Are Poles losing faith in the Army to defend them?
A new poll suggests that Polish people feel less confident about the capacity of the Polish Army to defend the country. Why?
Territorial Defence Troops – being sworn in. Photo: gov.pl
Despite assurances of the last Polish government as well as the current ruling coalition that Poland is secure thanks to record defence spending, a new poll suggests that Poland does not feel safe.
A month ago, a survey carried out by IBRiS for the „Rzeczpospolita” daily found that just over half of Poles, 53%, felt the Polish Army was ready to defend the country against foreign aggressors.
Now a new poll for Rzeczpospolita (this by SW Research) finds that 54.7% of Poles DO NOT feel the Polish Army is ready for foreign attacks.
Perhaps, the growing pessimism surrounding Ukraine’s ability to defend itself is undermining Polish confidence. With the US elections just 2 weeks ahead a key moment awaits Ukraine and its allies.
In Poland itself, there has been considerable media attention given to Russian interference, including hybrid warfare, the manipulation of asylum seekers and Poland’s response:
„I must react to lies impacting state security:
– Poland must hold the right to decide who enters the country and who does not.
– We cannot allow ourselves to be played by Putin and Lukashenka in this matter. Hard times demand difficult but necessary decisions.”
Sources: Rzeczpospolita, X, Polish Radio
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