Buddies for life

The recent reaffirmation of friendly relations between Poland and the United States couldn't have come at a better time for the two countries and their leaders. For George W. Bush, rolling out the red carpet last week for his new Polish buddy, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, was the least he could do to court the popular leader of a country so pivotal in promoting U.S. political and economic interests in Central and Eastern Europe. Courting the 9-million-strong Polish-American community is an added plus. For Kwaśniewski, his first formal visit to the United States after seven years as president - and only the second such event of Bush's presidency - marked the progress his country has made since overthrowing communism in 1989, joining NATO 10 years later, and preparing to enter the European Union in 2004. Despite Poland's sputtering economy and stubborn unemployment levels, Kwaśniewski has plenty to be proud of. And nuzzling up to the United States is neither politically nor financially a bad thing to do. Poland still needs massive investment, for example, and the United States has plenty to offer in that regard. The big issue expected to be discussed last week was whether Poland would opt to purchase U.S. military fighter jets over those offered by its European rivals. Poland plans to buy $3.5 billion worth of the high-tech planes to comply with NATO norms, and the long-delayed tender has escalated into a continental loyalty test for the biggest EU candidate country.

Kwaśniewski said last week the tender would largely be decided by offset agreements. Perhaps not unintentionally, on the eve of Kwaśniewski's visit, U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced that it had signed $1 billion worth of offset investment deals with five Polish companies. Lockheed also said it planned to reach offset investment agreements totaling $3.5 billion by November, equaling the amount Poland would have to pay for 48 Lockheed F-16s. Whether the European defense contractors will also boost their offset commitments remains to be seen. But chances are the final decision will be political, and therefore controversial. Kwaśniewski's "loyalties" may also be influenced by a larger ambition to cut a strong international figure for himself with Bush. Observers say that the Polish president has designs on creating a center-left political party to rival the Democratic Left Alliance's (SLD) Prime Minister Leszek Miller in 2005. He also may be eyeing a loftier international appointment by that time as well. In short, the two presidents had a lot of ground to cover last week. And one of the other political toughies - Poland's lack of a restitution bill for confiscated property - is a thorn in Kwaśniewski's side that sooner or later he is going to have to deal with, despite Poland's dire lack of cash to compensate claimants. Whatever the result of their discussions on these matters, though, Bush and Kwaśniewski made sure that the ties between their countries have never been stronger, and that is an encouraging development in the long history of Polish-American relations.