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How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [397]
When did Russia fire the first shot?
I'd guess when Ruskies invaded Crimea?
There were no US army units in Poland and no NATO installations before 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea and later Donbass. Only then we asked the Americans to send troops here (which they reluctantly did, it was Obama's term after all).
If not for Russian chimpouts of 2014 and 2022 there would not be a powerful US and allied presense on Russian borders. Finland and Sweden would still be neutral and German defence expenditures around 1% of GDP, slowly disarming its military.
Russia brought the current change on itself.
Countries that did not use the short window of opportunity to join NATO have either been invaded and partitioned by Russia (Moldavia, Georgia, Ukraine) or vassalized (Belarus). So far NATO is the only and best way to keep Russia away from us.
Unlike conquering Ukraine beating Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia would be a cakewalk, even for the corrupt and incompetent Russian army, these countries barely have any military forces. And yet Putin never tried to do it, despite numerous threats. Precisely because these countries are in NATO and attacking them meant picking a fight with the whole Alliance.