If you have a rude neighbor who sometimes wanders into your property and misuses it, you very well might consider getting a Rottweiler or pit bull to chase him off. It deters by turning a minor incursion into a major battle your neighbor would prefer to avoid.
The Daily Caller reports Poland has offered (or considers offering) up to $2 billion for the U.S. to establish a permanent military base in Poland housing an armored division. It’s an intriguing offer.
Like South Korea, Poland lives next door to a troublesome neighbor. One which has demonstrated in the past a willingness to invade and occupy their territory and dominate or murder their citizenry.
If Poland can get the U.S. to station U.S. troops there semi-permanently, as we have in South Korea, they would acquire what strategists call a “tripwire.” If the troublesome neighbor invades, “tripwire” U.S. troops will almost certainly come under fire immediately.
In defending themselves, those troops will pull the U.S. inevitably into war against that troublesome neighbor, as an ally of the host nation. You can understand the idea’s appeal to the Poles, who live trapped between the ‘grindstones’ of Russia and Germany.
Given Germany’s current grumpy attitude toward the U.S., why not move a large part of our semi-permanent military establishment from Germany to Poland? Perhaps both Germany and Poland would find this a positive development.
After 70+ years of U.S. occupation evolving into anti-Russian “tripwire,” the Germans might like us to leave. And as noted a couple of days ago, the current German military isn’t much of a threat to anybody except Germany. The regional threat is Russia.
