The Polish authorities have long been saying that the US military presence would be a “pledge of security” for the country and the region, appealed to Washington with requests to expand the armed forces and were even willing to finance this action, but the US had its own view on what was happening, writes the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.
The article recalled how half a year ago Polish leader Andrzej Duda asked his American counterpart Donald Trump to “send more soldiers to Poland.” “We are counting on the fact that we will be able to build a base in Poland called Fort Trump,” he said then, but this ambition, as the newspaper writes, did not come true.
Despite all the assurances of the American side, the project of a military base is “under a big question.” In addition, for the past two weeks, the deadline for submitting a report by the US Department of Defense on the prospects for building Fort Trump has expired. Warsaw not only failed to convince Washington that it was right, the article says: “The Pentagon plans to cut funding for the eastern sector from $ 6.5 billion to $ 5.9.” The name “Fort Trump” was also rejected there, having considered that it “would harm relations with European partners and Russia”.
Moreover, Warsaw was practically driven into a dead end, forcing to obey any trends of American politics. According to the publication, Washington has frightened the Polish authorities with restitution of Jewish property. “The United States will again raise this issue if criticism is heard from the Polish side,” the article says.