Polish Militarism on the Rise

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53034930

Was it a mistake or was it a case of flirting with irrendentism? Silesia, the industrial heartland mostly associated with Poland has faced its share of historical traumas. Wrested from the Habsburgs by Prussian ruler Frederick the Great in the 18^th century, the region was contested up through the world wars and saw the death marches flowing out of nearby Auschwitz in 1945.

Most of the region was restored to Poland after 1945 but there remained a small section within Czechoslovakia or today's Czech Republic.

While Warsaw and Prague are nominal allies in the V4 bloc, the Hungarian and Polish states are becoming more radical and aggressive. Hungary is concerned with its historical claims – and Poland always overshadowed by its history of repeated invasion from East and West is becoming militant – hostile to both the EU and Moscow. Right-wing politics and conservative Roman Catholicism are playing no small role- fueling a US-oriented anti-Russian militarism accompanied by a growing militia ethos that many Americans will all too easily resonate with.

While the 'invasion' has been chalked up to a misunderstanding, there are certainly those in Poland who are being driven by a rabid nationalism. On the one hand Prague is mostly an ally of Warsaw and yet it's also a soft target in possession of lands that Polish nationalists continue to covet.

These nationalists and paramilitary groups are being encouraged both by the Polish state and by Washington-NATO elements. Poland neighbours both the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Ukraine – both part of the region's geopolitical chess board.

And when this nationalism is combined with Roman Catholic impulses, the zeal for the cause can take on a near-fanatical character – something to watch as this trajectory in Poland is only building in its momentum.