Your daily wars-and-rumors-of-war news: Poland, Russia, Wagner, Belarus

I guess this is now a routine ritual in Cold War 2.0. Threats, and threats of threats, and endless hand-wringing about threats real and imagined.

From DW News¹:

But the anchor in this segment asks sensible questions of the kind that no one has ever heard from, say, Chuck Todd:

"Attacking Poland is attacking NATO. Is that in anyone's interest at this point?"

"Who's [Putin's] audience here? Is anyone in Warsaw taking this seriously?"

And later, "Obviously Poland is not planning to strike Belarus. So is anyone in Warsaw listening to Vladimir Putin at this point?" Her guest, Midhal Baranowski, the managing director of the German Marshall Fund, snickers when he hears the question.

But this is a reminder that both the Clinton and Bush II Administrations basically thought NATO enlargement was a freebie, i.e., that they would never have to worry much about actually defending those countries bordering on Russia from a Russian military attack.

1. Putin accuses Poland of trying to get involved in Ukraine war. DW News YouTube channel 07/22/2023. (Accessed: 2023-22-07).