Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski arrived at the NATO summit beaming after securing a massive diplomatic victory: convincing the US to leave things exactly as they were on Tuesday.
BRUSSELS — Outside the NATO summit hall, a cold drizzle slicked the cobblestones and pooled on the black umbrellas of European security aides. Inside, the corridors smelled of floor wax, stale espresso, and profound relief.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski arrived at the morning session positively beaming, having just secured a masterclass in modern diplomacy: convincing the President of the United States to put things back exactly where he found them. The triumph follows a frantic forty-eight hours in which the Pentagon inexplicably halted a scheduled rotation of 4,000 American troops to the region. On Wednesday evening, Trump unexpectedly announced a grand, historic deployment of 5,000 troops to Poland, effectively replacing the canceled deployment with a slightly larger, substantially louder one.
Sikorski noted to gathered reporters that the new deployment means the American footprint in Poland will be maintained “more or less at previous levels.” He delivered the assessment with the unbridled joy of a man who has just been handed his own stolen watch and is simply thrilled the glass isn't cracked.
We are immensely grateful for this sudden influx of personnel to replace the personnel who were told not to come. It takes true visionary leadership to manufacture a crisis and then generously resolve it before the weekend.
By mid-afternoon, other NATO ministers were observed quietly studying the Polish strategy in the delegates' lounge. Aides to the French delegation were reportedly drafting a lavish communiqué thanking the American administration for its steadfast commitment to not dismantling the Eiffel Tower, while the German defense minister prepared a champagne toast to honor the Pentagon for generously leaving Ramstein Air Base on its current side of the Atlantic.