Compulsory military training for all Polish men
Poland needs half-million-strong army, Europe’s largest NATO force
Our old, ancestral homeland is arming apace and eager to go nuclear
By Robert Strybel, Warsaw Correspondent
WARSAW – Poland recently made worldwide headlines after its Prime Minister, Donald Tusk. told parliament that all the country’s adult males would soon be obliged to report for compulsory military training. That is part of an effort to build a 500,000-strong army to face off the threat from Russia.” He also said Poland wanted to gain access to nuclear weapons.
Poland abandoned the draft in 2009 and so far has no plans to reintroduce it. It is now protected by 200,000-strong armed forces, supplemented by some 30,000 volunteers of armed territorial units similar to America’s National Guard. The previous Law & Justice administration had aimed to create a 300,000-strong army, but under present circumstances – Russia’s full-scale aggression against neighboring Ukraine and escalating international tension – that might not be enough.
Speaking ahead of a Ukraine-focused summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Tusk called on Europe to “join and win the arms race” with Russia if it wants to avoid a wider, large-scale conflict on the continent. Poles have certainly done more than their part. In addition to extensive humanitarian aid to Ukrainian per capita defense spender, designating 4.7% of its GDP for defense and planning to top 5% next year. Some countries still have trouble amassing 2% for defense. And Poland’s current troop strength is second only to that of Turkey which now has 332,000 people under arms.
Already under Law & Justice, Warsaw had begun ramping up defense spending and upgrading its armed forces. Tusk’s ruling coalition has adopted that policy as its own. All told, Poland has signed arms contracts worth some $20 billion with the US to buy 250 M1A2 Abrams battle tanks, 32 F-35 jets, 96 Apache helicopters, Javelin missiles and artillery rocket systems. Warsaw has also signed contracts with South Korea to purchase K2 tanks and FA-50 light combat aircraft. Poland’s strategy has consistently aimed at creating a powerful deterrent force that would make Russia or any other aggressor think twice before invading.
