Stuart Dowell (@StuartDowell

Stuart Dowell

4,727 posts

Stuart Dowell

@StuartDowell_

Political editor at TVP World. Polish and CEE politics. Commentary, analysis & opinion. Warsaw-based. Views strictly my own.

Warsaw

polandwatch.substack.com

Joined March 2018

Pinned
Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Nov 21, 2025
A shocking part of the Trump–Russia "peace plan" isn’t just what it does to Ukraine. It is what it quietly does to Poland. Buried in point 9 is a sentence that looks harmless: European fighters will be stationed in Poland. On paper, that sounds fine. In practice, though, it
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 23, 2025
Poland has spent 30 years building its foreign policy around a strong US alliance. Yesterday, that foundation cracked. Andrzej Duda flew across the Atlantic for a planned hour-long meeting with Trump. He got ten minutes. This wasn’t just bad optics. It was a humiliation. Poland
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Jan 25, 2025
Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945, but for thousands of Poles, the nightmare didn’t end. Stalin’s NKVD turned the camp into a prison, where lice-ridden mattresses, starvation, and brutality replaced the promise of freedom. This is the story few know. 🧵 (1/)
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Poland wants a long-term commitment from the United States. Washington prefers to keep things casual. On Valentine’s Day, Pete Hegseth visited Warsaw, praised Poland’s loyalty, and then reminded it that nothing lasts forever. 🧵1/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Oct 26, 2024
On the left is Zaha Hadid's proposal for a concert hall in Warsaw. She wanted to design the modern art museum but it is said that her application was rejected because she did not include a certificate of no criminal record. On the right is what we got instead
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Replying to @StuartDowell_
Poland now has a choice. Keep chasing US commitment, or accept that Washington’s support comes with an expiration date. The real question is whether Poland wants to keep proving itself or start being the one who decides whether to break rules or not. 10/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Replying to @StuartDowell_
Poland’s mistake has always been believing that doing everything right will be enough. But in international politics, rules are meaningless if they aren’t backed by power. Loyalty doesn’t matter. Leverage does. 6/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Replying to @StuartDowell_
In 1939, Poland trusted British and French security guarantees. When Germany invaded, those guarantees meant nothing. In 1945, after fighting alongside the Allies, Poland expected a fair postwar settlement. Instead, Churchill and Roosevelt handed it over to Stalin. 5/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Replying to @StuartDowell_
Poland has invested billions in its military, bought American weapons, hosted US troops, and exceeded NATO spending targets. It has done everything possible to prove its worth. But when asked whether US forces would stay permanently, Hegseth dodged the question. 2/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Replying to @StuartDowell_
This is a familiar pattern. Poland wantns to believe that alliances work on rules and fairness. That loyalty and commitment will bring security. But history suggests otherwise. It played by the rules in 1791, modernised its government, and was partitioned anyway. 4/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Feb 15, 2025
Replying to @StuartDowell_
The US currently has around 10,000 troops in Poland. A significant presence, but rotational, not permanent. Poland pays for the bases, builds the infrastructure, and does the heavy lifting. But the US keeps its exit options open. 3/
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Aug 13, 2024
During WWII, the Germans released the most disturbing travel book ever published: a 1943 tourist guide to the General Government, the Nazi-controlled pseudo-state in occupied Poland. (1/20)
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Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Mar 5, 2022
This was the week when over 100 million Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians shouted at the West "We told you so!"
Stuart Dowell
@StuartDowell_
Mar 9, 2025
Sikorski slaps down Musk over Starlink threats. Poland’s foreign minister hit back today, reminding Musk that Poland, not SpaceX, pays $50 million a year to keep Starlink running for Ukraine and warning that unreliable suppliers can be replaced. Musk posted on X that Ukraine’s
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