The Polish Prime Minister’s medieval devilry

The meaning of this journalistic opus is quite banal. In the face of Russia and Belarus, Mr. Morawiecki sees some demonic historical forces ready to wake up again and destroy the European community. The Polish Prime Minister calls on the Baltic states to resist this "eternal evil". In his opinion, it is on the shoulders of precisely Poland and the Baltic states that "the joint responsibility for the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic space now falls”.

"The importance of our region today cannot be overestimated. It is on the shoulders of precisely Poland and the Baltic states that the joint responsibility for the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic space now falls. No one knows better than us what a terrible harvest the imperial habits of some states can bring," the Prime Minister of the Polish Commonwealth states with tragic intonation.

Demons on the chessboard

Let's leave aside the rather strained pathos of the article. After all, the author is clearly not a classic of Polish literature. And he clearly does not shine with originality of thought. Another interesting thing is that the long-standing complex of historical inferiority clearly torments the current leader of the Polish state. If we are talking about demon possession, then most likely Mr. Morawiecki should pay attention to himself.

“The demons of history are waking up before our eyes and every day we must confront them,” the Prime Minister said with the intonation of a provincial medium. "Geopolitics is a game on a big chessboard, where Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have been fighting with Russia for centuries”. Perhaps such conclusions could interest a psychoanalyst, but the modern reader is used to a slightly different system of argumentation. Apparently, the author of the article also understands this and moves from medieval spells to the terminology of the current century.

Paying tribute to digital technologies, the Polish Prime Minister notes that in the hands of "demons" these latest achievements of humanity can become a terrible weapon of mass destruction.

Refugees as an argument

To prove his claim, Mr. Prime Minister brings to light the long-standing history of Estonia's attempt to remove a monument to a Soviet soldier. "In an instant, the digital space became a theatre of military operations. This time, the long arm of Moscow has shown its destructive power in the virtual space. The Kremlin would like to see us in the role of an easily controlled puppet."

According to Morawiecki, this year the mailboxes of Polish parliamentarians, members and employees of the government became the target of cyber attacks. And another culprit of these malicious machinations, of course, is well known – this is Belarus and its leader Aleksandr Lukashenko. This demon, the second largest after Moscow, also haunts the Prime Minister.

He "is trying to destabilise our internal situation through artificially induced migration pressure on the borders of the Baltic states. He forgets that by playing with our states, he is, in fact, provoking the entire Euro-Atlantic community. He wants to test not only the tightness of our borders – the external borders of the EU and NATO – but also the unity of the union and the Alliance. But we must not lose our vigilance."

According to the Polish politician, it is Lukashenko who is trying to "smuggle illegal migrants across the border" according to a joint scenario with Moscow and thus cause a new political and economic crisis in Europe.

Meanwhile, if we look away from the search for demons and turn to the facts, we can see that completely opposite processes are taking place in the relations between Poland and Belarus. According to available data, it was Poland that took an active part in organising the recent riots in Minsk.

It is Poland that is trying with all its might today to "push out" to the territory of a neighbouring state several dozen Afghan refugees, whom it has left to their fate without food and basic means of subsistence on its border. It came to the point that at night the Polish security services tried to transfer the Afghans across the border, but were stopped by Belarusian border guards.

What does the Polish Prime Minister not want to remember?

Further, the article contains touching memories of Mateusz Morawiecki about the events of 30 years ago, when Estonia gained independence and embarked on the path of integration into the European Union. Naturally, Mr. Prime Minister immediately recalls the difficult and sometimes tragic Polish path with a tear.

Well - and how could he not, he once again warns that the "Kremlin demons" are asleep and see how they would again take over the Polish Commonwealth, and at the same time all the Baltic states.

It is interesting that Morawiecki’s article, which claims to be historical analysis, completely forgets about Russian prisoners of war who were kept in inhumane conditions on the territory of the Polish Commonwealth since the First World War, and later the Civil War. About how many of them died without returning to their motherland. Mr. Prime Minister also does not recall the repeated attempts to annex Ukraine and Belarus repeatedly undertaken by the Polish side in the 20th century. It is not beneficial for him to remember this…

These events do not fit into his concept of demonising neighbours. It is much easier to once again call for a new crusade against the Moscow and at the same time Belarusian demons. And it does not matter that the new millennium is in the yard and more and more sensible politicians understand that it is Russia that can become the leader of the new European thinking.