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This war, which started exactly one year ago today, is undeniably the defining war of our time. Why? Because it is a fight between two entirely different prospects for the future: the imperial-chauvinist-totalitarian project on the one hand, and the democratic, European, pluralist project on the other.
It’s not a war of the Russian people against the Ukrainian people. It is a war of Putin's imperial, murderous, criminal autocracy against Ukrainian democracy, whose primary goal is to join the democratic structures of the European Union. In this sense, it is a war of two worlds: the one we know, and the other, hostile to us.
But we should also keep in mind that figures like Putin and little Putins, lilliputins, if I may say so, can be found in all countries and to some extent in all social groups. We see similar tendencies everywhere where the factual picture of this war and its essential meaning are being questioned.
We, the Polish people, are well acquainted with all the tricks of the all-Russian imperialism, Soviet imperialism and Putin's hypocritical imperialism used against the Baltic states, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, against Hungary.
We remember that all these imperial assaults always started with a big lie, portraying brutal military aggression as a necessary intervention meant to defend social, national, and human rights. Whether in 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland calling it a defense of the rights of the German minority, or when the Stalinist army marched in to allegedly defend the Belarusian and Ukrainian population.
This war poses a new challenge to all of us who wish to live in a democratic world.
It is an either-or challenge, with no room for neutrality anymore. There is no room for symmetry, and, of course, there is no way to play it down. The scale of the challenge we’re now facing can be compared to World War II, and I am happy to see that Poland is on the right side, the side of Ukraine that defends its identity.
Polish-Ukrainian relations have not always been easy. They were often bad, even tragic, and it is a great victory over the dark chapters of our history that today Poland, regardless of its domestic political orientation, extends a fraternal hand to Ukraine. I would like it to remain so.
This is not an act of unity against another nation. It is fraternity against dictatorship, totalitarianism, lies, cruelty and crimes, crimes of genocide, crimes of murdering the Ukrainian people.
All those who were murdered deserve our deepest admiration and gratitude, for there - in Ukraine - the fate of Polish freedom is being decided. Our hearts are with Ukraine today. The Ukrainian people are fighting this war for their freedom and ours.
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Every day, 400 journalists at Gazeta Wyborcza write verified, fact-checked stories about Polish politics and society, keeping a critical eye on the ruling camp’s persistent assault on democratic values and the rule of law; the growing cultural tension between religious fundamentalism and human rights; and the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine. Our journalists are on the front lines in 32 Polish cities, reporting from the streets, hospitals, and courtrooms about issues that move public opinion.
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Wszystkie komentarze
Dear Editor, with all due respect, I feel as if you were quoting Kornel Morawiecki from his Russophilic statement about "Russian Crimea", because the ratio of the number of so-called "good Russians" to the general population living in this collective madhouse is so far after the decimal point that you can safely omit this value in axiological considerations about this M/F nation...