Poland Finds an Ally in U.S.

An agreement between Poland and the United states was reached Thursday for strengthening of the bond between the two nations. Polish prime Minister Donald Tusk, having seen the ferocity with which Russia has attacked Georgia, realizes that if Poland is attacked, NATO will be too slow to come to the country's aid. "Poland and the Poles do not want to be in alliances in which assistance comes at some point later—it is no good when assistance comes to dead people. Poland wants to be in alliances where assistance comes in the very first hours of—knock on wood—any possible conflict," This basically sums it up.

The exact specifications of the agreement state that:

• The United States will help Poland augment its defenses and come to Poland's aid if attacked


• And/in exchange for the placement of U.S. 10 Patriot missle defense interceptors in Poland.

This agreement, which took around 18 months to come into being, has Russia angered. At the same time, Russia has openly dissregarded the ceasefire and has begun looting cities, and burning military bases, it's army sweeping across Georgia. A column of more than 100 Russian tanks has been reported to be currently moving toward Georgia's second largest city. Reports have also come in that Georgian soldiers fired on civilians. Clearly, total chaos reigns, and Poland certainly has a right to be concerned. George Bush has criticized the Kremlin and called for Russia to uphold the ceasefire agreement and to withdraw immediately from Georgia, but this seems highly unlikely. The United States did transport all of the Georgian soldiers in Iraq back to Georgia and has delivered humanitarian aid to Georgia. President Bush has so far only threatened with the exclusion of Russia from many international organizations, and has not yet delivered any ultimatum regarding military action if Russia continues on the war path. And all the while Russia's true motives for it's blitzkrieg war are still unknown...