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Poland and NATO

Nestling up to Uncle Sam

By Jan Puhl

Poland wants to be seen as a reliable US partner, and is poised to send 400 additional troops to Afghanistan. Warsaw also supports Washington's vision for an eastward expansion of NATO -- including membership for Georgia and Ukraine.

For years, Poland and the Czech Republic have been torn between their fellow NATO members in Europe and the United States. On one hand, they have allowed Washington to push for the installation of a missile defense shield -- a deal that Prague and Warsaw appear ready to sign off on.

On the other hand, they -- and above all Poland -- strive to be viewed as full-fledged NATO partners. That could explain their willingness to send 400 additional soldiers to Afghanistan, which will increase the total Polish deployment there to 1,600 combat troops.

Many Poles view their German allies in Afghanistan with confusion. The Germans have lost 20 more men than Poland, but Germany continues to refuse sending troops to the country's more dangerous south.

German-Polish differences also make for some unique terrain when discussing security policy. Poland advocates tirelessly for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO, and for offering them "Membership Action Plans," the first official step toward joining the alliance.

For Poland, NATO membership was a "ticket to the West" that it wants to see extended to its eastern European neighbors. The strategic goal is to shift the body's momentum eastward.

But Berlin sees things differently. Officially, Berlin points out that a minority of Ukrainians, just 30 percent, support their country's potential membership in the alliance. Politicians in Warsaw, meanwhile, believe that a desire to placate Russia is the real reason for Berlin's objections.

All this as Russia looks to revive its fantasy of being a global superpower, 17 years after the breakup of the Soviet Union -- a trend of which Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member, does not approve.

"We are against a philosophy of geo-strategical spheres of influence," says Lukasz Kulesa, a security policy expert at the Polish Institute for International Affairs. He predicts that Ukraine will be ready to bargain at the NATO summit. But any promise of membership will probably be delayed.