In Poland, which is at the hub of continental Europe, when faced with every major problem, it is necessary to "grasp" the size of each party, which is very important to Duda's "water-carrying" technique.
| Author: Yang Xueyi
| Editor: Yu Bing
| Editor: Su Rui Lingyun
"FAKE NEWS"!
When the foreign media rushed to make a frenzy for the news that "Poland will give away Ukrainian fighter jets", Poland could not sit still.
Polish President Duda, deputy foreign minister, government spokesman, etc. have made it clear on various occasions that Poland will not transfer belligerents to Ukraine, nor will it allow other countries to use the country's airports to do so.
Official Twitter accounts such as the Polish Prime Minister and the Polish Armed Forces have also been collectively dispatched, and one after another have issued articles denying it. The Polish Prime Minister's Office even made a "chase and fight" frenzied clarification, with its official social media accounts writing huge "fake news" in the comments section of the relevant news.
· The Polish Prime Minister's Office 'chases after the poor' frenzied clarification.
Combing through the ins and outs of this matter, it can be clearly seen that the Western countries led by the United States have been frantically "arching fire" in an attempt to push Poland into the fire pit. However, the United States' rotten trick of "watching the fire from across the shore" and avoiding "igniting the fire" has become more and more ineffective.
Poland has resisted the pressure this time, and president Duda can be said to have made an indispensable contribution.
No one wants to be "cannon fodder"
This round of "kicking the ball" starts with Ukraine's request for air support.
Beginning on March 3, Zelenskiy appealed to the West: "If you do not have the strength and determination to establish a no-fly zone, give us planes", he even mentioned that it is okay to give Soviet-era planes.
The MiG-29 twin-engine medium fighter donated by the United States to encourage Poland is the "classic aircraft" of the Soviet era.
Produced in the 1970s and officially commissioned in 1983, the MiG-29 is one of the main combat aircraft of the Russian army, mainly used to destroy air and ground targets, with a maximum speed of 2450 kilometers per hour and a maximum climb altitude of 18,000 meters.
In 1988, East Germany began to receive a batch of MiG-29s from the Soviet Union.
In 2003, the German government decided to symbolically hand over the MiG-29 to Poland for 1 euro (1 euro about 6.9 yuan) for 1 aircraft. However, due to financial constraints, the Polish Air Force planned to repair only 2/3 of the fighters, and the rest was split into parts.
· Polish Air Force MiG-29 (left), Polish Air Force F-16 (center), and U.S. F-22 fighter jets. (Image source: Bloomberg)
Don't look at the MiG-29 has been in service for many years, even if it is not modernized, it can be used for more than 10 years.
Soon after Zelenskiy issued an appeal for "fighter jets", the United States began to negotiate with Poland and other countries on the possibility of providing fighter jets.
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said on March 6 that the U.S. side wanted Poland to send warplanes to Ukraine. In compensation and in return, Poland will receive the American-made F-16 fighter jet.
· On March 6, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said he agreed to send warplanes to Ukraine from Poland. (Source: CCTV News)
After the United States spoke out, britain also followed the "arch fire".
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Britain would "support and defend" Poland if it decided to supply Ukraine with warplanes.
· Uk Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace (video screenshot)
In the face of the air shouts of Britain and the United States, Poland's approach is very "artistic".
On March 8, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that, after consultation between its president and the government, Poland was ready to transfer all MiG-29s "immediately" and "free of charge" to the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany for disposal by the US side.
At the same time, Poland urged the United States to provide it with second-hand fighters with similar combat capabilities and immediately began to discuss the conditions for purchasing these fighters, and the Polish government also asked other NATO countries with MiG-29s (alluding to Slovakia, Romania, etc.) to take similar actions.
· Polish Prime Minister Mikhail Morawiecki made a statement. (Video screenshot)
This wave of operations caught the Americans a little off guard.
The Pentagon said on the 8th that it rejected Poland's "transfer" proposal, saying that it was "untenable" and that it was a private matter for Poland to transfer the fighter jets to Ukraine, and it was unreasonable to use the airports of NATO countries for this purpose.
After the United States made its statement, Poland's response was also justified.
On March 9, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Jablonski said that Poland should not be the only country to take the risk of NATO, "We always stress that decisions on the transfer of such weapons to Ukraine or any similar action should be made by NATO." ”
Poland's several responses made the Americans feel that they could not hang on to their faces and began to look back for compensation.
The Pentagon said it did not support Poland in supplying warplanes to Ukraine because the move could lead to a conflict between NATO and Russia.
White House spokesman Psaki put it even more bluntly at a March 10 briefing: "You don't need to be a military expert to explain why it's not in our interest for a plane flying from a U.S. base to a state-contested area where the war took place." ”
Seeing that the MiG-29, which was almost "in hand", had just "flown away", Zelenskiy was anxious.
In his video speech, he said emotionally: "We are going through a war, there is no time to mediate and discuss, this is not a table tennis game, trouble hurry up and make a decision, send the fighter plane to Ukraine!" ”
· In a video speech on March 9, Zelenskiy urged Western countries to cash in on military aid. (Video screenshot)
In Eastern European countries, "pinching" is the key
On one side of the "ping-pong table" is Polish President Duda. In fact, he has expressed his position very early.
On March 2, After attending a meeting of the National Security Council on the situation in Ukraine, Duda said Poland had no intention of going to war and that there was no indication that Poland would be attacked.
After the news of "providing warplanes to Ukraine" was exposed, Duda further stressed that Poland has no plans to transfer fighters to Ukraine, and will not allow other countries to use airfields in Poland to transfer warplanes to Ukraine. However, Poland will provide assistance to Ukraine in other areas.
At the same time, Duda also supported Ukraine when he expressed his position.
On Feb. 28, after a phone call with Zellisky, he tweeted: "As Zelenskiy told me, every house destroyed by Russian missiles and every subsequent victim increased the resistance of the defenders and the determination to win." ”
According to foreign media reports, Poland has been hosting Ukrainian refugees. At present, the large number of refugees has put too much pressure on many Polish cities, and some Polish city officials say they can no longer sustain the influx of refugees.
· On 28 February, a volunteer accompanied people from Ukraine out of the Medica port in Poland. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Meng Dingbo)
However, Poland and Duda know that they cannot cross the line, especially the red line of Russia.
Inherit the mantle of twin politicians
The reason why Duda has such political literacy is closely related to his origin.
He was born in 1972 to a family of scholars in Krakow, southern Poland. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the world's oldest school in Poland, Jagiellonian University, to study law.
Due to his academic excellence, Duda stayed on to teach after graduating in 2001. Four years later, he started a law firm with several like-minded friends.
Duda was later able to enter politics and became inseparable from the famous Kaczynski brothers in Poland.
The twin brothers, the older brother is Yarosław Kaczynski, the younger brother is lech Kaczynski, in childhood is a well-known child star in Poland, grew up into the political arena, the rise of the storm, once served as the prime minister and president of the country.
· Former Polish President Lech Kaczynski (left) and brother Jarosław Kaczynski. (Infographic)
In 2001, the Kaczynski brothers co-founded Poland's right-wing Law and Justice Party, which quickly formed a climate in the country, becoming the largest party in parliament in 2005.
Duda was an active member of the party and attracted Lech's attention. The latter appointed Duda as the party's legal adviser when he ran for president in 2005.
In the end, Lech won the election, and Duda, who had made great achievements, naturally became a member of the cabinet, successively serving as deputy minister of justice, deputy secretary of state in the office of the president, and was appointed by parliament as a member of the Constitutional Court.
In 2010, a sudden catastrophe upset Polish politics.
On April 10, Lech's presidential plane crashed while traveling to Russia for a commemorative event, killing all 96 people on board. Later, Duda resigned from the government and became a city councilor. He then entered the Polish Parliament and continued to serve as spokesman for the Law and Justice Party.
In May 2015, the 43-year-old Duda won the presidential election and won re-election in July 2020.
· On August 6, 2020, Poland's re-elected President Duda was sworn in at the National Assembly held at the Parliament House.
When he ran for president of Poland, he was generally credited with inheriting Kaczynski's mantle. Some scholars have simply summarized his foreign policy as the fundamentals of "pro-American, eurosceptic, and anti-Russian."
Poland's relations with Russia have been at a low level. Some experts pointed out that Poland's strengthening of relations with the United States stems to a large extent from The psychology of Russian phobia. Not only are the two countries deeply resentful in history, but they are also in constant conflict with each other in reality.
After the Crimean crisis broke out in 2014, "anti-Russian" sentiment in Poland continued to prevail. But on the other hand, Poland is heavily dependent on Russian energy, with 2/3 of the country's natural gas imports from Russia, and although it intends to expand the process of energy diversification, it is still difficult to get rid of this dependence.
But then again, the so-called "pro-American" and "anti-Russian" are relative. What Duda really wants to do is to "meet the source left and right" between the major powers, which can be seen through this "sending fighters" incident.
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