Here's the full quote. Sounds a bit different then.
“We will certainly not risk Ukraine’s security, which is why our hub in Rzeszów, in consultation with the Americans and NATO, continues to play the same role as it did.
And it will continue to do so.
We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine because we are now arming ourselves with the most modern weapons. If you don’t want to defend yourself, you must have something to defend yourself with – this is our principle.
And that’s why we have made increased orders (…) – we are focusing on quickly arming the Polish army.”
Wonder if this is their play to get weapons from the US or other NATO members to modernize their arsenal and then free up older munitions to give to Ukraine like we’ve seen prior
Not to be mean, but in Poland's case it means: right-wing populists running on nationalism (we fight for you against the evil EU/Germans trying to destroy our country and against immigration) and retarded christian family values (anti-lbgtq, anti-abortion).
Going by your other reply: From an US perspective you should know the drill and what kind of conservatism is meant here.
what i tried to express elsewhere is “conservative” in the U.S. could mean something comparatively mild, like raise the kids, pay your bills, love your spouse, etc, all the way to violent fascism at the other end. so maybe the spectrum is like that in Poland, I don’t know. I’ve heard some shit, but I don’t know.
It is a very vague term. People just don’t want to say ethno-nationalist socialist. Especially since those terms have been confused as well. It’s a good smoke screen.
In this case it seems farmers. Maybe it’s just posturing for appeasing them.
Extract from the Economist:
Eastern european countries have been among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine since Russia invaded last year. But that solidarity has frayed over the issue of agricultural exports. European Union member states that border Ukraine have argued that the duty-free import of Ukrainian produce to the bloc has caused havoc in their own markets
I always thought the goal was to bring down grain prices after getting choked from the war.
I am not sure I agree with Poland's outlook on the situation. Mainly because the goal was to feed people, not keep prices the way they were. And more grain was going to do that.
I understand Poland wanting to arm itself in a war with China or Russia, but I don't understand the reaction just because grain prices might go down because Ukraine is doing a great job of defending.
Then what was the point of Poland's assistance to Ukraine in the first place?
There are two problems. The Polish government directed their farmers to increase output before this happened. And the Ukrainian grain that isn't allowed to be sold in Poland anyway (they adhere to EU minimum food standards, so they are not allowed to use Ukrainian grain in food production (it's produced for example with cheaper fertilizers and pesticides banned in the EU)) is finding it's way into Polish markets -illegally that is- and crashed the price.
They could address their issue about corruption and effective EU laws about food safety getting broken... or they could create a general ban (basically make something illegal that isn't legal in the first place) and spin a story about bravely defending their farmers from the EU (...from getting fucked over by their own corruption actually - but don't say that quiet part out loud).
It's election time and they are populists running on anti-EU narratives. So option 2 it is.
PS: Ukraine's government is also not blame-free here. Their grain should be transported through Poland, not be sold in Poland. So the public push back against a ban that isn't affecting that (transit is still allowed), should not generate such a reaction. They are either just stupidly over-reacting or -and that case would be even worse- complaining that they are not allowed to exploit Poland's internal problems to sell their grain there directly. Which is of course easier for them... but that was never the intention when allowing the transport of Ukrainian grain.
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