Prof. Sławomir Cenckiewicz, head of the National Security Bureau (BBN), pointed out that the situation surrounding the U.S. operation in Venezuela showed how “in these matters, the European Union does not count”. “Do we want to board a train with a locomotive like the one provided by the Americans, or do we want to board a train that has no locomotive and no one knows who will build it and in how many years?” asked the head of the BBN.
The National Security Bureau (BBN) published on Saturday an extensive analysis of the U.S. operation in Venezuela, whose aim was to capture the dictator Nicolas Maduro. According to the BBN’s assessment, it was a precisely planned, multi-domain operation involving special forces, intelligence, and modern combat systems, which exposed the weakness of post-Soviet military doctrines in the face of U.S. military power.
When it was noted that among those commenting was, among others, Mirosław Różański, former Operational Commander of the Armed Forces Branches, the head of the BBN responded.
“He is completely unserious. One can go back to his statements at some, I don’t know what it was called, a WOŚP congress or something like that, when he was asked about anti-access zones. Everything indicates that such an anti-access zone in Caracas was built by the Americans in order to carry out this operation – in short – they disabled the opponent’s ability to act so that they themselves could operate. Nothing worked there, and it only started to work when Maduro was either on the water or in the air.” Asked about Russian weapons – including the S-300 and S-400 systems, dedicated to combating aircraft, and Russian fighter jets – that were delivered to Venezuela, Cenckiewicz stated that “they were immobilized by the creation of an anti-access zone.”
“The speed, the preparation of this action, operating from a position of surprise. Caine said that this was an operation prepared over many months. We do not know to what extent this Russian equipment was implemented, nor to what extent this resistance [of Venezuelan forces] was not so much possible as there was the will, in this situation of advantage, which those who could observe it saw, to resist,” he indicated.
The EU does not count
According to the head of the National Security Bureau (BBN), the entire situation has great political significance for Poland.
“At least the center around President Karol Nawrocki and the right-wing camp, the one gathered around Law and Justice, chose a good partner, a reliable partner – the United States. Being an Atlanticist in Poland is, from the perspective of the ruling camp and their media supporters, ‘a kind of embarrassment’; at least they want to create such an atmosphere, especially since Harris lost the election to Trump. This situation in Venezuela showed consistency between political will, declarations, and actions that the Trump administration carried out,” said Prof. Cenckiewicz.
He pointed out that the case also showed “how in these matters the European Union does not count.”
In response to the host’s comment that we hear that “Germany is to be a guarantor and exporter of security in Europe,” he replied that “maybe they will be, but for now it is as if the train were standing still, with no locomotive. We are waiting for this locomotive to be delivered, as I understand it by German industry, and then the train will move.”
“Except that the locomotive has not yet been produced, and that is the problem. If there are to be European capabilities – great, only when will they be? Nothing on the horizon shows that they will be built even within 30 years. This is a fiction,” said Cenckiewicz.
He drew attention to the fact that the USA spends 900 billion dollars in its military budget, while the alternative from the EU side is to be the SAFE program.
“A program whose shape is unknown, and I see many risks there, resulting among other things from control over the money. It is some idea to put the European defense industry back on its feet. But that is a perspective, even in terms of repayment, of the year 2070. This is a perspective in which there may be at least one or two wars in Europe,” he assessed.
Cenckiewicz: My dream is to catch the murderer of Sergeant Sitek
“The second issue – beyond the political one – is the question of what our armed forces, our capabilities, our services should look like. My dream is to catch and bring to Poland the bandit who murdered Sgt. Sitek. My dream is to find the bandits who tried a few weeks ago to blow up Polish trains. This is exactly the difference. Some say they want to catch the bandit and put him before their own justice system, while others demonstratively say that now Sikorski will go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and send a note to Lukashenko and Putin asking these criminals to kindly come and surrender themselves into the hands of Minister Żurek,” said the head of the BBN. He added that “Poland in a region that closes off to the Baltic Sea and the threats that Russia implies for us can play a very important role, but it must want to, and once it wants to – it must translate that will into capabilities.”
“We, in an era of politicized special services, some of which have become merely some kind of political cell, with the complete dismantling of the foundations of justice in Poland, are not able to achieve the goals I am talking about. The state must be reclaimed, built as we would like it to be in the 21st century, but we must take care of realizing our own aspirations. Do we want to board a train with a locomotive like the one provided by the Americans, or do we want to board a train that has no locomotive and no one knows who will build it and in how many years?” asked Prof. Sławomir Cenckiewicz.