Thursday, December 6, 2018

Fort Trump, Poland

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Poland is a large flat country with a long Baltic Sea coast that tends to fall quickly when faced with outside attack.  Hitler's troops took most of Poland within a couple of days in September of 1939 while Russia came barreling in along the Eastern Front.  After the war ended, Poland was quickly cemented into the Soviet orb and remained essentially a satellite of Moscow for most of the remainder of the 20th century.

Now, a more liberated version of Poland is a member of NATO and aligned with the western powers.    Modern Poland still shares a long land border with the former Soviet Republics of Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, and it is the land mass that separates these Russian cousins from the European industrial powerhouse of Germany.   Poland has become one of the more important members of NATO.   A strong defense of Poland would appear to be not only in Europe's best interest, but in the long-term best interest of the United States as well.  If Poland were to be overrun by an adversary, say some sinister nation like Russia, it would affect the balance of power around the globe.

So maintaining a free Poland is regarded as an important international objective, one that plays out in the defense plans of Europe and even the United States.

The United States currently has troops in Poland.  They rotate through and work in conjunction with local forces.  U. S. troops in Poland have been involved in making some permanent military-related structures (things like watch towers and office buildings), but so far they occupy no permanent base.

The idea of creating a permanent U.S. base in Poland, something up close and personal to the "Russian" Front, has been kicked around for several years and even discussed quietly in the halls of the U.S. Congress.  But building a permanent U.S. base in Poland would be an expensive proposition, and it would definitely twist the tail of the Russian bear.  In fact, just yesterday a Russian legislator went on record as saying that an American base in Poland would immediately become a prime Russian military target.

Under normal circumstances, getting the United States to agree to building a U.S. base in Poland would be a tough sell - but these times and circumstances are far from normal.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has developed a bold plan to try and lure the United States into creating a U.S. military base along the Russian Front.  He wrapped the entire idea up in Donald Trump's vanity and said that he would be open to naming the new base "Fort Trump."  President Duda also said that Poland would contribute $2 billion to the project.

So far Donald John Trump has not spoken out against this obvious bribe to his ego, and he seems to be seriously considering the idea.  Trump has said that the President of Poland is prepared to offer far more than the initial $2 billion in aid for the project.

Congratulations to President Andrzej Duda of Poland for figuring out how to manipulate the narcissism of the President of the United States.  Now, if Duda really wants to sell the project, perhaps he should look at including a championship golf course at Fort Trump along with gilded VIP accommodations.  Not only might Donald go for something like that, he might even stoop to visit the troops who are stationed there.

The bottom of the barrel has just been scraped!

No comments: