Poland and America are partners in freedom. The democratic revolutions of the late eighteenth century which challenged authoritarian governments in nearly all countries of the Atlantic world only succeeded in America. The democratic revolution prevailed in America because the British and their allies were decisively defeated by General Washington’s army in which Generals Pulaski and Kosciuszko served with distinction. In Poland, the democratic revolution was crushed by the combined force of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and these three partitioned Poland, and erased her from the map of Europe. These authoritarian countries feared the Polish democratic revolution would encourage their subjects to rebel and to demand the same rights as Poles. This is why they destroyed Poland At the end of World War I, the simultaneous defeat of all three of the empires that partitioned Poland, 123 years before, gave Poles the opportunity to restore the Polish State on November 11, 1918. This was Armistice Day on the Western Front, but fighting to establish a free Poland continued until March 1921 when Poland and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Riga.
This is why, on Poland’s Independence Day, the POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS calls on the Government of the United States to give its full support to the Government and people of Poland in their refusal to defer to Kremlin bullying over the refugee situation on Poland’s border with Belarus. In fact, Kremlin policymakers are aggravating the situation by encouraging more refugees from the Middle East to assemble at Poland’s border with Belarus and demand passage into Poland and then to other member countries of the European Union.
On November 9, 2021, Poland’s Prime Minister stated that the Kremlin callously is using the refugee situation to destabilize Poland and the European Union. The POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS, which represents over 10 million Polish Americans and others who value the strong bi-lateral relationship between America and Poland, fully agree with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki that the Kremlin is using the refugee situation to divide and to destabilize NATO and European Union countries against each other, and thereby increase Moscow’s influence over Europe.
Yesterday, November 10, Russian air force patrols along Poland’s border with Belarus made a mockery of Belarus’s independence of Moscow. The Kremlin wants to intimidate Poland and the Poles. This is NOT a new policy, Russia has been intimidating Poland since the early eighteenth century. This is why the United States and Poland’s other NATO allies need to support the resistance of Poland and the Poles against pressure by the Kremlin. Today’s Kremlin leads the counter-revolution against freedom and democracy. The massing of Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders, Kremlin efforts to push forward Nord Stream 2 in order to undermine the Three Seas Initiative, and Moscow’s orchestration of the refugee situation on Poland’s border with Belarus are all elements of Putin’s plan to divide NATO and European Union countries against each other. The democracies must stand united to thwart Putin’s plan to divide and rule Europe and the West.
Frank J. Spula,
President