Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) – Jun 12, 2019

All-American Rally in Support of Security of Poland and Eastern Europe

Wednesday, June 12th 2019 9:30 am – 11:30 am,

White House, Washington, DC.

 

Today’s Message 

This rally marks support for the good work of the Trump Administration in fostering genuinely closer military and economic ties between the United States and Poland in the face of the reality of regional threats of Russian aggression.  Now more than ever the message of support, of deterrence by military response in Central/Eastern Europe in partnership with Poland, must be proclaimed!

Europe Today: 'The most unpredictable security environment in a generation'

NATO's Secretary General very recently characterized Russian military posturing on and near Poland's borders as 'the most unpredictable security environment in Europe in a generation.'  Indeed, Sec Gen. J. Stoltenberg warned only two months ago in a speech to a joint session of Congress that, "We see a pattern of Russian behavior: including a massive military build-up from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and from the Black Sea to the Baltic."  He added, "Russia has deployed new missiles in Europe. There are no new American missiles in Europe. But there are new Russian missiles. They are mobile. Hard to detect. Nuclear capable. Cut the warning time to just minutes. And reduce the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict." 

And he reminded us, "The strength of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-NATO is that we have always been able to unite around our core task. To defend each other. Protect each other.  And to keep our people safe."  Congress responded enthusiastically to his message, with almost all Members standing SIXTEEN TIMES to applaud.

A Commitment to Poland as a NATO Ally: “We will stand with you”     

The remarkable comments by Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw this year paint a picture of intent -- to protect one of the most exposed and vulnerable points in the United States' system of alliances.  This Administration understands the present situation.  The Vice President declared, "America first does not mean America alone. We will always stand with the Polish people for liberty, democracy, the rule of law, and the respect for the dignity of every human life. The United States will never waver in our commitment to our common defense.”

He recalled the historical links between America and old Poland, "the long and storied history of friendship that ties together our two nations” he said. He was remembering a time when this nation was barely a country-- a fragile, weak collection of colonial communities that was 1776 America, which nonetheless had a strong sense of identity as an independent nation.  But America was unable to win a war against a strong, aggressive power without the extended hand of military expertise from overseas. “To this day," the Vice President said, "the American people honor the sacrifice of Polish heroes who shed blood alongside American patriots in the cause of our freedom, men like Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski.”  Though it is now hard to imagine how those events in the 18th century shaped the contemporary and future lives of Americans, we know this- it was big. With this in mind, he pointed out that U.S. soldiers and Polish soldiers stand 'shoulder to shoulder' today. 

But he was actually there for another purpose: to deliver the words of an American President.  Quoting Donald Trump, he said the message is simply this: “We are with you, we will stand with you, and the United States of America stands with Poland as a part of the most successful mutual defense alliance in the history of the world, and we always will."   He also reminded us that the President himself was standing in the center of Warsaw, in July 2017 when he said, America will defend “the priceless ties that bind us together as nations, as allies, and as a civilization.” 

“Just as Poland could not be broken, I declare’, the President said, “today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail, our people will thrive." “Above all, we value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. That is who we are,” President Trump said. “Those are the priceless ties that bind us together as nations, as allies and as a civilization.” These words are nothing short of a direct commitment by America to Poland in time of war. We know how rare such statements are.  The Administration is ready- Now it needs to act.

A BIgger Commitment to the Center of Gravity in Central-Eastern Europe: Poland

Now that Poland is the regional Center of Gravity, a depth of commitment needs to be shown.  Additional deployment of U.S.-NATO troops is our message.  The U.S. military’s Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) forces are at Orzysz (opposite Sulwalki Gap) and 10 other locations with the NATO framework; from Bydgoszcz to Poznan, Redzikowo to Powidz, Lask, Zagan and Boleslawiec, the American flag can be found.  However, remember, NATO is a defensive alliance; it exists not to attack but to deter.

But is it enough? NO!  We know this because there is a growing threat, and there are plans for the future to increase U.S.-NATO presence to match the threat from the aggressor.  NATO recently announced a massive supply/equipment magazine will be built at a cost of a quarter billion dollars at Powidz air base. There are right now, this month, several military exercises underway in Poland: an air defense exercise; naval exercises in the Baltic; Special Forces exercises preparing for Russian hybrid warfare, and most significantly, the VJTF (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force) elite maneuver brigade deployment (of Dutch, Norwegian & German combat troops). These are part of the NATO Response Force—preparing to deter a war we all hope will not come- all under the command of U.S. Admiral J.G. Foggo.   This is a trans-Atlantic alliance in practice-- not an alliance in theory. 

And this is why we, Polish Americans speaking with one voice, are here today!  To support and encourage the strengthening of the Eastern Front of NATO in partnership with Poland and its defense modernization, to give life and substance to the words of diplomacy we just read.  The deterrent against Russia must be made real, and there can be no division of opinion.  No division in Congress.  No doubt or division at the Pentagon. No division in American public opinion.

We reject any expressions of division on policy to meet Russian aggression.  We support affirmation of NATO Article V military guarantees to the region on NATO's eastern front-- with Poland as its Center of Gravity. This will ensure both Europe’s and America’s success in addressing their own societal priorities in the 21st Century.

Contact: 

Roman Korzan, Rally Coordinator 
202-888-4035, roman.korzan@federationofpolishamericans.org

Americans for Security in Central and Eastern Europe,
Federation of Polish Americans, Inc.
Polish American Congress, Inc.
Polish Army Veterans' Association in America
Polish Falcons of America
Smolensk Disaster Commemoration Committee, Inc.
Gazeta Polska Clubs in USA
Coalition of Polish Americans, Inc.
Polonia for Poland
The Pulaski Cadets

State constituencies supporting this message: PA, MI, WI, FL, MN, IL, OH, CT, NJ, NY, MA, VA, MD, RI

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The Federation of Polish Americans, Inc. (FPA) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of Polish Americans in civic affairs.  The FPA expresses its views on local, state, national and international issues of particular concern to the Polish American community. The FPA have been active politically since 1995.
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Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) – Jun 4, 2019
Invitation:
All-American Rally in Support of Security of Poland and Eastern Europe
  In Front of The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC
Wednesday, 12th June 2019
9:30 am – 11:30 am

Russia has threatened, through massive war preparation, the security
of Poland, the Baltic states, and by extension the whole of Europe.
Remember Russian aggression in Georgia
and the War in neighboring Ukraine!

Now is a critical time for Polish Americans to rally at the White House
for significant & lasting U.S. military presence in Poland
and the region to strengthen NATO defensive capability!

 Bring friends and join us at the front of the White House
on Wednesday June 12, 9:30 am !

LASTING U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE IN POLAND
= PEACE & PROSPERITY IN EUROPE

“For our Freedom and yours” - “Za wolność naszą i waszą”

 Americans for Security in Central and Eastern Europe;

Federation of Polish Americans, Inc.
Smolensk Disaster Commemoration Committee, Inc.
Polish American Congress, Inc.
Polish Army Veterans' Association in America
Coalition of Polish Americans, Inc.
Gazeta Polska Clubs in USA
Polonia for Poland
The Pulaski Cadets
Polish Falcons of America

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The Federation of Polish Americans, Inc. (FPA) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of Polish Americans in civic affairs.  The FPA expresses its views on local, state, national and international issues of particular concern to the Polish American community. The FPA have been active politically since 1995.
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Statement of the Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) – February 12, 2019

A great Polish American, John Dingell, who was the longest serving U. S. Congressman in history (1955-2015) passed away on February 7, 2019.

 John Dingell (Americanized from Dzieglewicz) was an American Congressman of Polish decent representing a then-politically important district on the Westside of Detroit in the state of Michigan for more then 59 years.

 As a Congressman deeply rooted in the Polish American community for almost six decades, his service reflected Polish American presence and influence on U.S. political scene. His long term service in the United States House of Representatives symbolized the strength of the Polish Community and its political potential.

 

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Statement of the Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) – February 12, 2019

 
The Honorable John D. Dingell, Jr.  d - February 7, 2019
 
It is not enough just to offer that 'an era has passed' with the demise of John Dingell, who was also a great friend of Polish Americans.  Indeed, he was Polish American (The Dingell surname had been Dzieglewicz before it was 'Americanized'). The long-serving Congressman, who was a one-man powerhouse and influence broker in the House of Representatives (and beyond), joined the pantheon of the all-time political greats of the traditional Democratic breed on the American scene relatively early in his career, serving 59 years during 11 Presidential administrations.  His biography constitutes, in its fullest context, an encyclopedia of the modern American political era.  So complex was his role in Congress that few realize in which events, and to what degree, he influenced the truly momentous episodes of the post-Cold War era. One such example is the grueling political fight in the mid-1990's to trigger expansion of the NATO alliance to include Poland.  When Poland was allowed across the divide of post-war Europe in Spring 1999, history changed course.
 
But the story had started much earlier.  The first task of enlargement proponents was to get the President's attention. Later, the fight would be focused in the halls of Congress accomplishing the task.  Dingell would play a role in both in Washington.   While the Polish American grassroots effort surprised the Washington political scene by early 1994 with calls to reshape European security architecture, it was necessary to follow through from the inside.  Congressman Dingell stepped in with a personal appeal to Bill Clinton on Poland's behalf. 
 
The story is that of a man in his Congressional District, who was politically well acquainted with Dingell, making a direct appeal to him on the Poland-to-NATO question. The gentleman, an attorney from the old ‘all-Polish’ 16th District in Dearborn, Michigan, wrote a lengthy letter to Dingell, the influential House Energy and Commerce Chair.  Dingell subsequently raised the issue privately with the President during a duck hunting outing in 1994 as a result.  The Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) instigated that episode through the Dearborn attorney.
 
As it unfolded, the initial three-year (1994-1996) fight in Congress would not see real progress until June 1996, when critical co-sponsors were signed-on to an early version of a NATO legislative bill.  Chairman Ben Gilman would credit the Polish American grassroots mobilization (and FPA, as a principal organizer of it) as being critical in breaking that 30-month political logjam in Congress upon passage of the NATO Enlargement Facilitation Act. The in tandem 1996 House-Senate votes established a decisive 80% margin of support in Congress that remained intact through final Senate Treaty amendment ratification in 1998.
 
For Dingell’s part, he never ceased to be a behind the scenes advocate of Polish American causes, including Poland’s NATO membership.  He was the consummate politician who delivered results, but without the sometimes seamy implications of ‘machine’ politics.  Dingell took the high road on issues, understanding intimately not only his immediate constituency but also American society as a whole.  That understanding extended to knowing what would be in the best interests of the United States -- NATO enlargement being a case in point.  He appreciated, like all too few in Congress did in the early 1990s, Poland’s historical pain of Soviet subjugation;  but more importantly, as an American he grasped the geo-strategic implications of integrating Central/Eastern Europe (with Poland ever as its center of gravity) into modern Europe. Without a concomitant security guarantee all the talk of ‘Partnership’ would have been so many words, substituting instead a U.S.–Russia dialogue for Poland’s future need of a military shield under NATO.  And leaving the middle of Europe unguarded as it had been after 1918.
 
Members of Congress, big and small, knew where Congressman Dingell stood on Polish American issues.   They didn’t need to ask, at least ultimately, about his position on the well-being of the powerful chairman's patrimony, Poland.  Thus, in the 1996 election year, the years-long opposition to NATO enlargement rather suddenly evaporated, setting the stage for President Clinton to do his part by getting the Treaty protocol into the U.S. Senate by mid-1997.  While others took the lead in sponsoring early legislation, Dingell never took his eye off the ‘Poland-to-NATO ball’ and made sure other Members of Congress knew his view. He confirmed as much in our meetings with him.
 
The recent words of a current prominent Member of Congress suggest an epitaph of sorts for Dingell.  She rightly observes that in Dingell’s era Committee Chairmen could periodically exercise greater power than the Speaker of the House!  What was more, the way things were accomplished was to eschew ideological positions and work through the rules of the House toward bi-partisan compromise.    Dingell understood this process well, as did the leadership of both parties.  Her words also read like the FPA/Polish American playbook preamble used to win the fight in Congress almost TWO YEARS before the final Senate decision on the nuclear security guarantee to Poland.  Some 14 weeks before the 1996 General Election both the House and Senate delivered in bi-partisan fashion their message to the President: Poland should be offered U.S.- lead security guarantees. 
 
So yes, there is a passing of an era underway – but, it is due in general to the nature of the overheated political scene itself– and not just about the passing of a brilliant practitioner of the political art like Dingell.  It was the NATO enlargement episode, and interactions with Congressman John Dingell among others, that represented the best example of Polish American political clout in Washington in a generation.  April 2019 will be the 20th anniversary of the culmination of these events.
 
John D. Dingell, Jr.
End of Statement of the Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) – February 12, 2019

Contact - Richard Kosinski,
Federation of Polish Americans, Inc.
info@federationofpolishamericans.org
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The Federation of Polish Americans, Inc. (FPA) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of Polish Americans in civic affairs.  The FPA expresses its views on local, state, national and international issues of particular concern to the Polish American community. The FPA have been active politically since 1995.
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The  Statement from Federation of Polish Americans August 3 2018, 

A Year After the President's Warsaw Speech: Poland, NATO & Polish Americans

Polish Americans should be ready to deliver this message about Poland & NATO

FILE PHOTO: Washington DC Rally,  June 11 2016

The  Statement from Federation of Polish Americans August 3 2018,

A Year After the President's Warsaw Speech: Poland, NATO & Polish Americans

Polish Americans should be ready to deliver this message about Poland & NATO

Despite NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s very recent reassurances that the alliance is stronger due to increased military spending, there is growing public perception that Poland could, under certain circumstances, not be defended in the event of war.  At issue is NATO's Article 5 which guarantees a full response by the alliance against Russian aggression. Such views hold that a U.S.-led military response is not settled policy and an attack on Poland could go unanswered.  While this is not true, Polish Americans should continue to express their expectation, calling for the 'full faith and credit' of the U.S. signature on the North Atlantic Treaty to translate to U.S. military engagement in Poland.  In the event of a crisis, the same applies of course to the neighboring Baltic nations.
 
Our Assets Cannot be Sacrificed
 
After all, our assets cannot be sacrificed and the facts speak for themselves.  Since late 2016, U.S. deployments have continued uninterrupted.  Today, U.S. forces are found in 9 locales in Poland including at Orzysz which is opposite the important Sulwalki Gap on the Lithuanian border, near Russian-held Kaliningrad. While entirely defensive in nature, they serve as a warning. According to the U.S. Defense Attaché in Warsaw, the latter unit (3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment from Fort Hood, Texas) is “part of the Alliance’s overall deterrence and defense posture to demonstrate that an attack on or incursion into NATO territory will be met by Allied military forces.” 
 
Elsewhere inside Poland other U.S. presence includes an Army armored brigade Combat Team, an Air Force Fighter Wing and logistics and Naval support elements.  These deployments actually preceded the very recent creation of two new NATO commands, one in Norfolk, Virginia, further enabling the U.S. to respond.  It will cover the Atlantic Ocean, handling major war-fighting logistical needs during any conflict.
 
The Danger is Real
 
The danger is real.  And the Polish American response should be as heartfelt as the threat.  Russia invaded Crimea, and then Eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014, precipitating a war that has cost some 10,000 lives.  Make no mistake, such a conflict is also contemplated in northeast Poland (as evidenced in planning and force posturing by the Russians). The reactivation of the Russian First Guards Tank Army, deemed to be the most potent armor force on the continent, did not occur without reason.  Nor did the rapid appearance of some 70,000 Russian troops on the Baltic frontier during military readiness exercises in 2017 come without a message: ‘We are ready for the future’, the Russians communicated.  Indeed, a warning about the future is the core issue.  The Russian threat is, in fact, a long term one. 

But are we ready?

For this reason, The Federation of Polish Americans (FPA) has a message for the Trump Administration:

The FPA urges the Administration to publicly detail the steps it has taken or will take in support of NATO.

The FPA urges the Administration to quickly decide to accept Poland's offer of joint funding to establish a permanent base there.  Poland has met the 2% of GDP goal of military funding, providing an example to 5 other alliance members who have recently announced long-over due increases.

The FPA urges NATO to expand, in this context, its military exercises and forward troop deployments, and begin a transition away from the present rotational or 'visiting' force presence in Poland to one of permanent basing on a region-wide basis. Gone are the days in which the presence of U.S.-NATO forces facing Russia's borders was understood to be off the table under the 1990 German reunification agreement, which nearly stopped Poland's bid for NATO membership in the first place, and has influenced events since.  (Full disclosure:  The Federation of Polish Americans warned of this arrangement in Congressional testimony in June 1996, delivered by Richard Kosinski).

The FPA urges NATO to quickly implement Gen. Mattis’s plan for deployment of 30 land battalions, 30 fighter squadrons and 30 warships within 30 days of an anticipated incident.

The FPA urges the Administration to give prompt consideration to deploying 7 NATO brigades and 3 heavy armored brigades in Eastern Europe, as indicated by the Rand Corporation.

The FPA urges the Administration to quickly implement its promise to supply Ukraine with requisite offensive arms as a deterrent to further aggression.

The FPA urges the Administration to maintain, and increase, its implemented sanctions, now at some 200, against Russia as well as reaffirm our expulsion of diplomats for its continued meddling in our elections and to unequivocally state the U.S. will not tolerate any future efforts to achieve its obvious goals in meddling.

The FPA further urges the Administration and NATO to implement effective countermeasures to Russia’s increased use of hybrid warfare, subterfuge, cyber attacks, assassinations and sabotage which threaten our homeland.

Polish Americans should be ready to deliver this message

NATO invoked Article 5 following the 9/11 attacks, and there should be no doubt that the U.S. must respond in kind. Any suggestion that Article 5 guarantees for Poland are in doubt, coming from any source or couched in any ‘explanation’, is wholly and categorically unacceptable.

Statement of the Federation of Polish Americans, Inc., August 3, 2018

Contact - Roman Korzan,
Federation of Polish Americans, Inc.
info@federationofpolishamericans.org
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The Federation of Polish Americans, Inc. (FPA) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of Polish Americans in civic affairs.  The FPA expresses its views on local, state, national and international issues of particular concern to the Polish American community. The FPA have been active politically since 1995.
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