Trump Says US Close To Base Expansion Deal With Poland, Potentially Escalating Tensions With Russia
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that “major progress is being made toward establishing a U.S. Army base in Poland,” as the Poles look back on Soviet aggression.
Trump said that if the deal goes through, a location for the base will be announced soon, and that it would be a “historic step for our Great U.S./Polish Alliance.” (RELATED: Trump Admin Quietly Opens Direct Talks With Iran-Backed Houthis)
This follows over a year of Trump playing hot and cold with the Eastern European nation. Trump has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) altogether and initially canceled the rotation of 4,000 troops into Poland in May before reversing that decision a week later.
At the time of the troop withdrawal decision, the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki emphasized to the Daily Caller the value that a Polish-American partnership can have in not just deterring any Russian invasions, but also in deterring ongoing drone attacks, assassinations, and cyberattacks.
Poland serves as a gateway into much of Western Europe and shares borders with Ukraine, which is currently in a years-long war with Moscow; Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave; and Belarus, which functions as a de facto puppet state of the Kremlin.
Trump also credited the progress of a base to the “bold leadership” of Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki, as the base was announced during the 87th anniversary of the Soviet aggression against Poland.
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“When nations are unafraid, and when allies stand together, it is then that empires, even those with as long a tradition as the Soviet, Russian empire, begin to lose their dominant position,” Nawrocki stated just after Trump’s announcement.
According to Reuters, the executive office of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated President Trump’s announcement is “great news for Poland.”
Concerningly, the announcement could be seen as an aggressive escalation in the region by the Russian government. In the past, Russia has condemned further Western military expansion in Eastern Europe, accusing the United States and NATO allies of seeking to advance toward Russia’s borders.
The Daily Caller reached out to the Russian government for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
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