Strategy&Future

Jacek Bartosiak talks to Israeli experts on air & space power and perfect model for Poland’s air power.

The war in Ukraine unleashed by Russia represents the most serious challenge that has been faced by the United States since the end of the Cold War, a clear challenge to both the international order and the rules of the road established by Washington during the unipolar moment. In fact, the most important postulate that was part of the list of demands made by Russia against the collective West in December 2021 was the recognition of Russia’s right to have its own sphere of influence – and thus accepting its imperial status.

Now, with the war in Ukraine raging, and an open challenge to the international order being laid down by Russia in a way not witnessed in Europe since the end of the second world war we believe it is critically important to have the perspective of the Intermarium states heard louder than ever before. With that in mind we decided to launch the Intermarium Strategic Survey – a cyclical and in-depth review of key trends and developments affecting the structural balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Black sea. Intermarium Strategic Survey will take form of a bundle of texts published on Strategy&Future website, both most recent and archival, delivered on a monthly basis via email.

Just as one hundred years ago, the war did not bring about the establishment of a federation, despite the Kyiv expedition, Ukrainian attempts supported by Poland, great victories of the Polish soldiers near Warsaw and on the Niemen River. So now, without a clear break-up of Russian troops and the taking of territories, the war will not eliminate Russia and will not give Ukraine proper breathing space to live. The same applies to us too, because a game for the continental consolidation of France and Germany will soon appear. It could also be different with the Americans if a war with China broke out.

A few remarks on the political strategy of the Polish state in the new European circumstances (theses for discussion)

At the beginning of the 21st century, two main geopolitical visions were formed in the European Union.

Jacek Bartosiak and Nicholas Myers discuss the operational and tactical details of the war in Ukraine, as of afternoon 25 Feb 2022.

The main take-away points from the events in Belarus from the summer of 2020 (the unrest of the pro-Western factions of Belarusian civil society) until the current refugee crisis on the Belarusian border with the EU are the following:

Jacek Bartosiak talks to Alexander Lanoszka on the security of Central and Eastern Europe and on the New Model Force Concept for Poland.

The Russian Armed Forces implemented many reforms after the 2008 Georgian War, consolidating military districts, streamlining command-and-control structure, and switching from a division- to a brigade-centric order of battle. Overall, these reforms acknowledged the futility of retaining a theoretically mass mobilization-capable force in a time when the political conditions for using it are almost impossible to fathom. Instead, the reforms aimed for a military capable of rapidly generating force of flexible size in any of the multitudinous peripheries of the Russian sphere of influence.

It seems that 2022 may not be easy, bringing many challenges to the world and Poland. We at S&F will list a few of them, focusing on the absolute most important issues.

We repeat: the key factor is the level of autonomy, i.e. that (and whether) we build these systems ourselves, put them into orbits, then maintain and supplement them, command and repair them, also controlling the data transfer, collecting and analysing the data. We have to think this over carefully, bearing in mind the always more or less limited financial and organisational possibilities.