Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom, accompanied by the highest-class ceremonial treatment reserved for a head of state, is neither accidental nor the result of the British monarch’s personal fondness for the U.S. president, and certainly not due to a special friendship between Donald Trump and the prime minister of the host country. It is a manifestation of the creation—or rather recreation—of an alliance of maritime powers in the face of the emerging axis of Beijing–Moscow–Tehran, supported by Pyongyang, writes Tomasz Sakiewicz in the latest issue of Gazeta Polska.
The natural ally for the United States should be the European Union, but the problem is that the EU does not want to play that role. Instead, it prefers to position itself as a competitor to the U.S., and its dangerous game with Moscow led to the outbreak of the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. Almost pushed out of the Union, Great Britain had to look for an ally that could balance its potential. That ally is undoubtedly the United States. The weight of this alliance attracts countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Together, they provide control over maritime routes—that is, most of world trade. There is only one competing path for the development of trade exchange: land connections with Eurasia—or, when one looks at the map, with Eurafrica-Asia. This is where the majority of humanity lives and where most of the world’s GDP is generated. Almost all the routes of this continental composite intersect in Poland and Ukraine.
From the perspective of existing maritime and land projects alike, entering this part of Europe is crucial. Donald Trump has already provisionally secured his foothold in Ukraine—after the country makes peace with Russia—by binding Kyiv to Washington through a network of economic interests. He is also extending a hand to Poland’s pro-American president. The obstacle to Trump’s grand project is the government in Warsaw, subservient to Berlin. The battle between Nawrocki and Tusk therefore has a powerful geopolitical dimension.
It is in Poland’s interest to tie itself as closely as possible to Washington and London and to participate in building a project that opens Europe to maritime powers. Otherwise, the Old Continent will become nothing more than a withering peninsula on the edge of rising powers beyond it. With the right government in place, Warsaw could redirect Europe’s ambitions like no other country—toward a new, much larger project based not only on shared interests but also on shared values such as democracy and freedom of speech.