A settlement of Gauls,in which Astherix used to live, was surrounded by four fortified camps of Roman leggionaires. Leggionaires hardly left their fortresses, because they were afraid of bumping into the Gauls, overindulged with the magical drink that was giving them a magical superhuman, power. In short, the whole service of every next shift was comming down to waiting for better times. That way came to existence the syndrome of Astherix.
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It’s been over two tousand years, but the syndrome of Asterix is doing very well and we can watch it now very well in our country. We also have soldiers sitting in the fortified camps, but not in North Gaul- France, but in Eastern Afganisthan, who watch that coutry from proverbial fortifications , peepholes and windows of all means of wheeled transport, that they use to move around. What’s interesting, they aren’t actually the main symptome of that syndrome in Poland. This syndrome is eating through the whole Polish desision-making process, connected with our commitment and its range in Afghanistan.
Syndrome of Astherix is through and through defensive concept, consisting in dispatchig the soldiers on another peace or stabilisation mission and at the same time in ignoring the fact,which really makes them go to the war, without the possibilty to lead it or take part in the “fight with insurrectionist” in Afghanistan , even if it’s not very spectacular and of large scale and does not come down to the kinethic operations.
This is the idea to close the Polish forces in the miliraty bases and hardly poke outside out , if finnaly ,then in big, spectacular and well planned actions like “ Eagle Feather” , that can be properly advertised by the media .
This is the suggestion to the confused society, that polish presence at different stabilisation missions is the part of the way bigger plan, concept, strategy or the doctrin of the national sercurity.
In practice, it’s rather of national security, because it’s playing down its importance by sending the reduced contingents to different parts of the world.
In there, these contingents become the means to express the desire of Polish State to live to see the loosening, it meats the time, when somone else, mostly USA will make a decision and defite the direction and development of the the particular mission and will define their priorities, which Poland will try to adapt. Inbetween it’s going to wait in their fortifications, on their well secured political positions and not to irritate the Gauls (The Talibs) and Rome ( Washington).
There are no predictions, that Poland is going to get healed from the syndrome of Astherix, cause it’s just sending to Asia next hundrets of soldiers, whose presence in the province of Ghazni should mean bigger commitment of our country in Afhganistan. The commitment is getting bigger and bigger, more visible presence on the missios is being counted into the number of soldiers, of which the contingent consists.
Briefly, Polish commitment is defined not by questions starting wit how? and what?, but how much, or rather how many ( soldiers). This is the expression of extremely easy logic, which seems to stymulise polish strategy of national security – the more we are “involved” ( which means the more soldiers we send) into different missions under the leadership of USA, the more they will appreciate us as a reliable part of Northatlantic Alliance. At once, Polish contingent of the army in Ghazni and especially its basis, actions, devotion and profesionalism are about to guarantee out country respect and favour at the main causal power NATO- Unites States ofAmerica. Afterwards it may result for instance in bigger supply of Patriots in our country, which means it will sthenghten our bargaining position according to the issue that have for us strategical meaning, but not necessarily for US.
Ashamed in the light of that reasoning Americans admit, that Poland is an important and somehow speciall ally and they’re about to reorganise their politics according to our region of Europe and especially according to Russia for Poland’s sake.
The circle will close, and our more and more criticised presence in the province of Ghazni will get totally new sence and meaning, what was to be proved.
In the meantime the reality looks totally different. It’s not enough to send the next groups of soldiers and to build for the new fortified camps and in accordance with the syndrome of Ashterix- to forbid them to participate in the Afghanistan war.We can not just wait for another decisions of Americans to be made- we’ve got to get our own Afghanistan’s strategy, which was said to be in their last, final phase of preparations at the end of 2009. It’s not sufficient to hold Ministry of National Defence responsible for the preparation of the mission and for putting it into practice.
If we decide to send to the different part o the world more than 2500 fellows, armed and trainded for our money, who are the instrument of the Polish foreing policy, we’ve got to have a plan of our presence, policy and actions, which is supporded and authorised by the whole gouverment and all ministeries. The plan, in which an important role would play not only the ministeries headed by Klich and Sikorski, but also ministeries headed by Pawlak, Sawicki and Rostowski. In short, we’ve got to get a plan, which would be integrated with new American strategy of colonialism without colonizers, and in which the substance of Polish presence in Ghanzi and its short and long term goals would be clearly explained.
We can also try to overcome the syndrome of Astherix,causeif we assume,that our stay in Ghanzi and our “meaningfull” participation of the Polish army in International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is pontless, we’ve got to immediately drastically reduce the number of the soldiers in the country and maximise the quality of the army. Under the “quality presence” I mean in here holding and developing co-operation of Polish special forces with their American and British counterparts on the area of Afghanistan and further investment into the intelligence activities, not only the civil one but also the militar one in the area of Middle East, and South Asia and the Middle Near East.
Such activities would lead to the impairment of Poland i the coalition with countries from ISAF , in the NATO and in the special, bilateral alliance with USA, which unfortunatelly is just a pious wish of our politicians and does not depend on the number of “yeomen” sent to the Ghanzi. “Yeomen” not from the lack of respect for our soldiers, but because we send them mostly to the garrison service under the extreme conditions and such allies Amernica needs less than we think it does. They prefere to get those, who act maybe of the smaller range, but which can offer the serivce the way better and of better quality.
It’s high time we understood, that speech of Minister Klich, that US treats Poland the same like they do with Egipt or Pakistan, is one of the most incorrect speeches in the history of Poland after 1989.
Not only because we want to be neither Egypt nor Pakistan, because there is nothnig to be jeallous, as far as they are concerned,but also becasue we can not try to put ourselves even with the most important allies of USA from the regions of the strategic meaning. It’s good to be aware of the fact, that Poland is for USA nothing more but promising regional partner, whose interests often don’t quite overlap with Washington’s ones..
The thing is simple- there are only American interests, nothing personal and it’s high time to get aware of that. We could get out of Afghanistan quickly, but we can also try to squize from our stay in there some cenrtain profits . Yes, profits , because it’s really hard to find any Polish interests, that would demand our presence in that country to be getting that long and that charging ,accorting to quantity. Let’s leave for a while the honouring of the allied obligations aside, which aren’t met for us by anybody, or our care about the state of Afghanistan. Out potencial benefits are to deepen and continue the co-peration between Polish army and their Britis and American equivalents and spreading of the spy ring in strategic regions of the world, which means in Middle and South Asia and also on the Middle Near East. These are the good things, which we can reach and in the futer we can try to barter for our own interests according to the close neighbours of Poland. For 2500 soldiers from the country with “the syndrome of Atherix” in the province of Ghanzi we won’t get anything.
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