given our joint history why should Poland trust her neighbours today,
Poland wasn't the innocent damsel in distress...it had his own Commonwealth once ffs. Don't paint Poland weaker as it is. Europe always had been a shark tank...we all had once or several times lain low or be on top, depending on the skills (or lack of it) of it's leaders that time. So what!
At Germany's lowest point, the Thirty Years war, we barely could keep it together as a people, we needed a full century to find our footing again...our murderers had been our "dearest" neighbours too.
.......in the most embattled realms, such as Württemberg, more than 50 percent of the people died or disappeared;
britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Thirty-Years-War-and-the-Peace-of-Westphalia
It's a matter of physics that the most history a country has is with those nearby, not far away. Doesn't mean that far away countries are better, your country just hadn't had the chance to build up so many grudges together. To believe you would dance kumbaya around a tree if fate had just put your country only elsewhere but here is an illusion.
why should Poland trust her neighbours today,
Trust is for turds! Nobody is asking for trust...or as they say: Nations don't have friends but common interests!
What Poland desperatedly needs is a clear view on the realities and it's real interests. To not to repeat the error of isolating Poland it should, it NEEDS to involve itself heavily with it's neighbours.
Never before in history had Poland been part of the same unions and alliance like most of Europe, economically, politically, militarily...that is a historical uniqe chance. That's what is securing Polands and also Germany's freedom an security. It should work on that, not pis*sing on it!
understanding for the many Poles, who through lessons of history would not be as confident as I am, patience and understanding is the key here
No, it isn't! Our history is used/abused as a tool to beat the Germans with...it is highly destructive and will in the end destroy this chance our countries have gotten.
Spike is wallowing so much in the history that it clouds it's judgement to act in Polands best interest.