Warsaw hungry for business with Obama

“Obama coming for shale gas”, proclaims Dziennik Gazeta Prawna on the day the US president arrives in Warsaw for a two-day visit. The main topics of bilateral talks will include the exploitation of Poland’s shale gas resources (estimated to be the largest in Europe), military cooperation (deploying a small attachment of US Air Force in Poland and F-16 fighter planes from 2013), and political cooperation (the mission in Afghanistan). The visit has received intense coverage from the media and experts, who believe a new opening in Polish-US relations is in order. Following years of enchantment with America and the inevitable disappointments (failure to secure oil concessions in Iraq, postponement of plans for US missile installations in Poland), it is time for mutual relations to become more pragmatic. “Let’s talk about business. About how much money can [US gas companies] make here, becoming so attached to Poland in the process that this will give us greater guarantees than any illusory military concessions”, says DGP’s editorial. According to the Warsaw daily, only US companies have the technology and the means to “revolutionise the European gas market together with the Poles and overcome Gazprom’s domination”. Polska The Times, in turn, urges Poland to “get off its knees” and start pursuing its own interests, because “when it gets strong enough politically and economically, the US will come to it by itself” as to a “significant partner rather than an insignificant vassal”.