The current conflict between Russia and Georgia still dominates the comment pages of the newspapers.
Review Aleksander Kropiwnicki
The current conflict in the Caucasus shows that Russia says ‘no’ to the further NATO enlargement, write analysts at the DZIENNIK daily. The goal of provoking and starting the war with Georgia was to show that Moscow will not give up its influence in the region. The Georgian crisis is also a clear warning addressed to Ukraine, another post-Soviet republic now trying to establish strong ties with the West. The situation for the European Union or NATO is not comfortable, writes the paper. Appeasing Russia will just encourage it to go even further. On the other hand isolating Moscow means less chance of influencing it. The conclusion of the article is rather pessimistic: the Kremlin is acting according to its plan, but the details of the plan are an enigma to the West. The rules of the game will be perhaps revealed to the world when the game is over.
Moscow will possibly try to re-establish its zone of influence in the former Soviet territory, mainly in Ukraine, predicts Konstanty Gebert, a well-known political commentator in an interview with the SUPER EXPRESS tabloid. If we can’t avoid a new cold war, the Poland will be a front-line state. In the near future Poland is safe but Moscow could increase its political pressure on this country, which is dependent on Russian gas and oil. The Kremlin can feel encouraged by the shaky Western reaction to Georgia, says Mr. Gebert.
The West has to impose sanctions on Russia, says Grzegorz Kostrzewa-Zorbas, a political scientist, in his article printed in the FAKT daily. Russian leaders, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, are currently checking possibilities of strengthening their position in the world. Recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia hardly means a new cold war. Russia is definitely much weaker than the former Soviet Union. Still, it has a good chance to regain some of its former power. If the West behaves like it did in the 1930s, Russia will simply take advantage of what it sees as weakness. That’s why economic sanctions are necessary and should be imposed now, says the expert.
And that’s enough about the East, now it’s time for the Far East. As RZECZPOSPOLITA has learnt, the Chinese car giant Jiangling Motors Group is planning to build a factory in Poland. That would be the first Chinese car plant in Europe. JMG envoys are to arrive in Poland in September, to talk with the Polish government. The Chinese would like to produce as many as 400,000 cars a year, so the factory would be approximately as big as that owned by FIAT in Tychy, southern Poland. The plant in Tychy is worth 1.2bn US dollars. As the newspaper writes, Chinese cars are of average performance and they will be aiming at the cheaper end of the market. Not a bad perspective for those who find the current prices of BMW or Toyota beyond their means. And that raps up the press review for today.