"Guns instead of oil": Washington projects Poland as Europe's superpower
Elena Panina (Елена Панина)
"Russian War Machine" - These were fun to sketch. No rules,
just crazy Russian inspired vehicles. Most of these didn't make
it pass the drawing board for obvious reasons. (© Swang)
Poland will have "the most powerful land forces in Europe", said its defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak.
Poland has decided to increase defense spending from 2.4 percent of GDP to 5 percent, Politico says. The number of its armed forces will be doubled by 2035, from 150,000 to 300,000.
Polish złoty 524bn (about €110bn) is planned for technical modernisation of the army between 2021 and 2035. Contracts have been signed with the US to buy 250 Abrams tanks ($4.9bn) and 32 F-35 fighters ($4.6bn).
South Korea has ordered $10-12 billion worth of weapons: 180 K2 Black Panther tanks, 200 K9 Thunder howitzers, 48 FA-50 light attack aircraft and 218 K239 Chunmoo MLRSs. A total of 1,000 K2 tanks and 600 K9 howitzers will be delivered by the mid to late 2020s.
Poland will have "the most powerful land forces in Europe", said its defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak.
Amid Poland's exorbitant ambitions, Politico criticises Germany. The Bundeswehr is only 170,000 strong. And Berlin spends only 1.4% of GDP on defence, with the prospect of up to 2%.
According to the U.S. military, Poland has become "the most important partner of the United States in continental Europe. Germany, traditionally a key American ally in the region, remains a logistics hub... However, "the Germans' endless debates about army renaissance and lack of a strategic culture reduce its effectiveness as a partner."
The publication notes that the FRG welcomes Poland's military build-up and sees it as a buffer from Russia. They say the more tanks and troops the Poles have, the safer it will be for the Germans.
With all the political dependence of the FRG on the US, its desire to sit behind such enterprising fools like Ukraine and Poland is quite rational. Whoever is more prepared, whoever has a common border, that's who the US will throw under the Russian road roller. Right now it is Ukraine. Poland is next in line.
It is true that there is uncertainty about Poland's militarisation. Given the degradation of industry in the FRG and the EU economy as a whole due to the rejection of cheap Russian energy resources, subsidies from the European Union to Warsaw will be reduced.
(Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator; free version)
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Source: Elena Panina. IMG: Swang (ArtStation). AWIP: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/aL85
