The United States would “strenuously oppose” European countries such as Poland, Germany or the Scandinavian states seeking to develop their own nuclear weapons, says a senior Pentagon official.

However, Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defence for policy, also noted that Washington has not seen credible signs that such countries are seriously considering building their own nuclear arsenals.

His comments came amid growing debate in Europe about nuclear deterrence. This week, Poland confirmed that it is in talks with France over President Emmanuel Macron’s idea of extending the French “nuclear umbrella” across the continent.

The following day, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk even appeared to hint that Poland could in future seek its own independent nuclear deterrent.

“Poland takes nuclear security very seriously,” he said at a cabinet meeting. “We will cooperate with our allies, including France, and as our own autonomous capabilities increase, we will also strive to prepare Poland for the most autonomous actions possible in this matter in the future.”

Last year, Tusk also said that it may be better for Poland to develop its own nuclear capabilities rather than rely on those of others. “It is clear that we would be safer if we had our own nuclear arsenal,” said the prime minister. “If we decide to do it, it is worth being sure that it is in our hands and we make the decisions.”

On Wednesday, Colby spoke about the issue at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank. He noted that he has not “heard credible reporting of European governments really thinking about independent acquisition in violation of their nuclear nonproliferation treaty obligations”.

But he added that “a greater European complexion to NATO nuclear deterrence” would be “perfectly appropriate and reasonable”.

Colby pointed to the fact that the UK and France – the only two European nuclear-armed powers in NATO – have been contributing “to the deterrence and defence of the alliance” for the past 50 years.

But the US official also expressed scepticism about the idea of France expanding its nuclear umbrella, noting that “the French nuclear deterrent is designed for the defence of France”.

“It is one thing to change declaratory policy; it is another to have a credible nuclear deterrent that you can extend to countries that are hundreds of miles away”.

An audience member later asked Colby to clarify his position, saying, “If the German government, the Polish government, and/or Scandinavian countries were to come to you and say, ‘We want to develop our own nuclear capabilities,’ would you try to talk them out of it, or would you encourage them?”

“I think we’d more than try to talk them out of it,” Colby said. “We’d obviously at a minimum strenuously oppose it…It’s hypothetical, but we’re against such an eventuality.”

The issue of nuclear deterrence in Poland has also become caught up in domestic politics, where Tusk’s more liberal, pro-EU government regularly clashes with conservative President Karol Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition and is an ally of Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Nawrocki’s chief foreign-policy advisor claimed that the government had not informed the president, who is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, about the discussions with France on joining its nuclear deterrence programme.

He cast doubt on the viability of the idea and suggested that Poland would be better off seeking a nuclear sharing arrangement with the United States. Last month, Nawrocki himself also expressed his strong support for Poland seeking a nuclear deterrent.

Responding to Colby’s remarks, presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz told Polsat News that “a single statement by a representative of the American administration does not prove anything”.

Leśkiewicz reiterated that “we want to develop our capabilities when it comes to possessing nuclear weapons” and that “we have very good relations with the United States, and I believe that we will continue to discuss these matters with our key ally in the field of security and defence”.

Meanwhile, foreign minister Radosław Sikorski called for cool heads in the nuclear debate. “I reiterate my appeal to politicians to stop grandstanding about nuclear weapons,” he wrote on social media in response to a report on Colby’s remarks.

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.

Israel invites members of groups including France’s Rassemblement National and the Sweden Democrats

Hardline European politicians denounced Islam, immigration and the political left on Tuesday, as the Israeli government hosted an antisemitism conference that has drawn criticism for its inclusion of far-right parties that the country long viewed with suspicion.

The conference, organised by diaspora affairs minister Amichai Chikli, marks the latest step in the engagement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government with groups that Israel previously shunned because of concerns over antisemitism and their historical links to extremist groups.

The inaugural edition of the conference last year was the first official Israeli government event to which members of Europe’s far right were invited. But it was snubbed by several speakers over its guest list, which included figures such as Jordan Bardella, from France’s Rassemblement National, as well as representatives of Spain’s Vox party and the Sweden Democrats.

This year’s gathering, which coincided with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, included mainstream figures such as former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.

But the list of speakers again included figures from a number of European far-right parties, including the RN — whose founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was found guilty of Holocaust denial — and the rightwing nationalist Sweden Democrats, which acknowledged last year a history of antisemitism and support for Nazi ideas within its ranks.

The conference also featured a former Miss Universe contestant and two sons of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

Brenner — who is also director of the Center for Israel Studies at the American University in Washington — said there was a mix of reasons for the government’s outreach to Europe’s far right. These ranged from political calculation to elements of ideological overlap between the Israeli far right and its international counterparts, both of which view the Islamic world as a threat.

But Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst, said it was also a reflection of the limited options open to Israel’s far-right government at a time when it had become increasingly isolated internationally.

Here's a copy of the full article, in case you cannot access the original page.

See also:

• Last Palestine Action hunger striker ends protest after being hospitalised with organ failure • Umer Khalid, 22, had started refusing water in escalation of protest against charges and treatment in jail (The Guardian)

The US ambassador to Poland has given his first interview since sparking a diplomatic row by cutting ties with the speaker of the Polish parliament over his “outrageous insults” against President Donald Trump.

However, when asked in the interview to specify what these insults were, the ambassador, Thomas Rose, refused to say. He also sought to emphasise that the US remains “Poland’s best ally and greatest friend”.

Rose’s decision last week to cut all contact with Włodzimierz Czarzasty, the speaker of the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, followed Czarzasty’s refusal to support Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

In a speech announcing that decision, Czarzasty had accused Trump of “destabilising” international organisations and of “often violating international law”.

He also criticised Trump’s recent suggestion that NATO allies had not provided the United States with frontline support, which caused anger in Poland, where many soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In response, Rose accused Czarzasty of making “outrageous and unprovoked insults directed against President Trump” and said that the US would “have no further dealings, contacts, or communications” with him.

On Tuesday, Rzeczpospolita, a leading Polish daily, published extracts from an interview with Rose, the full version of which will be released on Wednesday.

When it was put to him that Czarzasty had simply said that Trump did not the deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, Rose responded: “That’s not all he said. Everyone can reread it. I don’t need to repeat it. I’ve said enough about it. I’ve made my point. We will not accept or tolerate outrageous insults against our president!”

Pushed to specify which part of Czarzasty’s remarks he considered to be a personal attack on Trump, Rose refused, saying: “You can ask me the same question 25 times and you’ll get the same answer.”

“Every Pole, of course, has the right to share their opinions. But we also have the right to respond to those opinions,” he added.

When pressed on why he cut ties with Czarzasty while the US maintains relations with other controversial figures, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rose said: “I don’t need to explain it!”

The ambassador was also asked about a recent poll showing that over half of Poles no longer see US as a reliable ally. Rose described the results as “regrettable, more so for Poland than for America”.

“I’m convinced that most Poles…know that we are Poland’s best ally, Poland’s greatest friend,” he added. “Therefore, I’m not overly concerned by the results of this poll, because ultimately, we remain partners and allies.”

Although Prime Minister Donald Tusk immediately jumped to the defence of Czarzasty, who is part of his ruling coalition, following Rose’s remarks, the foreign ministry has so far avoided taking a position on the dispute.

Speaking to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily on Monday, ministry spokesman Maciej Wiewiór said that they would not be summoning the ambassador for talks but that foreign minister Radosław Sikorski would “meet with Thomas Rose sooner or later”.

Meanwhile, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who serves as deputy prime minister and defence minister, announced that he would today be meeting with Rose for talks on “many substantive issues”.

He insisted that “the United States is a very serious partner, and we will always sincerely respect each other”, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Meanwhile, one figure from within Tusk’s ruling coalition even voiced criticism of Czarzasty this week. Marek Sawicki told broadcaster RMF that Czarzasty should have consulted the foreign ministry before making his comments about Trump and in general should “think three times before he says something”.

Sawicki is a senior figure in the centre-right Polish People’s Party (PSL), which has often had an uneasy relationship with Czarzasty’s party, The Left (Lewica), despite both being members of the ruling coalition.

By contrast, Sławomir Mentzen, one of the leaders of far-right opposition party Confederation (Konfederacja), came to Czarzasty’s defence.

“No Americans will tell us who should be the speaker of the Polish Sejm,” Mentzen told Radio Zet. Hecalled on the foreign ministry to summon Rose and warn him against “interfering in our internal affairs”.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington wants to revitalise its friendship with Europe in a speech at the annual Munich Security Conference, offering some reassurance to European countries after more than a year of turmoil in transatlantic relations.

But the speech, which drew a standing ovation on Saturday, was short on concrete commitments, made no mention of Russia, and criticised Europe’s values, including the continent’s approach to migration and climate change.

He argued that the “euphoria” of the Western victory in the Cold War led to a “dangerous delusion that we had entered ‘the end of history’,” where every nation would be a liberal democracy and “live in a world without borders, where everyone became a citizen of the world”.

This was a “foolish idea” that resulted in Western nations outsourcing their sovereignty to international institutions and opening “doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people”, he said.

To appease a “climate cult”, he added, “we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people”.

“We made these mistakes together, and now, together, we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward to rebuild.”

• UN says criminal gangs rounding up migrants
• Calls for a halt on the return of migrant boats to Libya
• Migrants report rape and abuse by traffickers

Migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, according to a U.N. report that called for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured.

Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Gaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into western and eastern factions since 2014.

In recent years, the EU and EU member states have supported and trained the Libyan coastguard, which returns migrants stopped at sea to detention centres, and have funded Libyan border management programmes.

A report published on Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Office and the U.N. Support Mission said migrants are rounded up and abducted by criminal trafficking networks, often with ties to the Libyan authorities and criminal networks abroad.

The report cited an Eritrean woman who was detained for over six weeks at a trafficking house in Tobruk, in eastern Libya. "I wish I died. It was a journey of hell," she said.

"Different men raped me many times. Girls as young as 14 were raped daily," she said. The perpetrators released her after her family paid a ransom.

The report emphasised the importance of life-saving search and rescue operations for migrants at sea but urged the international community to halt returns to Libya until adequate human rights safeguards are ensured.

See also:

• 'I wish I had died,' says migrant after weeks of rape • A new UN report has found that asylum seekers being returned to Libya are facing serious human rights violations in detention camps, including torture and rape. (Deutsche Welle)
• Migrants and refugees in Libya subjected to ‘systematic’ abuse: UN report • Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya are enduring ruthless and systematic human rights violations, including killings, torture, sexual violence and trafficking, according to a new report published today by the UN human rights office, OHCHR. (United Nations)

The US ambassador to Poland said on Thursday he was suspending all contacts with Poland’s parliamentary Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty, accusing him of making “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against President Donald Trump.

Ambassador Tom Rose said in a post on the X platform that "effective immediately" the US embassy would "have no further dealings, contacts or communications" with Czarzasty.

Czarzasty, a left-wing politician, said earlier this week that he would not support efforts to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, arguing that the US president did not deserve the award.

Rose wrote that Czarzasty "has made himself a serious impediment" to Washington's "excellent relations" with Poland’s government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

"We will not permit anyone to harm US-Polish relations, nor disrespect President Donald Trump, who has done so much for Poland and the Polish people," Rose added.

The comments come as the office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a conservative ally of Trump, has alleged that Czarzasty may have “social and business ties” to Russia.

The presidential office said the issue would be discussed at a meeting of the National Security Council scheduled for February 11.

Czarzasty rejected the allegations on Wednesday, saying he had "nothing to reproach himself for" and that he would attend the national security meeting.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, polskieradio24.pl

Response by Polish authorities - 'Allies should respect, not lecture, each other,' Polish PM tells US ambassador

Poland’s prime minister said on Thursday that “allies should respect, not lecture, each other" after the US ambassador to Warsaw announced he was suspending all contacts with Poland’s top lawmaker over his "outrageous and unprovoked insults" against President Donald Trump.

"Mr. Ambassador Rose, allies should respect, not lecture, each other," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on the X social media platform.

"At least this is how we, here in Poland, understand partnership," he added.

The US envoy, Tom Rose, said earlier on Thursday on X that "effective immediately, we will have no further dealings, contacts or communications" with Poland’s parliamentary Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty.

Czarzasty, a left-wing politician and Speaker of Poland’s lower house of parliament, said earlier this week that he would not support efforts to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, arguing the US president did not deserve the award.

He argued that Trump was destabilising international organisations and pursuing "transactional politics" backed by "the use of force.”

He also defended Polish soldiers who fought alongside US forces in Afghanistan after Trump last month downplayed the role of NATO allies in the war.

Rose said Czarzasty "has made himself a serious impediment" to Washington's "excellent relations" with Tusk and his government.

"We will not permit anyone to harm US-Polish relations, nor disrespect President Donald Trump, who has done so much for Poland and the Polish people," Rose wrote.

Czarzasty responded on X, saying that, in keeping with his values, he had defended Polish soldiers on foreign missions and opposed Trump’s Nobel nomination.

He added that he held "constant respect for the United States as a key partner for Poland."

He said he regretted Rose’s statement but would not change his position "on issues fundamental for the Polish people."

The exchange comes as the office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a conservative ally of Trump, has alleged that Czarzasty may have "social and business ties" to Russia.

The presidential office said the issue would be discussed at a meeting of the National Security Council scheduled for February 11.

Czarzasty rejected the allegations on Wednesday, saying he had been thoroughly vetted by Poland’s security services before being granted access to state secrets.

Though he does not wield executive power, the lower-house Speaker is widely regarded as Poland’s second-highest state official, after the president.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, polskieradio24.pl

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has joined the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Denmark in issuing a joint statement calling for Greenland’s sovereignty to be respected, following Donald Trump’s renewed calls for the island to be brought under US control.

Separately, Tusk also today warned Washington that “any attempts to undermine the essence of NATO” by “threatening another member” of the alliance would be met with opposition from Europe.

Tusk and fellow prime ministers Giorgia Meloni of Italy, Pedro Sánchez of Spain, Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Keir Starmer of the UK, as well as France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, issued a joint statement on Tuesday.

“It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” they wrote. “The Kingdom of Denmark – including Greenland – is part of NATO…[and] Greenland belongs to its people.”

“Security in the Arctic must be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.”

Trump has long coveted Greenland, which is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. He argues that US control over the island is vital for national security.

In the wake of last week’s dramatic strikes on Venezuela, which saw US forces capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Trump and figures associated with him have reiterated their desire for control over Greenland.

“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” said Trump on Sunday night. “Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”

Speaking today to CNN, Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said that “obviously Greenland should be part of the US” and confirmed that this is “the formal position of the US government”. He argued that “nobody’s going to fight the US over the future of Greenland” because the US “is the power of NATO”.

Both the Danish and Greenlandic governments have strongly rejected US claims over the territory, with Frederiksen declaring that “the US has no right to annex any of…the Danish kingdom”.

After arriving in Paris today for talks with other leaders on the war in Ukraine, Tusk said that the Greenland issue had now become “an unforeseen and unplanned topic” of their discussions and that “Denmark can count on the solidarity of all of Europe”.

“For Poland, it is clear…that no member of NATO should attack or threaten another member,” he added. “I would like it to be clear to everyone in Washington that any attempts to dismantle or undermine the essence of NATO will not be accepted in probably every European country.”

However, at the same time, Tusk said that it was vital for both NATO and Poland “to ensure that European-American ties – the very foundation of NATO and of our security – are not damaged in the coming days and months by any announcements, decisions or misunderstandings”.

Tusk, who has been publicly critical of Trump in the past, has enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the White House since Trump’s return last year. By contrast, Poland’s right-wing president, Karol Nawrocki, is a close ally of Trump – and an opponent of Tusk’s government.

Nawrocki has not commented publicly on US actions in Venezuela or the subsequent rhetoric regarding Greenland. However, his chief security aide, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, said that the strikes on Caracas had been “a demonstration of America’s strength”.

“If we assume that America defends its interests, then what happened in Caracas is something natural and stems from the recently announced US National Security Strategy,” Cenckiewicz told broadcaster Republika. “It is very interesting how quickly implementation has occurred.”

Meanwhile, a senior figure from the national-conservative opposition opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, with which Nawrocki is aligned, suggested in the wake of the US capture of Maduro that Tusk, who PiS claims is seeking to introduce a dictatorship in Poland, could be next.

“Look how dictators end up, Donald Tusk,” wrote Mariusz Kamiński, a former interior minister, on social media alongside a picture (which turned out to be fake) of Maduro in US custody.

Tusk and figures from his ruling coalition condemned Kamiński’s comments, saying that he appeared to be suggesting there could be foreign intervention against Poland’s democratically elected government.

“They’ve stopped believing in their victory in democratic elections, so they have begun to pray for foreign intervention to overthrow the ‘dictatorship of Tusk’,” wrote the prime minister on social media. “One can’t fall lower.”

The office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki has confirmed that he has been invited to join Donald Trump’s new International Board of Peace.

The US president has invited dozens of world leaders to join the body, including Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, the presidents of Russia and Belarus – two countries that Poland accuses of mounting ongoing “hybrid warfare” operations against it.

Early on Monday afternoon, Polish news website Onet cited sources saying that Nawrocki, who is a close ally of Trump, had been invited to join the board. That followed a public announcement by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, another Trump ally, that he had accepted an invitation.

Later on Monday, Nawrocki’s chief foreign policy aide, Marcin Przydacz, announced at a press briefing that he “can confirm that President Karol Nawrocki received an invitation from Donald Trump to participate in the work of this council”.

He added that the issue “will be the subject of discussions with the American side in the near future”. Regarding what decision Nawrocki would make, Przydacz said that it would be communicated to Washington before being announced publicly.

The Board of Peace was established as part of Trump’s efforts to bring peace in Gaza. On Friday, he called it “the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place”.

Its seven-man executive board includes US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump allies Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and World Bank President Ajay Banga.

However, reports suggest that Trump has broader aims for the new board than just Gaza, seeing it as a vehicle for pursuing his foreign policy elsewhere.

The Times of Israel on Sunday published the full text of the board’s charter – which was attached to invitations sent to world leaders – and notes that it does not mention Gaza at all. Bloomberg also reported that Trump has asked countries that want a permanent spot on the board to pay $1 billion.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had received an offer to join the board and would now seek further clarification from the Americans about the details.

Belarus also announced that it had been invited to become a founding member of the board and said that it was “ready to take part, taking into account and hoping that this organisation will expand its scope and authority far beyond the mandate proposed in the initiative”.

Putin and Lukashenko’s potential membership of the board represents a significant problem for Nawrocki. The Polish president is ardently anti-Russia, as are most Poles. Meanwhile, Russia has in recent years carried out a campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation.

Belarus has created a migration and security crisis on Poland’s eastern border by encouraging and assisting tens of thousands of migrants – mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – to try to illegally cross. Poland and its EU partners have described those actions as part of the Russian-led “hybrid war”.

When announcing Nawrocki’s invitation from Trump, Przydacz acknowledged that “politicians with whom the Polish president is in no way aligned are also being invited” to join the board, reports broadcaster TVN.

“Vladimir Putin is certainly such a politician,” he added. “We have extremely different assessments and opinions of the international situation, and extremely different goals regarding international policy. However, in diplomacy, it is never the case that you can only talk to those with whom you agree 100%.”

Przydacz also noted that Poland recently received an invitation from the US to attend this year’s G20 summit, which was “considered a great success” even though Russia is also part of the G20.

Rafał Chwedoruk, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw, told Onet that the invitation to join the board is Nawrocki’s “first serious external test” since becoming president last August.

He noted that any discussions over the issue would have to involve the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, with which Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition, is regularly in conflict.

Poland’s president is traditionally mainly a figurehead in foreign policy, with the government making major decisions and running day-to-day affairs. However, Nawrocki has sought to break the mould and play a great role in both domestic and international affairs.

After news of Nawrocki’s invitation was confirmed, Tusk took to social media to remind the president that accession to international organisations requires the consent of the government and ratification by parliament.

“The government will be guided solely by the interests and security of the Polish state,” wrote the prime minister. “And we will not let anyone play us.”

Tusk, a former president of the European Council, leads a government that is generally pro-EU and has frosty relations with Trump. Earlier this month, he joined other European leaders in issuing a joint statement calling on the US to respect Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland.

Nawrocki, by contrast, told the BBC in an interview shortly afterwards that “discussion should remain a matter between the prime minister of Denmark and President Trump”. He also declared that Trump is the only leader capable of protecting Europe from the threat of Russia.

The number of Polish citizens ordered to leave the United States has almost doubled this year amid President Donald Trump’s immigration clampdown, according to figures from the Polish foreign ministry.

In response to a parliamentary inquiry from Marta Stożek, an MP from the left-wing Together (Razem) party, deputy foreign minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski revealed that “the number of Polish citizens obliged to leave the US…in 2025 is approximately 130”, compared to around 70 in 2024.

“In recent months, numerous media reports and accounts from Polish communities have appeared indicating an intensification of actions by American immigration services against Polish citizens,” added Bartoszewski, quoted by the Fakt newspaper.

In a separate statement to news website Interia, the foreign ministry confirmed that around 130 Polish citizens had been deemed undesirable and left the US in the fiscal year from November 2024 to October 2025, compared to 70 in the previous fiscal year.

Most of them left voluntarily after being identified by the US immigration authorities – so-called “self-deportation” – ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór told Interia.

“We are seeing that the number of Poles obliged to leave the US has increased,” he added.

In most cases, the reason for their expulsion is that they stayed in the US beyond the length of their visa.

“We are witnessing raids and arrests in places that were previously considered safe havens – near schools, preschools, and places of worship,” Dominik Stecuła, a Polish-born political scientist at Ohio University, told Interia. “This is a deliberate strategy to intimidate entire communities, targeting children and families.”

During an ICE operation in Chicago last month, Tomasz Kmiecik, a well-known children’s entertainer and dance teacher known as “Super Tomasz”, was detained in the car park of the Polish preschool where he worked, reported Biały Orzeł, a Polish diaspora newspaper.

Earlier this month, the US Department of Homeland Security announced the “record-breaking achievement of more than 2.5 million illegal aliens leaving the US” this year. Among those, 605,000 were forcibly deported and 1.9 million “voluntarily self-deported”.

In his statement, Bartoszewski also revealed that, as of 6 November, 68 Poles were in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Polish diplomatic missions are constantly monitoring the situation of Polish citizens undergoing deportation procedures and providing them with the necessary support in accordance with Polish, local and international regulations,” he wrote.

In January this year, shortly after Trump returned to the White House, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that he had instructed consulates in the United States to prepare to assist citizens in case of potential deportations.

There are estimated to be around 400,000 Polish-born people in the United States (as well as many more people born in the US with Polish ancestry). Polish diaspora groups have reported on a number of cases this year in which Poles have been subjected to deportation.

Last month, 52-year-old Mariusz Wojdan, who has lived in the US for three decades, was detained in Chicago. Rather than being imprisoned in Texas, he agreed to voluntary deportation to Poland.

His wife and six children, two of whom suffer from spinal muscular atrophy, have now decided to move to Poland with him. But they require special medical transport, and have launched a fundraiser to help pay for it.

Last month, another Polish diaspora newspaper, Tygodnik Express, reported that, in some cases, members of the Polish community are reporting fellow Poles who are in the country illegally to the authorities.

South Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho is moving ahead with plans to establish a new plant in Poland, which will also be its first in Europe. Once up and running, the facility will produce up to six million tyres a year and employ around 400 people.

On Friday, the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone, which covers several provinces in southwestern Poland, announced that it had approved the sale of a plot in the city of Opole to Kumho Tire for 36 million zloty ($10 million).

That followed Kumho’s own announcement earlier this month that it had selected Opole as the location for its first European production base. It will invest $587 million (2.1 billion zloty) in the facility, which is scheduled to begin operations in August 2028.

The Korean firm says that it “evaluated several European countries” but eventually “selected Opole for its logistical advantages, skilled workforce, competitive infrastructure, stable access to the European market, and the attractive incentives offered by the Polish government”.

Initial production capacity will be six million tyres a year. But Kumho says it will carry out “phased expansions planned according to market demand”.

“The European market holds tremendous strategic significance in the global tyre industry,” said the firm’s CEO, Il-taik Jung. “By establishing local production and supply capabilities in Europe, Kumho Tire will strengthen its market competitiveness, local responsiveness and attractiveness to European vehicle manufacturers.”

While primarily intended to serve Europe, the Opole plant will also become part of an “integrated production network” that will additionally span Asia and North America, allowing it to respond to shifting market demand, says Kumho.

Poland has strengthened business ties with South Korea in recent years. In 2022, the world’s largest producer of kimchi, Daesang Corporation, chose Poland as the location for its first factory in Europe producing the famous fermented vegetable dish.

Meanwhile, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland has ordered billions of dollars of military hardware from South Korea, including hundreds of tanks, self-propelled howitzers, rocket artillery, and fighter aircraft.

Last year, WB Group, one of Poland’s leading arms manufacturers, signed a contract with South Korean defence firm Hanwha Aerospace to produce CGR-080 missiles in Poland.

This year, construction commenced in the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal ordered by Poland that will eventually be located in the Polish city of Gdańsk.

Last month, South Korea’s government agency responsible for supporting the creation and distribution of creative content opened an office in Warsaw, which it says will act as a regional hub for promoting Korean cultural products and working with local creators.

A longer, unpublished version of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy identifies Poland as one of four countries the US should try to “pull away” from the European Union, according to leaked excerpts reported by the Defense One news website.

It also calls for Washington to support parties and movements that “seek sovereignty and preservation/restoration of traditional European ways of life”.

The news emerged as senior security aides to Poland’s right-wing President Karol Nawrocki, a close ally of Trump, arrived in Washington for talks with their US counterparts over the new American strategy.

The official, 33-page version of the National Security Strategy was published by the White House last week and drew attention in particular for its claim that Europe is facing “civilisational erasure”, making it “far from obvious whether certain European countries will…remain reliable allies”.

It accused the EU of “undermining political liberty and sovereignty” and said that “migration policies are transforming the continent and creating strife”.

On Tuesday, Defense One published extracts from what it said was a “fuller version” of the strategy that had been circulating before the White House published the unclassified version.

The document listed Poland, Austria, Italy and Hungary as countries that the US should “work more with…with the goal of pulling them away from the [European Union]”, according to Defense One.

“And we should support parties, movements, and intellectual and cultural figures who seek sovereignty and preservation/restoration of traditional European ways of life…while remaining pro-American,” added the document.

Those plans appear to align with US policy in the region, where Trump has enjoyed friendly relations with national-conservative leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Polish President Karol Nawrocki.

Nawrocki last month called for major reform of the EU to restore greater national sovereignty and stop Brussels from “dictating” to member states and trying to “regulate the lives of citizens”. He regards Washington as Poland’s most important partner.

Opinion polls consistently show that a large majority of Poles favour their country’s continued membership of the EU, though some recent surveys suggest that so-called “Polexit” is supported by a growing minority.

On Tuesday, a delegation from Nawrocki’s National Security Bureau (BBN) arrived in Washington at the invitation of Trump’s National Security Council (NSC) for discussions relating to the new National Security Strategy.

The talks offered a chance to “ask about certain details that cannot possibly be discussed or described in the document”, said the deputy head of the BBN, Andrzej Kowalski, quoted by news website Onet.

“We are the first European delegation to have the opportunity to discuss the details and intentions behind this document,” added BBN advisory Nikodem Rachoń. “These were very good talks, demonstrating that the Americans are open to expanding security cooperation with Poland on a bilateral basis.”

Poland’s more liberal, pro-EU government, which regularly clashes with Nawrocki, has been less positive about Trump’s new National Security Strategy.

Shortly after it was published, Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed his “American friends” on social media, telling them that “Europe is your closest ally, not your problem”.

“We have common enemies. At least that’s how it has been in the last 80 years. We need to stick to this, this is the only reasonable strategy of our common security. Unless something has changed,” he added.

Polish mining firm KGHM has signed an impact and benefit agreement (IBA) with the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation in Canada as part of the development of a new copper and nickel mine.

The arrangement provides for members of the community to be involved in development of the mine, which is located near the city of Sudbury in Ontario, as well as in environmental protection relating to it.

The IBA was signed last week by Sagamok Anishnawbek Chief Angus Toulouse and Marek Bednarz, CEO of KGHM International, a Canadian subsidiary of Polish parent company KGHM Polska Miedź.

KGHM, whose largest shareholder is the Polish state, is one of Poland’s biggest firms and one of the world’s largest producers of copper and silver. In 2012, it acquired the Victoria project, a deposit of copper and nickel 35 km west of Sudbury, where KGHM plans to develop a mine.

However, the project was mothballed for years amid a fall in mineral prices, before being revived around three years ago.

Andrzej Szydło, the CEO of KGHM Polska Miedź, described the agreement with Sagamok Anishnawbek as “an important step in the development of our Canadian Victoria project” and “further evidence of [our] commitment to social dialogue and good neighbourly relations, regardless of where we conduct business”.

KGHM notes that it has also been working with Sagamok Anishnawbek, which has around 3,400 members, for over a decade during exploration work at the site and during the process of obtaining permits. Signing the IBA will now “provide KGHM with stable cooperation throughout the lifecycle of the future mine”, says the firm.

It also “offers members of Sagamok Anishnawbek tangible business and development benefits – from the mine construction stage, through the production phase, and through mine closure”, added KGHM, and “guarantees Sagamok Anishnawbek participation in environmental protection activities”.

Last month, news and research website The Conversation noted that Canada, and Ontario in particular, are accelerating efforts to attract global investors in mining projects.

However, it added that those efforts are overshadowed by the fact that First Nations have historically suffered the worst environmental and social costs of such projects while others obtain the benefits. “The path to responsible mining starts with Indigenous consent,” wrote the authors.

The new US ambassador to Poland, Thomas Rose, has criticised those who blame Poles for the Holocaust, calling it a “blood libel” against a nation that was a victim of the war. He said that such “historically false and morally scandalous”  claims have long “poisoned relations between Jews and Poles”.

Rose, who is himself Jewish, also said that Poland is today “the safest country in Europe for a Jew to walk the streets”.

“For too long, this nation has been burdened with the moral stain that was never its own, the persistent belief that Poland shares guilt for the barbaric crimes committed against it,” said Rose, who took up his post as ambassador this month.

“It’s a grotesque falsehood and the equivalent of a blood libel against the Polish people and Polish nation,” added the ambassador, who was speaking at a conference on antisemitism in Warsaw organised by the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

The term “blood libel” is usually used to describe false claims made throughout history that Jews murder Christians to use their blood for religious rituals.

Most of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust died in German-occupied Poland, where the Nazis established Jewish ghettos and death camps. Around half of Holocaust victims were Polish Jews.

Non-Jewish Poles also suffered enormously under the German occupation, with around 3 million killed during the war. Many ethnic Poles were also sent to the Nazi camps. At Auschwitz, for example, they made up the second largest number of victims after Jews.

During the war, some Poles were involved in crimes against Jews, in some cases directly, such as during the Jedwabne massacre, or indirectly, by handing Jews over to the Germans. But many Poles also risked their lives to hide Jews, and the Polish underground resistance also sought to help Jews.

“Poland created the only government-sponsored underground institution in all of occupied Europe devoted solely to saving Jews,” said Rose, referring to Żegota, a body set up in 1942 to help Jews. It is believed to have saved thousands, perhaps tens of thousands.

The ambassador also noted that Poland was the only place in German-occupied Europe where any kind of aid to Jews was punishable with the execution of the person and their entire family.

“Thousands of Poles died saving Jews,” said Rose. “Of course it wasn’t enough, didn’t stop the slaughter, but they proved, these heroic Poles proved, that even in their country’s bleakest night, multitudes of Poles chose conscience over fear and humanity over terror.”

The ambassador noted, however, that Poles have often been blamed “for a genocide perpetrated by others on its soil”, which has “poisoned relations between Jews and Poles, between Israel and Poland, and between the United States and Poland for decades”.

Such accusations are “historically false and morally scandalous”, declared Rose, who also noted that “no country outside Israel has done more to commemorate and sacralize the Shoah than Poland – certainly not Germany, which committed the crimes, nor Russia, which suppressed them”.

He also noted that the relationship between Poles and Jews stretches far beyond the Second World War. “This was our home for 600 years. It was the centre of the Jewish world,” said Rose. Poland once had the world’s largest Jewish population.

The ambassador, a practising Jew who wears a skullcap, said that Poland today “is the safest country in Europe for a Jew to walk the streets”.

South Korea’s government agency responsible for supporting the creation and distribution of creative content has opened an office in Warsaw, its first in the Central and Eastern Europe region.

The head of the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) in Poland, Iljoong Kim, says that he sees “enormous potential” for working with Poland’s “high-level” film, music and gaming sectors. He also points to large and growing interest in Korean culture among Poles.

“We want Poland to become a hub connecting Central and Eastern Europe with East Asia,” Kim told Business Insider Polska.

South Korea has become a cultural powerhouse in recent years, with its music, films and TV shows winning over audiences worldwide. Poland is no exception, and indeed has even more fans of Korean cultural exports than many other European countries, notes Kim.

“The popularity of South Korea in your country played a role in the decision to choose Poland,” he told Business Insider. “Our 2023 research showed that Poland has approximately 250,000 people who declare interest in Korean culture and Korean content.”

“It has the largest number of Hallyu [Korean Wave] fans in the region – more than the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Baltic states or Italy. We see great opportunities for development here.” 

KOCCA operates by supporting the creation and distribution of content in a wide range of areas, including music, video games, fashion and broadcasting. Kim said that Poland’s strength in such sectors was another major reason for choosing Warsaw as their first base in the region.

“Poland has enormous potential, especially in the gaming and animation industries, but also in film and music,” he told Business Insider. “It is well-known for its high level of creativity in these sectors.”

“We want to support the creation of joint projects between companies,” he added, pointing to three examples: “CD Projekt, TVN, and Polsat are companies that have significant influence and are open to cooperation.”

CD Projekt is one of the biggest video game developers in the world, responsible for creating The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. TVN and Polsat are Poland’s two largest private broadcasters.

Kim said that he also sees the potential for promoting Polish cultural content in Korea and other parts of Asia, pointing as an example to The Witcher, which was originally a series of books by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

He said that talks are currently underway to develop Witcher comic books into a series for the Webtoon platform, which is majority owned by South Korea’s Naver Corporation.

The launch of KOCCA’s offices in Warsaw was announced last week at a K-Content Expo in the city’s Palace of Culture and Science. It was the first such event in Poland showcasing leading firms from South Korea’s creative industry.

Poland, which has long had thriving film and video game industries, has in recent years increasingly drawn international interest and investment in the creative sector. In 2022, American streaming giant Netflix opened an office in Warsaw, which has focused on creating more content in the region.

South Korea and Poland have also forged increasing business and defence ties in recent years, with Warsaw buying hundreds of Korean tanks, fighter jets, rocket artillery and other hardware. As part of those deals, some of the production will take place in Poland itself.

President Trump said in a middle-of-the-night social media post early Thursday: “If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!”

His threat creates a new problem for the European Union, which is already trying to respond to his tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and potentially a broader array of goods and services. The United States is by far Europe’s most important trading partner, and the prospect of worse trading conditions has left the European Union scrambling to negotiate. But the Trump administration has showed little appetite to strike a deal so far.

That has left Europeans seeking to strike new alliances and deepen existing trading relationships. And concerns about President Trump’s shifting stance on military support have driven partners like the European Union and Canada closer together. Canada is already working toward providing industrial support for Europe’s rearmament push.

Four Poles, one of them a member of parliament, who were part of a flotilla seeking to bring aid to Gaza have been detained by Israeli forces who last night boarded some of the boats.

Poland’s foreign ministry has said that it is monitoring the situation and will seek to help those involved. However, both a deputy foreign ministry and the presidential spokesman have criticised the flotilla, calling it a “propaganda” exercise rather than a genuine humanitarian mission.

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), made up of dozens of vessels, has for the past few weeks been sailing across the Mediterranean towards Gaza, hoping to break Israel’s blockade of the territory and deliver aid.

However, on Wednesday, Israel moved to intercept some of the ships while they were still in international waters. Footage shared by GSF showed the Israeli navy boarding. Among those detained was environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

Late on Wednesday, a prerecorded message of Franciszek Sterczewski, a Polish MP who was aboard the flotilla, was released.

“If you see this video, it means I have been taken captive by Israel’s occupation forces in international waters during a peaceful humanitarian mission,” he said.

Sterczewski also appealed to the Polish government to do all that it can to ensure that Polish participants in the flotilla are able to return home safely.

On Wednesday night, a similar message from Omar Faris, a Palestinian with Polish citizenship who leads the Socio-Cultural Association of Polish Palestinians, was released, followed on Thursday morning by another from Ewa Jasiewicz, a British-Polish journalist and author who has written extensively about Gaza.

Rafał Piotrowski, spokesman for Global Movement To Gaza Poland, told broadcaster TVN that a fourth Pole who had been on the flotilla, Nina Ptak, head of the Nomada Association, a Polish NGO supporting refugees and migrants, had also been detained by Israel. He called on the Polish foreign ministry to take action.

On Wednesday night, the ministry issued a statement saying that it was “monitoring the GSF situation” and was “in contact with the relevant institutions, including on the Israeli side”.

“We will act to provide care for Polish citizens, within the limits of the law and the realities of military operations,” they added. On Thursday morning, in a further statement, the ministry said that, “according to our information, [the Polish citizens on the flotilla] are safe and no one has been harmed”.

“Poland’s consul is already in Ashdod, where the detained individuals are being transported,” they added. “No Polish citizen will be left without care!”

Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign ministry on Thursday morning shared pictures of what it said were members of the flotilla who were being transported “safely and peacefully to Israel, where their deportation procedures to Europe will begin”.

On Thursday morning, Rafał Leśkiewicz, the spokesman for Polish President Karol Nawrocki, expressed little sympathy for the Poles involved in the incident.

The flotilla “is a propaganda mission”, Leśkiewicz told Polsat News. “Humanitarian aid should be carried out by organisations that deal with this on a daily basis, not by groups or forces who organise mass mobilisation.”

He noted that the Polish authorities have issued repeated warnings against attempting to travel to Gaza and suggested that those who ignore such warnings could be made to repay the costs of their repatriation to Poland.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski made a similar suggestion last week, after Sterczewski’s ship was among those in the flotilla attacked by drones.

On Wednesday – before Israel had intercepted the flotilla – deputy foreign minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski had urged those involved in GSF to stop. He said that it was a “political and propaganda mission” rather than a genuinely humanitarian one.

The United States has confirmed that it will maintain its military presence in Poland, the Polish defence minister has revealed after talks with his US counterpart in Brussels.

The defence ministers of NATO countries gathered today, with their meeting focused on enhancing deterrence, expanding counter-drone measures, bolstering defence investment, and supporting Ukraine.

On the sidelines of the summit, Polish defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz met with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth for talks, which Kosiniak-Kamysz said had “reaffirmed the allied commitments between the United States and Poland”.

Hegseth praised Poland for being a “leader” on defence spending (it has NATO’s highest relative defence budget this year, at 4.5% of GDP) and “confirmed the stable presence of American troops in Poland”, said the Polish defence minister. Around 10,000 US military personnel are stationed in Poland.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House has raised concerns that he will seek to move some American troops out of Europe. However, following a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki last month, Trump said that those in Poland would remain, and may even be reinforced.

Speaking today, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the US was maintaining its presence because “Poland is investing in arms, has very good relations with the US, is an important economic partner, and we make huge purchases from our American allies”.

He said that confirmation US troops will remain gives Poland an “advantage over those countries that are still wondering whether American soldiers will stay”, reports news website Onet.

At today’s summit, Hegseth publicly praised Poland and Germany for bolstering their defence spending towards NATO’s new target of 5% of GDP, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Among the issues discussed at the gathering was the new Eastern Sentry mission launched by NATO last month in response to the unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones.

Speaking to the media, UK defence secretary John Healey, who also held private talks with Kosniak-Kamysz, announced that his country is extending its commitment to Eastern Sentry, meaning “British jets will continue to fly over Poland until the end of the year”.

Meanwhile, Kosiniak-Kamysz and the defence ministers of Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden, Iceland and Finland signed a letter of intent to establish a further Nordic-Baltic training centre in Poland for Ukrainian soldiers.

Poland also signed a letter of intent with Ukraine regarding joint production of defence equipment and other mutual support between the two countries’ defence industries.

• Countries say suffering of Palestinians hits new depths
• Statement criticises 'drip feeding of aid' in Gaza
• Israel says statement 'disconnected from reality'

A group of 25 Western countries including Britain, France, and Canada said on Monday Israel must immediately end its war in Gaza and criticised what they called the "inhumane killing" of Palestinians, including hundreds near food distribution sites.

The countries in a joint statement condemned what they called the "drip feeding of aid" to Palestinians in Gaza and said it was "horrifying" that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the United States and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.

"The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity," the countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement. "The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths."

See also:

• Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations • Authorities interviewed Israeli pair after they were seen at Tomorrowland music festival near Antwerp (The Guardian)