War fatigue has set in – and nationalist populists are stoking cross-border enmity in a brutal campaign for re-election, say authors Karolina Wigura and Jarosław Kuisz
An extraordinary rally in Warsaw last Sunday drew crowds of up to 800,000 opposition supporters, many waving Polish and EU flags, on to the streets of the capital.
As one of the biggest demonstrations in Poland’s recent history, it was a stunning show of support for the opposition Civic Coalition and its leader, former prime minister Donald Tusk, as he prepares to challenge the rightwing populist governing party Law and Justice in elections on 15 October.
History has long divided Poland and Ukraine, but in the post-Soviet era reconciliation has prevailed, thanks in part to a shared fear of Russia but also such events as the Euro 2012 football tournament, jointly hosted by the two nations, and Polish support for the Euromaidan movement the following year.
But as fear of Moscow as an imminent threat has ebbed and war fatigue has spread among the Polish public as well as in government circles, solidarity has also flagged.
With the heart of global diplomacy now in Kyiv and a transatlantic alliance formed around it, the nationalist government in Warsaw finds it hard to remain an uncritical ally.
Poland under populist rule will not work for a collective European agenda, but – together with Hungary under Viktor Orbán, Slovakia under Robert Fico and others – for the primacy of the nation state.
The original article contains 1,098 words, the summary contains 219 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
An extraordinary rally in Warsaw last Sunday drew crowds of up to 800,000 opposition supporters, many waving Polish and EU flags, on to the streets of the capital.
As one of the biggest demonstrations in Poland’s recent history, it was a stunning show of support for the opposition Civic Coalition and its leader, former prime minister Donald Tusk, as he prepares to challenge the rightwing populist governing party Law and Justice in elections on 15 October.
History has long divided Poland and Ukraine, but in the post-Soviet era reconciliation has prevailed, thanks in part to a shared fear of Russia but also such events as the Euro 2012 football tournament, jointly hosted by the two nations, and Polish support for the Euromaidan movement the following year.
But as fear of Moscow as an imminent threat has ebbed and war fatigue has spread among the Polish public as well as in government circles, solidarity has also flagged.
With the heart of global diplomacy now in Kyiv and a transatlantic alliance formed around it, the nationalist government in Warsaw finds it hard to remain an uncritical ally.
Poland under populist rule will not work for a collective European agenda, but – together with Hungary under Viktor Orbán, Slovakia under Robert Fico and others – for the primacy of the nation state.
The original article contains 1,098 words, the summary contains 219 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!