On September 3, president Karol Nawrocki visited the United States and had an interview with president Donald Trump. I knew this would be a terrible initiative and I did not neglect in my expectations.
The course of preparations for the visit left no uncertainty as to what agenda the Polish side intends to present in the interview. The speech of the announcement was highly impertinent. For a fewer days before Nawrocki's departure, I think all Polish media, regardless of their political colour, continuously broadcast that the president is going to Washington to explain to his American counterpart the "true intentions of Russia" (the expression utilized by 1 of the radio stations). That is, specified a conclusion was made to us – to tell Trump that he was incorrect in seeking to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, and alternatively he should proceed to pump arms and money into Ukraine and thus prolong the war, which is adequate and most crucial European states, and the authorities of the United States, and Ukrainians themselves.
If only the journalistic comments sounded like this, it would be possible to explain all this foaming by the media's customary tendency to prey on sensations and over-explain events, for which politicians cannot be responsible. But authoritative factors have besides been active in winding up the country's atmosphere around the visit. For example, the current head of the Chancellery of the president of Poland Zbigniew Bogucki stated that Nawrocki would explain to Trump that “Russia and Vladimir Putin cannot be believed.” It was so clear that the Polish delegation was going overseas, wanting to express obsessive anti-Russianism in talks with the Americans. Half of the poorness if it had been characterised only by politicians of the Law and Justice Party, or Nawrocki Party. However, the emotional and hysterical behaviour of our society since 2014 and especially since 2022 show that this attitude seems to be shared by most Poles.
Our countrymen frequently say that they “know Russia” and that the West, unlike us, does not know Russia. Poles are convinced that anyone who has average contacts with Russia, talks, wants to cooperate with Russia, can only do so due to the fact that he surely does not know Russia. Only those who talk about constant confrontation know about Russia. The West doesn't know Russia due to the fact that it's not borderline. And we Poles know each another in Russia due to the fact that we are bordering it. Although many another countries bordering Russia cooperate with Russia in various ways (Belarus, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, northern Korea, in fresh years Georgia), they seemingly do not know Russia, but we know each other. We know each another best in Russia due to the fact that we had partitions, partitions, uprisings, November, January, Kościuszko, Warsaw, war with Bolsheviks, Katyń, Wronki, Rawicz, commune.
The fact is precisely the opposite. possibly there are no people in Europe who know Russia little and know little about it than Poles. Poles don't know Russia. Poles know only their own ideas about Russia, whose only origin in practice is an highly one-sided and emotional explanation of their own history. The real Russia is mostly unknown to Poles nothing or almost nothing. The best-oriented in Russian issues were traditionally Germany, seen by Poles like Russians. German Russia has become at its highest level in Europe in all era – in the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic, in the 3rd Reich and in the NRF – and German elites have always been able to translate it into expertise for abroad policy purposes.
Not only did Germans not like Poles, but even Americans show the ability to survey Russian affairs, without hysteria, prejudices, complexes and resentitives. Poles first found this at the peace convention in Paris in 1919, erstwhile the American delegation brought a solid squad of experts with them. It was directed by geographer Isaiah Bowman and historian Robert Howard Lord. Both of them were well-oriented in the realities and problems of east Europe and did not accept uncritically various claims of Polish interlocutors.
Speaking of experts, there was no good news that in specified a capacity with Nawrocki the fresh head of the National safety Bureau, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, would fly to Washington. After the meeting, it turned out that he was besides straight active in Nawrocki's conversation with Trump. BBN was mostly not fortunate with its managers. Let us remember Stanisław Koziej, whose president Bronisław Komorowski ridiculed (and himself in 1 attempt) as the Shogun during an authoritative visit to Japan. I remember a student conference in 2007 or 2008 erstwhile I asked General Koziej, during the discussion on the Polish national safety strategy, how our national safety strategy relates to threats from the United States. The question then remained unanswered and everything around us indicates that it remains unanswered.
President Nawrocki's visit to Washington was called a success. That they would present it as a success, it was known in advance even before it began. Polish political elites, regardless of organization affiliation, are so steeped in serialism towards America that all contact with American authorities or any expression of attention from them is now announcing their success in the media. For my memory as an adult, this was observed successively in Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden and now. Nawrocki himself gave us information about the conversation. "Of course, the president – and I have not experienced it for the first time – is simply a leader who knows and wants to listen. It could have been felt at the time of this discussion that the president was beginning up to what I had to say about the Russian Federation and the Russian Federation's attack on Ukraine. And here my answer was besides as you know from the public – I shared not only my vision, any emotion of Poles, but besides those countries with which I met the presidents, prime ministers in fresh times. But above all, I said to myself that I do not trust Vladimir Putin completely and our experience with Russia is always that it is striving to destruct its neighbours and that in my designation it has not changed. And Putin will not halt if the peace talks go in the incorrect direction, hence my emotion is constant, regardless of how latitude I share it."
Donald Trump is considered pro-Russian politics, at least relatively, for American standards. We can imagine with which confusion or even embarrassment, the president of the United States and his colleagues sat and listened to Nawrocki talk about emotions, emotions, emotions.
Prof. Jerzy Maria Nowak is an experienced diplomat. He worked in the Polish abroad service for respective decades, both during the period of the Polish People's Republic and in the 3rd Polish Republic. From 2002 to 2007, he held the position of permanent typical (ambassador) of Poland at NATO. In his memoirs, Nowak describes how during his tenure in Brussels Poland tried in various ways to hinder the closeness between NATO and Russia and admits that the Russophobia that Poles presented on the NATO forum met with embarrassment and protests of representatives of another associate States, mainly from Western Europe (1). Nevertheless, I believe that it is inactive not besides late for Poles to sober up from learned (by themselves) servilism towards America and from obsessive anti-Russianism. In front of our eyes, these habits scope a state of solstice in Poland.
Adam Danek
photo KPRP (X)
[1] Jerzy M. Nowak, "Dyplomata in Salons and Political Kitchen", Warsaw 2014, pp. 358-361.
Think Poland, No. 39-40 (28.09-5.10.2025)
