Poland had failed to fully realise that Ukrainians were not just helpless victims of Vladimir Putin, but actual people with agency. As soon as they could, many Ukrainian refugees moved out of their hosts’ living rooms and rented or bought apartments. They set up businesses, many of which are now flourishing, and created a robust community, often engaging in direct competition with local people. They refused to behave as grateful or passive recipients of Polish charity. This is an understandable, indeed desirable progression, but as a result, compassion ceased to be the currency of the relationship between Poles and Ukrainians.
Funny that, when you realise you've been taken for a ride all along....
Accustomed to direct talks with US and western European leaders, Ukranians do not need an “advocate”, certainly not in Warsaw. Zelenskyy can run his own show.
Yes, he's doing a bang-up job, isnt he?
Memory politics has unhelpfully reared its head after Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a branch of which massacred about 100,000 Poles in 1943. The Polish right responded in kind, and the president, Karol Nawrocki, revoked Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle, the highest state honour available to non-Poles. Both sides refused to back down, returning further honours and pretty much freezing mutual relations.
Just one more example of why you shouldn't elect a failed tv comedian with no geopolitic nous as head of state...
Such an outcome could and should have been avoided, especially by Donald Tusk’s liberal governing coalition.
The EU screwing up again? You don't say...
Poland’s shortsightedness is a cautionary tale.
Realising you've been taken for mugs always comes later in the day - it's what you do about it for the future that count!
Ukrainian leaders will come to Brussels, Paris and Berlin, asking not for free bullets and money, but for an equal voice, arguing that their defence of the continent against Russian barbarism has earned them a seat at the table.
Pot says, 'Hey Kettle, you've got a real good tan'...
Hopefully Poland won't rush to support that bid...
