Tom Paine 1949
Diamond Member
- Mar 15, 2020
- 5,407
- 4,503
- 1,938
Next month’s elections in both Poland and Slovakia, like the November 2024 elections in the U.S., will have important repercussions for the fate of Ukraine, facing a faltering Russian invasion that however still occupies some 20% of that nation.
Putin still blockades Ukraine’s Black Sea exports of grain. Putin also claims that four provinces of that country (besides Crimea) are now integral and “eternal” parts of Russia — even though Russian troops have been driven out of and do not occupy big sections of some of those provinces.
Democracies, even very imperfect ones, because they as a rule allow different voices and interest groups in society to express themselves and organize, and regularly allow different political parties to be elected, are sometimes at a disadvantage when confronting authoritarian or totalitarian dictatorships — especially in time of war.
We saw that in the run-up to WWII, and we see that now in Western countries and even in Central & Eastern Europe where economic sacrifices are heavy and Russian threats are greatest.
In Eastern Europe is, conservative governments like Poland’s led support inside NATO for Ukraine — contributing weapons and accepting millions of Ukrainian refugees, while long opposing reliance on Russian energy. But others rightwing governments like Hungary, rightwing populist agrarian interests in Slovakia, and smaller extremist forces even in Poland support Putin’s invasion — or simply oppose making sacrifices required to help Ukraine. This has created a rather complicated situation heading into these October elections.
All this has been widely commented on in the media, but most Americans ignore these developments in Eastern Europe, or only use a few headlines out of context to defend their existing views. Here are a couple of decent MSM articles that go into recent developments in Poland & Slovakia (and Romania & other Eastern European NATO member states) heavily affected by the Ukraine War.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/30/europe/slovakia-parliament-election-intl/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/21/europe/poland-ukraine-weapons-grain-explainer-intl/index.html
Anybody here from Eastern Europe with informed and intelligible views?
Putin still blockades Ukraine’s Black Sea exports of grain. Putin also claims that four provinces of that country (besides Crimea) are now integral and “eternal” parts of Russia — even though Russian troops have been driven out of and do not occupy big sections of some of those provinces.
Democracies, even very imperfect ones, because they as a rule allow different voices and interest groups in society to express themselves and organize, and regularly allow different political parties to be elected, are sometimes at a disadvantage when confronting authoritarian or totalitarian dictatorships — especially in time of war.
We saw that in the run-up to WWII, and we see that now in Western countries and even in Central & Eastern Europe where economic sacrifices are heavy and Russian threats are greatest.
In Eastern Europe is, conservative governments like Poland’s led support inside NATO for Ukraine — contributing weapons and accepting millions of Ukrainian refugees, while long opposing reliance on Russian energy. But others rightwing governments like Hungary, rightwing populist agrarian interests in Slovakia, and smaller extremist forces even in Poland support Putin’s invasion — or simply oppose making sacrifices required to help Ukraine. This has created a rather complicated situation heading into these October elections.
All this has been widely commented on in the media, but most Americans ignore these developments in Eastern Europe, or only use a few headlines out of context to defend their existing views. Here are a couple of decent MSM articles that go into recent developments in Poland & Slovakia (and Romania & other Eastern European NATO member states) heavily affected by the Ukraine War.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/30/europe/slovakia-parliament-election-intl/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/21/europe/poland-ukraine-weapons-grain-explainer-intl/index.html
Anybody here from Eastern Europe with informed and intelligible views?