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165
Polish foreign minister denounces Russian aggression: 'Don't you have enough land?' (apnews.com)
submitted 11 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Poland’s foreign minister ... used an annual address to parliament to send a sharp message to Russian leaders as war continues in neighboring Ukraine, asking: “Don’t you have enough land?”

Foreign Minster Radek Sikorski described the difficult situation Poland faces with the war across the border and the threat of its expansion, and voiced concerns about the “disintegration” of Western unity.

Poland, on NATO’s eastern flank, is one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters, and Sikorski used his speech to strongly criticize Russia.

He said, addressing Russian leaders: “Don’t you have enough land? Eleven time zones and still not enough? Take care of better governing what is within your borders according to international law.”

...

“For Poland, the greatest threat would be the disintegration of the Western community. That is why we cannot afford illusions or inaction. We cannot afford to be alone,” Sikorski said.

He had a warning for Russia. “You will never rule here again, neither in Kyiv, nor in Vilnius, nor in Riga, nor in Tallinn, nor in Chisinau,” he said, listing the capitals of Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Moldova.

...

He also noted that the situation on the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine is “ambiguous,” and that Russian forces’ slow progress is paid for “with huge losses.”

“After three years of this stage of the war, which Putin planned for three days, Russian troops control only about 20% of Ukrainian territory and are still stuck in eastern Ukraine,” Sikorski said.

“It is estimated that the war has already cost Russia at least $200 billion, and almost a million Russian soldiers have been eliminated from the battlefield. Ukrainian losses are smaller, and they have not allowed either the capture of their capital or the installation of a puppet government.”

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

He said, addressing Russian leaders: “Don’t you have enough land? Eleven time zones and still not enough? Take care of better governing what is within your borders according to international law.”

I understand the sentiment, but I don't like the pointless polemic. I mean, he's the foreign minister, he very well knows that this stopped being a landgrab the moment the war wasn't over within a week...

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

What is it if not a landgrab? A pit Putin can throw the next generation of russians into? A blow to Putin's pride that he refuses to accept?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago

In a large part, a distraction. Or more generally, a way to stay in power. How do you stay in power when your country is doing very poorly economically while you and your friends keep siphoning public money into their pockets? You create a strong narrative, ideally an external enemy ("NATO wants to destroy our way of life!" "Ukraine is full of fascists killing Russians!"). Support it by propaganda from your state-controlled media and you are a hero saving the country, if not the world. You can do pretty much anything and still retain considerable support.

That's also why Putin can't really afford peace, he would lose a strong narrative in his favour. He pretends to agree, but doesn't actually follow conditions of any agreement while constantly increasing his demands. He might agree with an agreement that would basically be Ukraine's capitulation, but nothing less.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

He didn't want NATO to be next to Russia, so he decided to try and take a country to be closer to NATO.

Smort man

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

What is it if not a landgrab? A pit Putin can throw the next generation of russians into? A blow to Putin’s pride that he refuses to accept?

A hot potatoe that an autocratic regime living on borrowed time has to keep juggling out of self-preservation.
You're styling it as "blow to pride", but I'm quite certain that if that catastrophic drain on Russian resources and lives just... ended tomorrow without any tangible strategic gains (like a sustained destabilization of NATO) then people would literally start dying. Not the poor expendable footsoldiers, but people in charge. Can't have that, so gotta keep expending that infantry.