A top Polish professor argues that while many Western Europeans think Russia will only attempt to take over Eastern European nations, parts of Western Europe are also in Russia’s crosshairs, including Germany.
Polish historian Prof. Andrzej Nowak from Jagiellonian University in Kraków said while speaking to French newspaper Le Figaro that Central Europeans feared that Putin would succeed because so many Western Europeans still think Europe begins at the German border and “what is to the east of it is a gray zone that can be shared.”
However, he argues that “the problem is that Russia will not satisfy itself with this area and will also want to control Germany.”
Nowak describes how Putin falsifies history by presenting Poland as being the cause of the Second World War and an ally of Adolf Hitler.
“Putin wants a return to Yalta in which so-called fascism could once again be presented as an enemy and Russia as the solution,” explains Nowak.
The historian fears that Germany still does not understand that its relationship with Russia cannot be driven by trade alone. Russia intends to control Germany and use it for Russia’s own ends. Russians believe that any country in which Russian soldiers’ blood was shed is their land.
Nowak notes that 80 percent of Russians acquire their worldview from Russian TV and every day they are bombarded that the West is an enemy. Russia wants the U.S. out of Europe, and Germany and France to be in conflict. In the U.S., the Russians are backing isolationists from the right and anti-imperialists on the left.
Nowak dismisses the view that Donald Trump could be a puppet in Putin’s hands because “Trump’s ego is too great.”
“Whatever happens in the USA, Poland has no other choice but to remain in alliance with America, as neither Germany nor France have the strength or the will to protect Poland,” stated the professor.
The academic sees some potential in Poland allying with Turkey because the Turks will not accept Russian imperialism. However, he still sees NATO as a sufficient guarantee of Polish security. Nowak is convinced Putin will not attack any nation stronger than Russia. The professor concluded by saying that only the collapse of the U.S. could lead to NATO territory being attacked.
