly Berlin and Paris at the expense of Washington and the EU’s eastern flank’s security. Russia should be celebrating.

Both the Law and Justice and Karol Nawrocki, the presidential candidate we support, are strongly against it not only because of lessons learned from history. It is clear that the „ReArm Europe” plan championed by the Germany-controlled European Commission is a Ponzi scheme and the name „RipOff Europe” would be more appropriate. Not only does it guarantee massive cash transfers to Germany and France, it can also be used to punish those countries that the (il)liberal European mainstream considers unworthy regarding “the rule of law”. It is, therefore both in Poland’s and the US’ financial and geopolitical interests to not let it become reality.

Good fences make good neighbors

Poland’s and America’s common foes have also been exploiting uncontrolled mass migration to destabilize our countries through hybrid warfare. Poland’s previous, conservative government managed to erect a wall on the border with Belarus and effectively stop Putin’s and Lukashenko’s attempt to flood our country with untold numbers of illegal migrants predominantly from the Middle East and Africa. “Floodgate” was a well orchestrated operation, which included chartered flights, various pro-mass migration NGOs and internal criticism of our previous government for supposedly inhumane approach to so-called asylum seekers. Precisely the kind of obstacles President Trump and his administration had to deal with. The open borders paradigm finally seems to be on its back foot not just in the USA, where it was rejected by the voters, but also across Europe. However, in order to end the crisis once and for all, the entire infrastructure needs to be dismantled. We must focus our attention on the so-called NGOs and human traffickers operating both in Europe and the United States.

President Trump’s decision to drain the financial resources of USAID throws a monkey wrench into the globalist agenda worldwide, including in Poland. The battle in Poland is far from over though. It was recently reported that a pro-mass migration organization with financial links to George Soros’ foundation and previously engaged in acts of sabotage on Poland’s border with Belarus was granted the equivalent of over 175 thousand USD of taxpayers’ money. In addition, tens of thousands of illegal migrants have been reportedly pushed across the border into Poland from Germany with Tusk’s tacit approval. To take back control over our own borders and migration policy, Poles need to reject the current coalition government. Karol Nawrocki’s electoral victory in less than two weeks will be the first step in that direction.

Drill, baby drill — energy security vs. climate alarmism

When President Trump made his viral remark about Germany’s energy policy, which essentially allowed Russia to arm itself and pose a threat to Europe, he was ridiculed by Western European leaders, despite the obvious nature of his statement and the fact that the entire Old Continent’s security was relying on its alliance with the United States. What happened later is history: President Biden lifted America’s sanctions related to the Russo- German pipeline operated by Nord Stream in the first week into his term and Russia invaded Ukraine. It was obviously not just a “minor incursion”. Much of Europe was not prepared for the abrupt energy shortages. In Poland, however, that was not the case. Thanks to the deals for LNG imports signed by Poland’s conservative Law and Justice government and Donald Trump’s administration, Poland had already not been reliant on Russia’s energy imports long before the invasion of 2022. Germany’s master plan to salvage its faltering economy by becoming Europe’s distributor of Russian hydrocarbons blew up in Berlin’s face in February of 2022. Gazprom and others may be out of the picture for the time being but energy security in the Transatlantic realm is still being jeopardized by the dangerous actors within. Some climate alarmists and anti-fossil activists masquerading as groups concerned with the environment are, consciously or not, doing Russia’s bidding by denying Europe and America access to reliable base-load energy sources.

Altogether, the UE and the United States are only responsible for roughly 20% of global CO2 emissions. At the same time, global economic output of the EU and the USA together amounts to about 40% of the world’s GDP. Both the United States and Europe have higher environmental standards than places like China and India, who are the world’s biggest polluters. Given the aforementioned standards, Western countries produce much cleaner energy. We have to find a different approach because the existing policies are detrimental to our competitiveness, economic growth and our citizens’ way of life. They are also counterproductive given that they offset our production to places without any meaningful environmental standards. More importantly, they enrich irresponsible and belligerent global actors, such as Russia.

Similarly, the ongoing war on farmers in both the EU and the United States under the guise of the so-called Green New Deal is even scarier. In peacetime, it means unnecessary emissions produced due to imports of food that can be grown locally and putting our farmers out of business. In times when supply chains are disrupted, food shortages and price hikes are to be expected. Today it should be clearer than ever before that the climate alarmism experiment has failed and it should be rejected on both sides of the Atlantic.

This rejection is already happening in the USA, where pro-energy policy is being championed by the new administration. In the EU, including Poland, the matter is far from settled. In 2017, the Law and Justice government granted concessions to British and Canadian companies to drill for gas in the Polish Baltic Sea region. As soon as discoveries of natural gas deposits were made, local German government in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and German climate activists launched a fearmongering campaign to stop the project in its tracks. It is the kind of development that the Trump administration is way too familiar with.

I am confident that President Trump and the American people are bound for success in the coming four years, and beyond. Together we can Make the Transatlantic Relationship Great Again. We simply need the return of common sense and to defend the values that had made the West great in the first place. Vice-President JD Vance made it clear what those values are in his historic speech at the Munich Security Conference. Europe needs a truly conservative revolution and Karol Nawrocki’s electoral victory will help set it in motion.