THE POLISH STAKE INTO THE RUSSIAN VAMPIRE
Warsaw, Poland. We killed it once, when it was disguised as the Soviet Union. But vampires have this way of not staying dead, and it has risen again to suck the life blood out of any country it can sink its teeth into. So it looks like we're going to have to kill this creature all over again. This time, let's drive a wooden stake through its heart and end it for good. Looks like the stake will be made in Poland.
Poland's history is one of tragedies and triumphs. It starts in 966, when the chief of the Polan people, Mieszko (930-992), rejected the entreaties of other Slavic tribes to accept what was becoming the Russian Orthodox Church, and chose to be baptized as a Roman Catholic instead.
It was a momentous decision that turned his people towards the West, rather than the East. Miesko's son Bronislaw created Poland as a Christian nation, with Pope John XIX declaring him the first King of Poland in 1025, and the Poles starting to participate in Western culture.
The greatest Polish King, Jan Sobieski (1629-1696), is also one of the greatest heroes in the history of Western Civilization. In a word, he saved it.
