Future Border between Europe and Russia

There are many concerns about future American position in the Globalised World. Many foresee China as future superpower. This way opinions of George Friedman, American political scientis might seem strange. In his opinion USA are only at the begining of their supermacy in the World. And because they need allies in strategic points in the world, they will support them. One of such strategic points in the world is Russian - Polish border. Of course if you take into account that countries like Ukraine and Belarus are not fully independent, and Russia's impact there is very deep. On the other hand European Union will rather not cross this border - and the two countries will never become mebers of EU. 

You might not agree with such a point of view. First the future of Ukraine is still uncertain. The second, current American economic problems, and economic growth of China cast a shadow on 'Pax Americana'. But there are some interesting points still in my opinion. The most important is the fact of the close relation between Poland's and Russia's power - and the corelation between them. The corelation is simple: the stronger Russia the weaker Poland, and the weaker Russia the stronger Poland. Theoretically the coutnries could coexist peacefully, both being either strong or weak. But the geopolitical structure of Eastern Europe, and lack of other stronger players in the region makes this corelation enedemic for the region. 

So if currently Russia is weakening and Poland is becoming stronger and stronger, you might foresee that the process will have long term consequences. The balance of power is changing, and in Friedman's opinion it will involve shifts of borders. Shift of Polish border to the east, to be precise. 

More details in movie below:

Eastern Borders

The Invincibles

The Polish translation of new Peter Weir's movie: Way Back is Niepokonani - The Invincibles. In my opinion the translation is good, taking into account what Weir wanted to show in this movie. One of his purposes was to show an individual, who can persist any troubles to find his own Way Back to his normal life. The individual is a picture of the Polish nation.
I had a chance to meet with several similar opinions about us (Polish) recently. That as a nation we are invincibles. I mean the opinions released by foreigners interested in our country and understanding its complex history. One of such opinions was presented by Michael Moran in his book: A Country in the Moon: Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland.

Why is it so important? Every member of the nation has some idea of who he is being German, British, Russian, and Polish etc. You might not be aware of it contacting only the members of your own nation. But you feel it somehow when you contact the other nations. You feel different from them. Probably the more you know about their and your history, culture, language etc. the more differences you are aware of. And probably the more proud of your nationality you are, the more confident you become in international relations. For us Polish this is essential.
Not being independent for last 200 years (with only short independence period 1918-1938), and being poorer then Western countries, we do not seem to express confidence abroad. So now, when relatively comfortable historical period has already begun for us, we have to find the new way how do we perceive ourselves. 

What I believe in is that 'the invincibles' is a good description of such attitude. It is what expresses our history (during which we might be defeated many times) and currently occurring process of our coming back to European politics. The process of our economic growth strengthens our position in Europe. On the other hand the fact that we were able to survive as a nation and stand up again in 1989 is really amazing. I do not mean the lack of independence between 1795 and 1918. I mean the second period of nation destruction implemented by Nazis (1939-1944) and Soviets (1945-1989).

We survived extreme sufferings and now we build a modern state, we can be proud of.

One another thing to mention, so that this blog didn't appear unrealistic. I am aware of what is going on in our politics on the daily basis. I am aware of the fact how many things in the country still doesn't work well. What I am writing about is more general process occurring now. The process of rebirth of the nation. After so many years we are able to build our own country. So even if there are these who do much in favor of this and many others who don't, there is much more important process behind it. Behind never ending quarrels between ruling parties and politics. There is a process of rebirth of invincible nation. Nation which can be proud of itself once again.