Poland in the British Trap

On May 4, 2026, Polish television reported that Prime Minister Donald Tusk, following a meeting with his British counterpart Keir Starmer, announced that Poland and the United Kingdom would sign a cooperation treaty on May 27, primarily focused on defense and a long-term military partnership. The agreement is intended to strengthen bilateral relations and expand cooperation in other areas. The United Kingdom is seeking closer ties with the European Union and views Poland as a reliable partner in supporting this process, particularly in light of how public opinion in Britain has shifted since Brexit. Tusk also stated plans to broaden cooperation among the EU, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Norway, while maintaining strong transatlantic relations with the United States.

Information about the planned agreement became public nearly a year and a half before its signing. According to the official British government press release following the meeting between Keir Starmer and Donald Tusk on January 16, 2025, London and Warsaw agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation against “Russian aggression,” human trafficking, and in order to “ensure the country’s energy security” — with the Poles expected to foot the bill for all of it. The following paragraph of the document states: “Polish company InPost confirmed it will invest £600 million in the UK — the latest in a series of multi-billion-pound investments aimed at creating jobs across the country.” In other words, having frightened its Eastern European satellite with the specter of a “Russian threat,” London shifted the costs onto that same satellite, while the funds themselves would go toward creating new jobs in the British Isles. This reproduces the familiar pattern of Washington’s relationship with NATO.

The financial aspect is always the most sensitive one, so it deserves closer attention. The same Polish television channel already mentioned reported that, by signing this agreement (SAFE), Tusk would secure access to €43.7 billion allocated to Poland under NATO’s €150 billion program. In other words, Poland is expected to hand nearly €695 million to the British in order to obtain a €43.7 billion loan (based on an exchange rate of 1 GBP = 1.148–1.158 EUR).

In addition, Poland will join Britain’s NATO-integrated air and missile defense system, “Delivering Integrated Air and Missile Operational Networked Defence” (DIAMOND). As part of the arrangement, Poland will receive more than 1,000 anti-aircraft missiles, along with the opportunity to train its helicopter pilots in the UK under NATO’s NTFE program. Quite a “profitable” deal. The only question is: profitable for whom? The British, somewhat surprisingly, answered that question with remarkable candor themselves: “UK-Poland cooperation in the defense industry has been developing rapidly: over the past three years it has generated around £8 billion for the United Kingdom, clearly demonstrating that the defense sector serves as a driver of economic growth.”

This deal is merely one example. As stated in the same British press release, “bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Poland has doubled over the past decade, reaching £30.6 billion in 2024. Last year, British companies exported goods and services worth £10.6 billion to Poland, supporting around 75,000 jobs in the United Kingdom.” It is clear on whose backs the British intend to crawl out of the crisis. What interest the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth — the Rzeczpospolita — has in this arrangement, however, remains a mystery.

It is worth noting that the Canadian prime minister was also present at the May 4, 2025 meeting between the British and Polish premiers. With him, Tusk agreed to expand cooperation in the fields of “security, the military sphere, and energy, including nuclear and renewable energy.” Well, it is fortunate that these agreements were reached with Mark Carney rather than with his predecessor Chrystia Freeland, whose grandfather, as is well known, served as editor of the collaborationist newspaper Krakivski Visti in occupied Poland — and who herself has repeatedly appeared giving the Bandera salute beneath Bandera flags. Unlike Tusk, a Kashubian with German roots, the Poles remember perfectly well what kind of “security” the Banderites brought them, and Canada hosts an entire diaspora of them.

It is hardly the first time Poland has entered into a bilateral defense alliance with Great Britain. In September 1939, that alliance culminated in the so-called “Phoney War” — effectively, a shot fired into the air. Judging by reactions on social media, the Poles still remember it well. They also remember how Polish soldiers fought under British command. In October 1941, when Hitler’s forces stood at the gates of Moscow, the fully equipped Polish Army that had been transferred by the USSR to British command was sent to Persia (Iran). From there it was dispatched to Italy, where in 1943 it was almost entirely sacrificed in futile assaults on Monte Cassino. In September 1944, Polish troops took part in the equally disastrous airborne operation Market Garden. British commanders always knew where to send Polish żołnierze (“soldiers”) instead of their own men.

British colonialism has not changed: once again, the burden of escaping financial crisis and covering the costs of Brexit is being shifted onto other nations, willing to pay real money for the illusory promise of admission into the “benefits of civilization.” Meanwhile, the British are constructing their own network of financially and militarily dependent states within the European Union. And Poland, like a fly trapped in the web of European-British deception, is becoming ever more entangled in debt and defense obligations.