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GOP
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On Feb. 20, Joe Biden will travel to Poland to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There he will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Poland was no doubt chosen because it was drifting toward authoritarian rule and away from NATO and the West. However, the invasion changed that instantly. The Poles clearly understand that if Russian President Vladimir Putin can gobble up Ukraine, then Moldova is next, followed by the three small Baltic countries and then Poland. Poland has some experience being dominated by the Soviet Union and is not keen on getting any more. Consequently, it has cooperated with the U.S. in every possible way in helping Ukraine fight off the Russian bear. Biden's planned trip there tacitly acknowledges this cooperation.
Will Biden also go to Ukraine? For security reasons, no one in the government is talking about his exact itinerary other than the stop in Poland. If he does go to Ukraine, that is likely to be announced only after he is safely back home. Alternatively, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could go to Poland and meet with Biden there.
This is not Biden's first visit to Poland. He was there in March 2022, one month after the war started. On that trip, he called for regime change in Moscow. That didn't sit well with Putin and Biden tried to unsay it. (V)