Poland is for the first time called "The Most Important Member of NATO"

Yesterday, the National Interest, the publication of the Center for the National Interest published an article, Poland: The Most Important Member of NATO (Thanks to the Russia Threat)?, by a vice president at the public-policy research think tank Lexington Institute, Dan Gouré. In it, he says that because of the Russian threat and its seriousness in fulfilling its obligation to the Alliance Poland is quickly becoming a NATO's most important member. 

I have to agree with Mr Gouré. Poland is one of only seven NATO members to meet its obligation to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense and yet it just announced that it will increase its next year's spending by well over 10 percent, although in part in may be due to a successful economic year which means that its GDP rose as well. By now almost everybody knows that Poland is buying a fleet of F-35s. What is not known is that Poland is already looking for other aircraft to replace the remaining aging fighter planes. Poland is also seriously thinking about new tanks that will replace existing 500 or so T-72s (from the Soviet era) and even recently acquired Germal Leopard tanks. Because of the number of tanks needed and its geographic and geopolitical location Poland doesn't want to buy them it wants to build them.

Poland is also creating a highly capable and well trained Territorial Defense Force (TDF), the equivalent of the National Guard, that aims to have about 50,000 troops. What makes this military formation is that it not only wants to keep the tradition of the WWII Home Army but it may be exactly like it. Only Poles, and maybe the Russians, realize what that means. It means that if Poland is ever attacked the TDF will become the foundation to the national underground or partisan forces. 

It is good to know that Poland is beginning to the recognized as a credible deterrent to Russian conventional aggression. 

Please read the article mentioned above.