Strategy&Future

“Poland from sea to sea” (Polska od morza do morza). This slogan is most often associated with the 16th century and the period of the greatest power of the Polish Republic. And although the question of actual Polish rule over the Black Sea coast is quite complicated and not obvious, this direction has long occupied an important place in the history of our country. Jan Kochanowski in his work entitled “Satyr or Wild Husband” (Satyr albo Dziki mąż) wrote: Tymci Polska urosła, a granice swoje Rozciągnęła szeroko między morza dwoje. “This is how Poland grew, and its borders / Stretched wide between two seas.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, almost 260,000 Russian troops were stationed in the Polish theatre of war, including 216,000 in Congress Poland itself, of which 170,000 on the right bank of the Vistula, while on the left only 46,000 – mainly cavalry, used to identify the opponent’s direction of the attack. In a situation where the left bank of the Vistula was as densely populated in places as in England and Belgium, and in growing urban centres there was developed industry, the right bank was mainly villages and agricultural areas.

In the last seven years of the Obama Presidency (2010-2016), the Dow Jones had risen from 11,500 to 19,500, an average of just over 1,000 points every year. In President Trump’s first year, the increase was nearly 5,000 points, on course for a February 2020 peak of 29,500 points. The seven best performers of 2017 were Boeing (+89.4%), Caterpillar (+69.9%), VISA (+46.1%), Apple (+46.1%), Walmart (+42.9%), McDonalds (+41.4%) and Home Depot (+41.4%).

Both orientations of Polish foreign policy – “Piast” and “Jagiellonian” must deal with the problem emanating from the Smolensk Gate towards Warsaw, to the decision-making and dispositional centre of the Polish state. Due to the geographical arrangement, Russia can pull at the door handle to the Polish state from the Smolensk Gate through the Brest Gate and the Przemyśl Gate.

“While other defensive states have fortified ports with water, mountains inaccessible, we have nothing … The fields and roads leading to Poland from all directions are perfect for the enemy, spacious; he will act, give way, enter, leave, get food, and take prisoners as and where he wants. In our very hands, in our breasts and in our throats, our munitions are our mountains, our waters, and the castles, walls and embankments of Poland.” – a certain Grabowski, 16th century

Some years are more memorable than others: the terror attacks of 2001, the Iraq invasion of 2003, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the birth of the smartphone era in 2007, the financial crisis of 2008, the ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011, the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas in 2014. And although we might not have thought so at first, 2016 would turn out to be another “one of those years”!

“While other defensive states have fortified ports with water, mountains inaccessible, we have nothing … The fields and roads leading to Poland from all directions are perfect for the enemy, spacious; he will act, give way, enter, leave, get food, and take prisoners as and where he wants. In our very hands, in our breasts and in our throats, our munitions are our mountains, our waters, and the castles, walls and embankments of Poland.” – a certain Grabowski, 16th century

It is now 100 years since the signing of the peace treaty in Riga, which ended Poland’s war in the east with Soviet Russia and established relations in our part of the world for the following 20 years. Then Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam and the end of World War II, closed the chapter of the Jagiellonian foreign policy of Poland. Or so it would seem.

Taipei 101 — named after its 101 floors — opened on 31st December 2004, having earlier in the year been recognised as the world’s tallest skyscraper at 509.2 m (spire), 449.2 m (roof height). Under President Chen Shui-bian of the nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who was re-elected in March 2004 after a four-year term, the Republic of China (Taiwan) had begun to distance itself from the PRC.