The AfD-Kremlin Axis Threatens Poland

On Sept. 6, the extreme right wing Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) Party shocked observers by scoring a landslide victory in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Pulling 44% of the vote – more than two and a half times the 17% polled by the second place Christian Democrats – the once marginal party of neo-Nazis, anti-immigrant hate-mongers, criminals, pornographers, and other trash now appears to have a real shot at seizing power in the world’s third largest economy. For Ukraine, an AfD takeover of Germany would be a disaster, as the party is deeply allied with Russia. Indeed, the AfD provided strong vocal support to the Russian invasion of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk in 2014, and is now cheering for the Russian takeover of the rest of the country. To accomplish this goal AfD platform calls for an end to all German support for Ukraine, the termination of all sanctions against Russia, and the supply of massive German funding to the Russian war machine via fossil fuel purchases.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. But Ukraine is not the only country whose existence is threatened by the rise of the AfD-Kremlin Axis. There are plenty of others. Poland is at the top of the list. Germany has both democratic and autocratic traditions, and it can swing either way. It can align with the liberal West, and its culture of Enlightenment humanism. Or it can align with the despotic East, and abandoning standards of fundamental human decency, choose to become a co-conspirator with the Kremlin’s evil empire. Other Topics of Interest US Law Makes Deporting Ukrainian Children Grounds for Sanctions A new US sanctions law makes the deportation of Ukrainian children statutory grounds for asset freezes and visa bans on Russian officials. The AfD’s vocal support for Russian imperialism makes it very clear it would lead Germany to take the latter course. If that were to happen, Poland would find itself trapped between two monsters intent on devouring it. This would not be the first time such a tragedy occurred. From the Middle Ages through the mid-1700s, the Polish Commonwealth was the largest power in Europe. In many ways it was also the most progressive, with a liberal constitution affording some degree of democratic influence to at least a significant fraction of the population. This, however, left it vulnerable to subversion, as only a few paid-off dissenters among its aristocracy could paralyze its executive from taking necessary actions. So, when some Polish nobles launched an initiative to remedy the situation, the surrounding German and Tsarist autocracies joined forces to wipe Poland out. With Prussia, Austria, and Russia each taking pieces of territory, in a series of actions between the 1770s and 1790s, the Polish state was annexed out of existence. Poles would not have their own country again until all three of those empires fell in the aftermath of World War I. But they didn’t have it long, because barely 20 years later Nazi Germany and Communist Russia – supposedly opposites, but actually rival brands of the same product – decided to put away their nominal differences and crush and divide Poland between them. The AfD cheers for more Russian aggression. Why? Because a refugee crisis is the problem the AfD needs to have. Could this happen again? You bet it could. If Ukraine were to be defeated, Russian occupiers would carry out widespread massacres. This would be done for two purposes. The first would be to try crush Ukrainian resistance to occupation. The other would be to send millions of Ukrainian refugees flooding into central and western Europe for the purpose of bringing to power the AfD as well as a host other anti-immigrant, anti-NATO parties sponsored by the Kremlin.The fact that the Kremlin would adopt such a strategy is not speculative. In fact, it is already underway. It is the flood of refugees created by Russian massacres in Syria that has boosted the fortunes of AfD to the point where it now has a shot at power.When the Russians bombed Aleppo their target was Berlin. One might think that a party concerned with excessive immigration would object to Russia dislocating hordes of migrants to head their way. But no, the AfD cheers for more Russian aggression, on a much vaster scale. Why? Because a refugee crisis is the problem the AfD needs to have. It’s what the French National Rally and the rest of the Kremlin’s AltRight Comintern in Europe need too. Moscow will certainly deliver for its friends.So now consider Poland’s strategic situation would look like under such circumstances. If Russia conquers Ukraine, not only would Ukraine’s million-man army be out of the equation, but Russia will be immensely strengthened materially, technically, geographically and strategically. The refugee crisis would bring the AfD to power in Germany and the National Rally to power in France, which means that NATO would be gone as well.To whom could Poland then look on for help when, after they are done expelling foreigners, the AfD decides that Germans need another external foe to coordinate their spirits? It certainly will, because the foundation of national socialist politics is the need to invoke the tribal instinct to elicit the passion necessary to collectivize the minds of the people.What better cause could there be than to make Germany great again by recovering its lost homelands in Silesia and Prussia from those dastardly subhuman Poles? So why not rearm and do it, especially when a resurgent Russia is ready and willing to help?It goes without saying that in addition to seizing its chunk of Poland, Russia would also get to take the Baltic States. We’ve seen this movie before. The American executive branch has been taken over by Kremlin allies who are vocally cheering for the victory of the AfD. Of course, it is possible that things might not unfold this way. The AfD might not decide to attack Poland, even though such a course has always been the result of a German-Russian alliance. But should Poland base its hope for survival on faith in either the goodness or rationality of a party built on hate?There was a time when Poland could count on America for help. But unfortunately, the American executive branch has been taken over by Kremlin allies who are vocally cheering for the victory of the AfD. Hopefully this situation can be rectified. But until it is, Poland has only one serious ally that it can count on to stand by it in a war with Russia. That ally is Ukraine.To ensure its continued existence, Poland cannot afford let Ukraine lose. Poland has a good air force. But it does not have anything like the battle-hardened million-man ground army that Ukraine has fielded to stop the Russian advance.Even if it could somehow create such a force, it would be the height of strategic folly for Poland to continue to sit on its hands while Ukraine’s army is defeated and then be left to fight Russia singled handed. It is true that Poland, along with other NATO countries, has given Ukraine significant material help. But much more is needed.Every ship sailing to or from Russia’s Baltic ports has to sail along Poland’s coast, within easy reach of the Polish Air Force. If it wanted to, Poland could readily interdict and end all such traffic. That would be an enormous blow to Russia.But even that is not enough. The time is past for Poland to continue to hide behind Ukrainian courage. The time has come for Poles to show their own. This winter could be the decisive season of the war. Poland should send air defense units to Ukraine to help defend Ukraine’s skies. It should send fighter jets to Ukraine to provide air support for Ukraine’s hard-pressed army. It should assemble and equip brigades of volunteers and send them to help hold the front.Ukrainians have a proverb that translates “my house is on the edge; I meet the enemy first.” And so they do. But if Ukraine falls the AfD will rise, and Poland will not only meet the enemy next, but from both sides.It would be far wiser to rise to the occasion and meet the enemy now.Dr. Robert Zubrin @robert_zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author of 12 books, including most recently The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.