Europe

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is finishing up his three-day trip to the United States on Thursday, almost two months after President Biden’s trip to Poland. The visit is a good opportunity to showcase the solidity of the US-Poland alliance, which, as Morawiecki said, is “an absolute foundation of our [Poland’s] security.” The Poles are truly enamored with the United States, with 91 percent of the populace viewing the US positively. Contrast that with the United Kingdom at 64 percent, and the scale of Poland’s affinity for America becomes clear. Warsaw also has one of the highest levels of confidence in American reliability as a partner at 86 percent, more than any other European country except for the Netherlands.

Prince Harry will attend the coronation of his father, King Charles III next month alone, according to Buckingham Palace. Meghan Markle will stay in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. After months of speculation, with the sources claiming that the Sussexes "weren't sure" if they would attend after the latest fall out from Harry's bombshell memoir, Spare, it has now be announced that the prince will attend, but his wife, Meghan stay in California with their children, Buckingham Palace says. Critics have bashed the pair for not deciding quicker, after they were formally invited over one month ago. A source close to the family, who will attend the coronation said: "Her presence may not have been entirely welcome. It's more likely she would have been booed.

In an off-the-cuff monologue delivered during a press conference in Sarajevo, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó summed up his government’s growing fury over international efforts to influence Hungarian domestic affairs. Asked about the US State Department’s latest Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which includes extensive criticisms of Hungary, Szijjártó pulled no punches.   “I am appalled, and I am appalled again and again every year, that the US State Department has the courage to make such excoriating statements about the internal issues and situations of other countries,” Szijjártó said.

Being twenty-something in the twenties is realizing that however much the world has progressed, it is overwhelmingly likely that in my life I will get less than what my parents got. I will work for a longer portion of my life and I will work more hours per week for less money. On the subject of houses, I will never be able to buy one. This isn’t me wallowing in self-pity; it's just the reality. House prices in Britain have more than doubled (53 percent) in the last decade, and the average deposit needed for first-time buyers in London currently stands at $140,000. If you can scrape that together, you’ll have to be quick before the Russians or Qataris buy up the whole development anyway.

Sacre bleu: the French are at it again. This time they’re taking to the streets over pensions after President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to raise France's retirement age from sixty-two to sixty-four. If there’s one thing Cockburn respects the French for, it’s starting a damn good riot.  And these protests are wonderfully, aesthetically French. Let Cockburn set the scene. Thousands have gathered at places such as Place d'Italie, while setting trash cans on fire and burning an effigy of Macron while chanting things like "Macron, resign!” and “The streets are ours!” All this is happening amid the putrid stench of decomposing food after sanitation workers went on strike at the start of the year.  https://twitter.

Prague is still draped in blue and yellow flags, but with no end to the Ukraine war in sight, there’s growing uncertainty in Eastern European countries like the Czech Republic. As governments gear up to support Ukraine for the long haul, attitudes are also shifting among the millions of refugees who have found shelter in the EU since the war began.  Last year, the Ukrainian refugee crisis became part of everyday life in the Czech Republic, the EU country hosting the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita. At first, it seemed refugees were fleeing a country that would soon fall under the sway of the Kremlin. Later, the mood changed as Ukrainian gains on the battlefield raised hopes that the war could be won sooner than anyone had expected.

If you happen to be having a bad day, spare a thought for someone called Matt Hancock, possibly the most hapless person on the planet.  A former British health minister, Mr. Hancock has become a national laughing stock across the Atlantic. First, he got fired from his job presiding over the UK’s National Health Service for breaking his own Covid lockdown rules. Unlike Gavin Newsom or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who did something similar, Hancock managed to get caught out in spectacular fashion. After helping issue edicts making it illegal for anyone in Britain to socialize with someone outside their family, Hancock was filmed canoodling his mistress like a high-school senior at prom night.  A real-life version of Britain’s Mr.

In a shocking twist after the last three years of Prince Harry’s perpetual victimhood tour, last night in a live therapy session the prince finally admitted what we’ve known all along: that he isn’t one. Back on the stage for a live streamed Q&A with toxic trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté, Harry claimed, “I definitely don't see myself as a victim.” You had to pay thirty bucks a head for the pleasure, but boy it was worth it to hear that. Victim, no. Narcissist, maybe. Later in the interview Harry said that sharing his experiences of his terrible life in his bombshell memoir Spare “feels like an act of service.” I’m sure his late grandmother would have different views on what a lifetime of service actually entails.

A British aristocrat and a Florida rapist are hardly a likely pairing; which is why the missing person case of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon enthralled the public this week. In early January, Marten and Gordon went missing with their newborn baby, who was born in the back of their car just two days prior. They set the car on fire with all their belongings inside on the hard shoulder of the M61 motorway in northwest England and ran. First they traveled to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, to Colchester and on to East Ham station in east London. The police were constantly about two days behind them, before the trail went cold completely. Today, police confirmed the couple has been found and arrested — but the search for the baby continues.

As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, today seems as a good time as any to reflect on its first, and see what the future might hold. Six foreign policy experts from across the spectrum of opinion offered their thoughts to The Spectator. As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, how do you foresee the conflict ending? Ted Carpenter: There are several possible outcomes, but the most likely is a ceasefire without a formal peace accord. That move would end the bloodshed, but it would leave the underlying disputes unresolved. Such an outcome would be similar to the armistice that ended the Korean War. It also would create the world’s largest and most dangerous “frozen conflict.

Kharkiv, Ukraine President Joe Biden on Monday showed the world that, as Volodymyr Zelensky said in his London speech two weeks ago, we do not need to be afraid of Moscow. Or maybe we don't need to be afraid so long as Biden is on Ukrainian soil. As I write this, Biden's train has likely crossed into Polish territory, and, on cue, the air-raid alarms are wailing across all of eastern Ukraine. No one I know in Ukraine, where I’ve been since the pandemic and throughout every minute of this war, thinks that Biden's visit accomplished something magical. But it did serve a crucial purpose: boosting the spirits here, amid a week full of warnings that Moscow will do something awful.

President Joe Biden’s administration has announced that he will be crossing the pond to Poland on February 20 through 22, just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Cockburn finds the dates curious — and wonders if the president will make a surprise visit to the epicenter of the conflict on the anniversary itself. The scheduled trip looks like it will already be a busy one, meeting with American allies in the region and reasserting Washington’s “unwavering support for the security of the Alliance.” The real kicker will be if Biden makes his way to Kyiv and meets Zelensky, ending the unfortunate distinction of him being one of the few Western leaders yet to travel to Ukraine.

As the battlefront news for Ukraine turns grim, with even the New York Times conceding that “Ukrainians in [the] East” are “outnumbered and worn out,” the hope, as usual, is that a magic weapon will save the day. We have seen many such invocations in the last twelve months: Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, M777 Howitzers, HIMARS long-range precision missile launchers, assorted Western tanks. All have been hailed in their time as potentially tipping the balance against Putin’s hordes. None have succeeded, or, in the case of as yet undelivered tanks, are likely to succeed, in altering the fundamental military balance in the war, though they contribute much to the balance sheets of the relevant Western arms corporations.

Kharkiv, Ukraine Wednesday, the morning after Russia sent six long-range missiles into the center of Ukraine’s second city, I went for a run in snow-covered Gorky Park listening to the music of the German band Scorpions: “Down to Gorky Park, listening to the wind of change.” Scorpions were singing about a park of the same name in Moscow but I wanted to hear that song here in Kharkiv. When that song was released in 1990, the Soviet Union was breaking up. There was so much hope. Ukraine and other nations that had lived under the Iron Curtain began the process of finding freedom, happiness, possibility. But Russia? Ah, I thought as I ran past the fresh crater of a Russian missile in Kharkiv’s Gorky Park, what happened to Russia? What happened to that “wind of change"?

It is not inevitable that the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania would be among freedom’s most potent defenders. Nestled between the Russian mainland and Moscow’s exclave of Kaliningrad, their only direct connection to their NATO allies is through the vulnerable Suwalki Gap. For its part, NATO only has small rotational forces stationed in the three countries. At first glance, one would expect these tiny nations (Lithuania is the largest at 2.8 million people) to prefer flying under the radar. Instead they have become some of the most vocal and powerful defenders of the Western way of life. Tiny though they may be, the Baltic countries have managed to stand up to the two greatest enemies of freedom at work today, Russia and China.

Once again, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has crushed the hopes of NATO allies and, most of all, the millions of Ukrainians suffering under Russia’s assault. Originally, he refused to send tanks to Ukraine for fear that Russia would escalate the war. More recently, Scholz has said he'd only consider sending tanks if it was part of a coalition, not just Germany acting alone. Last week, the United Kingdom announced it would be sending Challenger 2 main battle tanks (MBT) to Ukraine, making it the first nation to supply modern, Western MBTs to Kyiv. Poland, Finland, and Denmark have also indicated that they would be willing to send their own Leopard 2 tanks. Those are German-origin weapons, so they first require a nod of approval from Berlin in order to export.

Germany has a new defense minister. The funny thing is that nobody really knows who he is, what he stands for, and whether he’s capable of doing his job. Boris Pistorius will take over the ministry from Christine Lambrecht, whose one-year tenure was about as embarrassing and gaffe-prone as the Bundeswehr itself. There are too many blemishes on her record to examine in a single post — we would be here all day. But one of the more notable misfires was her tone-deaf New Year’s Eve video, where she reminded viewers that a war was going on in Europe as a fireworks display went off behind her. For many in the German defense establishment, Lambrecht’s departure can be summed up in two words: good riddance. Not much is known about her replacement.

As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages into its eleventh month, there is one country that can truly be said to have learned its lesson: Poland. By the mid-2030s, when the majority of its equipment purchases have been delivered, Warsaw will command one of the most modern, well-equipped armies in Europe. It’s not cheap, but Poland is taking decisive action to be able to face the threats of tomorrow. Poland's $20.5 billion 2023 defense budget is a huge increase over the previous year, and is over 3 percent of gross domestic product (well above the NATO-suggested 2 percent). Aside from equipment, this money will be used to help expand the manpower that Poland can bring to bear, upping its active-duty forces from 140,000 to 300,000 troops.

As the House GOP continues to make a fool out of itself trying to elect a speaker, those watching might be wondering how all of this will impact the war in Ukraine. The group of around twenty Republican lawmakers who have opposed Kevin McCarthy in the (as of this writing) eight votes taken so far for the speakership include some of the most hardline anti-Ukraine-aid Republicans, like Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz. A group this small in the House should be nothing more than an annoyance, but the changes they are demanding — and even those McCarthy has conceded to — give them far more power. The most threatening among them is a provision to return to the system whereby one member of the House can launch a motion to vacate the chair, forcing an up or down vote on the speaker.