Russia and Belarus Practice Assaulting Poland

Following Obama's no-questions-asked/nothing-gained withdrawal of Poland and the Czech Republic's missile defense, Russia and Belarus are practicing attacking Polish beaches and destroying Polish gas pipelines.

According to Mathew Day of the Telegraph:

"The armed forces are said to have carried out 'war games' in which nuclear missiles were fired and troops practised an amphibious landing on the country's coast.

"Documents obtained by Wprost, one of Poland's leading news magazines, said the exercise was carried out in conjunction with soldiers from Belarus.

"The manoeuvres are thought to have been held in September and involved about 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops.

"Poland, which has strained relations with both countries, was cast as the 'potential aggressor'.
The documents state the exercises, code-named 'West', were officially classified as 'defensive' but many of the operations appeared to have an offensive nature.

"The Russian air force practised using weapons from its nuclear arsenal, while in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which neighbours Poland, Red Army forces stormed a 'Polish' beach and attacked a gas pipeline.

"The operation also involved the simulated suppression of an uprising by a national minority in Belarus – the country has a significant Polish population which has a strained relationship with authoritarian government of Belarus.

"Karol Karski, an MP from Poland's Law and Justice, is to table parliamentary questions on Russia's war games and has protested to the European Commission.

"His colleague, Marek Opiola MP, said: 'It's an attempt to put us in our place. Don't forget all this happened on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.'

[...]

"With a resurgent Moscow now more willing to flex its muscles, Central and Eastern Europeans have warned of Russia adopting a neo-imperialistic attitude to an area of the world it still regards as its sphere of influence.

"In July, the region’s most famed and influential political figures, including Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel, wrote an open letter Barack Obama warning him that Russia 'is back as a revisionist power pursuing a 19th-century agenda with 21st-century tactics and methods.'"

Didn't Walesa and Havel see Obama's speech to the UN? Obama has no interest in defending allies or any other "unilateral" action. He's too interested in pushing a $3 trillion budget that doesn't increase defense spending while the US is involved in two wars and the threat of a homeland terrorist attack. Do you think Obama has any time or interest in Poland and the Czech Republic. Oh... he'll make a speech-- and it might even express disappointment. But remember the US and Russia hit that "Overload"... er... "Reset" button not that long ago...

It's unclear what Russia was trying to accomplish with this... It could be an implied threat to Poland, or a reassurance to Belarus, or due to a number of other Eastern European political issues most of which the West and US are wholly ignorant. But certainly Poland cannot be too reassured when the US is courting its foe and reneging on a promised missile defense. More smart diplomacy, I suppose.