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Poland says it will match Russia's diplomatic hostility

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  • Poland says it will match Russia's diplomatic hostility

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland will reciprocate if Russia continues to bill for Poland's diplomatic buildings in Russia, the foreign minister said Wednesday.

    Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna spoke after the Arbitration Court in St. Petersburg allowed bailiffs to evict Poland's consulate there, saying Poland owes some $1 million in rent.

    The decision is seen as part of growing tensions between Poland and Russia over Moscow's role in the conflict in Ukraine.

    Poland has protested the court's decision, saying diplomatic premises have immunity and noting that Russia is using about a dozen buildings in Poland rent-free.

    A few years ago Poland cancelled a communist-era agreement regulating mutual use of diplomatic premises, saying that Russia was not observing it. Warsaw is urging new negotiations to obtain full reciprocity but there has been no progress.

    Schetyna said if Russia continues to bill Poland it will "receive the same treatment from the Polish side."

    "Russia's overdue rent is much, much higher than that of the Polish consulate in St. Petersburg," he said. Link
    ______

    And Russia continues to win the hearts and minds of her neighbors.
    “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

  • #2
    Poland has never trusted Russia. Some of my family, who are from Poland, claim that the April 2010 deaths of half the Polish cabinet were orchestrated by Russia. Whether or not that's true, I cannot say.

    But Russia and Poland have been enemies for centuries. Poland and Germany divided Poland twice, and even under communism Poles didn't like the Russians. Poland was one of the first countries to oppose the Soviets, with Solidarity in 1980. Stalin himself said that installing communism in Poland was like "putting a saddle on a donkey."

    So Polish-Russian tension is nothing new. The biggest question is, do the Poles feel NATO will protect them from Russia? Ukraine is a difficult example, because it was neither a consistent ally of the US nor a member of NATO. So East Ukraine's "fall" isn't too comparable to say, one of the Baltics falling.

    It looks like Putin jumped the gun in trying to start a new Cold War. Stalin at least had tons of satellite countries and Soviet-backed guerrillas in half the world. Putin is out of the starting gate with little more in his camp than his backyard.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by ranger2 View Post
      The biggest question is, do the Poles feel NATO will protect them from Russia? Ukraine is a difficult example, because it was neither a consistent ally of the US nor a member of NATO. So East Ukraine's "fall" isn't too comparable to say, one of the Baltics falling.
      That would be a little odd for the Poles to think that, given all of the military exercises going on, right at the eastern border of NATO lately.

      There's also quite a bit of aid shipped to and military training ongoing in Ukraine, so it's hardly the case that the region has been back-burnered or even ignored by NATO.

      Regardless of anything else, I'd be more worried about the Baltic's being visited by the Little Green Men sooner than Poland.
      On the flip side of that coin, Poland's current efforts, civilian and military, to build up their defenses against Russian aggression are a smart move.
      “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by ranger2 View Post
        It looks like Putin jumped the gun in trying to start a new Cold War. Stalin at least had tons of satellite countries and Soviet-backed guerrillas in half the world. Putin is out of the starting gate with little more in his camp than his backyard.
        I call the new guerrillas "terrorists". Not to mention the delicate, yet strategic relationship with China. The overt support of Iran (by which comes a multitude of proxies). He may not have as many countries on paper, but he has enough friends in low places to do enough dirty work to execute his task.
        "We are all special cases." - Camus

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Squirrel View Post
          I call the new guerrillas "terrorists". Not to mention the delicate, yet strategic relationship with China. The overt support of Iran (by which comes a multitude of proxies). He may not have as many countries on paper, but he has enough friends in low places to do enough dirty work to execute his task.
          American dollars are more important to the Chinese than Russian weapons.

          At the end of the day, even though the Chinese would like to give the impression they're throwing their weight around, they need jobs more than territory and their jobs are dependant on the US.
          Chimo

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          • #6
            Originally posted by OOE2_test View Post
            American dollars are more important to the Chinese than Russian weapons.

            At the end of the day, even though the Chinese would like to give the impression they're throwing their weight around, they need jobs more than territory and their jobs are dependant on the US.
            True, they don't need the Russians nearly as much. They already got their weapons, and made them better. However, they do value the relationship with Russia for its strategic importance: they are unified in their position against American presence in their respective spheres of influence. Thus, "delicate, yet strategic".

            I don't mean to imply they are the best of friends, or that they don't have conflicting interests. Just that they can be receptive undermining American/Western efforts when it suits the Chinese purpose.

            It's all one big circus...
            "We are all special cases." - Camus

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