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Original by Juliusz Cwieluch published by Polityka; translation by J.Hawk
A wave of resignation has swept Armed Forces General Command (DGRSZ), which is the Polish military’s key command apparatus. Nearly all of its most important officers have tendered resignations in the last few days. Out of 23 generals assigned to the DGRSZ, five have resigned, including three two-star generals.
The list of resignations is not being published. One of the generals who is unofficially mentioned as having resigned is Division General Janusz Bronowicz, Land Forces’ General Inspector who is in charge over the most important component of the Polish military.
General Bronowicz climbed nearly every rung of the career ladder. He was a successful commander of Poland’s 6th rotation to Afghanistan. He was also involved in planning the largest Polish military exercise since the end of the Warsaw Pact. The Anakonda 2016 exercise is to include 25 thousand soldiers, including 12 thousand from Poland.
This information is all the more concerning since Bronowicz’s resignation was accompanied by the resignations of both of his deputies, Generals Andrzej Andrzej Kuśnierek and Stanisław Olszański. The Naval Inspectorate has also lost its chief. According to unconfirmed reports, Vice-Admiral Marian Ambroziak has decided to hang up his uniform.
As if that was not enough, the DGRSZ is also losing its chief of staff. On February 29, Division General Ireneusz Bartniak has offered his resignation. General Bartniak is so far the only officer to have officially confirmed his resignation. In his letter to Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, he asked for reducing the 6-month resignation notice for “personal reasons. Bartniak and his colleagues did not want to comment on their resignations.
Whoever is nominated in his place will lack his experience. Bartniak served on the 9th Iraq rotation where he was heavily engaged in combating Iraqi insurgency which nearly completely took over the city of Diwaniya. Bartniak has served for 35 years and is leaving at the age of 55, still at the peak of his abilities. Like the other officers.
The Polish military has not experienced such a wave of resignations in the last few decades. Even though they are voluntary, the officers unofficially blame the atmosphere in the military following Antoni Macierewicz’s assumption of the post of Minister of Defense. –As an officer, I can only express my opinion by leaving, one of the departing generals has stated.
The wave of resignations is not only bad news for Polish soldiers. In a few weeks, the first US units will arrive in Poland to take part in the Anakonda 2016 exercise (scheduled for June 7-17). The US decided to send a record number of 10 thousand soldiers to Poland. Addition 3 thousand will be contributed by other NATO countries. These exercises are supposed to serve as a great demonstration of NATO’s unity and power prior to the July NATO summit in Europe.
The decimation of the command system right before such an important event is fatal news which will no doubt be noticed, and not only by Poland’s allies. The US has already requested the Ministry of Defense to explain how this news is to be interpreted, and whether it will influence the exercises and further military cooperation. The Ministry so far has not issued a response.
J.Hawk’s Comment: Washington is right to be concerned, since Poland is asserting its own independence in ways that the earlier, pro-EU, government would not have. For all the militant rhetoric, the main political foe for the current Law and Justice (PiS) government is internal. Defense Minister Macierewicz is obsessed with pinning the Smolensk air disaster on the Russian government (which, remarkably, Washington has shown no interest in facilitating) and, especially, on the previous government which is tantamount of accusing them of high treason. Not for nothing is Washington, Brussels, and Berlin worried, because the resulting political divisions in Poland will leave that country far less capable of acting as part of NATO and will render it a less trustworthy adversary. It doesn’t help that Macierewicz has no interest in actually discharging his duties as Defense Minister, preferring instead to engage in political witch hunts.
Can US and EU do anything about it? Probably not. There will be the usual EU commissions and threats, but they will probably not amount to much since the West has little influence over Warsaw, just as it has very little influence over Kiev. In both cases, these minor allies (if not clients) know they are indispensable to the more powerful EU and NATO powers, and therefore their internal political vagaries must be tolerated. In terms of the bigger picture, the fact that more and more countries are slipping out of the grip of Brussels and Washington is a sign that the post-Cold War predatory neo-liberal (or neo-colonial) model of development has run its course, and its crisis will redraw the geopolitical maps of Europe and other regions of the world.
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Finally Trump revolution is waking up EU. Poland’s Military won’t be a puppet To NATO insanity
I think you mean “counter-revolution.” If you seriously think that the fascist billionaire, hotelier and real estate speculator Donald Trump is a revolutionary, you need to get to a psychiatrist right away.
In 10 years max Poland will be one of the most powerful countries in Europe militarily and economically
if You believe that……does it also mean that Polish gangs finally quit stealing cars from all over the europe?
That doesn’t even make sense. All you did is splurt out some idiotic stereotype.
@d@johannbrotner:disqus PiS will destroy Poland. They are actually all weak fools that Vladimir is going to have an amazing time with. Their jewish and homosexual leader Jaroslaw (who is a self hating anti-semite and homophobe) will destroy this country. Dealing with Poland will be like killing ants with a hammer for Russia now if the situation requires it. Weaklings and idiots is all they are.
I’ve traveled throughout Poland last year and everywhere i went they were building something and i was surprised by their ingenuity not to mention that i am also surprised by their armament industries and the stuff they build.I know Poland and the Polish people will not allow themselves to be a victim of Russia and Germany AGAIN.As for the fing Jews you have to keep them out of power for ever.
At lest they steal cars. Deutsche bank still your money and everyone’s else money by the billions.
Poland is a vassal of German industry, and the US foreign relations and security establishment. There is little to no chance of such a radical reversal of this state of affairs in so short a time.
Don’t be so sure.I’ve seen Poland and i’ve seen Germany and i will tell you that if one million plus immigrants Muslim immigrants continue to enter Germany every year Germany is gone.Poland was under communism for 50 some years and now they are rebuilding all their industries Germany is using the Euro to grow and i am not so sure just for how long the Euro will be a currency.
If you mean the Poles will be toiling away in German factories on Polish soil for meagre pay, then yes it will be very “powerful”.
i’ve seen all of Poland and i’ve seen all of Germany and i will tell you that in ten years Germany will be a Muslim ghetto full of crime and a huge number of Muslims that will make the law just like they do in now in big cities like Berlin where the Arab mafia runs the city. One million Muslims entered Germany just in 2015. This year will be even more and next year and a year after that .They breed like rats and in 10 years time when 10 ,20 even 30 procent of the population will be Muslim, Germany will be a thing of the past.The whole social fabric of what is Germany today will be gone.Poland on the other hand is not accepting Muslims and it’s economy is booming.Every town and everywhere you look they are building.There is also the” hate factor” that works against Germany since Merkel is trying to force European countries to accept that scum from Middle east after she told them they are welcome to come to Germany and now she wants others others to take them in
Considering the direction and velocity of Europe’s path, that’s probably true as long as Poland still has a few plowshares left to beat into swords.
Nothing to brag about though.
I take back all of the Polish jokes that I told in my youth.
I suspect that these generals and junior officers have done their homework, enduring the brunt of this political fiasco for as long as it to to re-position themselves in good jobs just beyond the reach of thir egotistical boss’s clout. Macierewicz is getting no where and will fizzle to a close at best, but if he gets any traction, officers are going to be hard to go against. The most likely scenario is that come next election, there will be a major change in the hierarchy of the Defense department and those politically assigned will be coming from the ranks of the resigned. Presently there will be a filling of the ranks by quick necessity that has been per-ordained due to the mass exodus and things will be quite in place for the future.I doubt that even (US) NSA knows the reasoning behind all of this and will have to wait for the results. If the Pentagon, knows, it is probably only in part and those that have reasonable suspicions, probably will not say anything,as they know enough and agree with what is happening.
Super article and well said. Time to donate again.