Don’t look now: A new military power may be rising on the plains of Central Europe. According to data recently released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading tracker of global defense spending, Poland’s military outlays last year jumped higher than any other country in Europe bar Ukraine, which is in the midst of a full-blown war. That includes Russia, which is on the other side of that war in Ukraine. In 2015, Poland’s plans for military spending top
$10 billion.
This is part and parcel of a 10-year, $36 billion modernization plan Warsaw launched in February to bulk up its defenses. In 2014, its spending rose 13 percent. A big part of its motivation: Russia’s meddling in Ukraine (Poland’s neighbor to the east), which continues to destabilize the country, despite a cease-fire agreed to in February. But even before Vladimir Putin decided to seize Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula a year ago, “Poland, for historical reasons, has always been more concerned about Russia” than many of its neighbors, notes Dr. Sam Perlo-Freeman, head of the SIPRI military expenditure project, and “they’ve always wanted to show themselves to be a serious emerging NATO partner.”
WNU Editor: Polish military jokes .... like the image on the left .... have been around for a very long time. But it is true that Poland's free market economy and avoidance of debt has done wonders for its economy. I have long-time friends in Krakow, and I have seen how much that region has boomed in the past 25 years. This all translates into having military and political power ... and we are starting to witness it now.
2 comments:
Tragically, another bowling team unable to make their tournament.
You are of course referring to the team on the US sub .... right James? :)
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