Politics & Power Quote by Adam Michnik

Loyalty is doing a lot of work here - and Michnik knows it. The language reads less like a sentimental pledge and more like a hard-edged argument about how small and mid-sized countries survive in a world run by great powers. By stacking “reliable, loyal, and predictable,” he’s not just praising alliance virtue; he’s advertising Poland as a strategic product: low-risk, high-commitment, never a surprise. “Predictable” is the tell. In Washington, unpredictability is what you punish; predictability is what you reward with security guarantees, access, and attention.

The moral framing - “duty” and “had to” - doubles as domestic persuasion. Post-communist Poland’s foreign policy has often been a tug-of-war between sovereignty and dependence, pride and fear, Europe and America. Calling assistance a duty wraps a transactional calculus in an ethical coat, making a controversial choice (backing US military ventures, hosting bases, aligning tightly with US security policy) sound like character rather than strategy. The subtext is unmistakably post-1939: Poland’s nightmares are abandonment and partitions; “reliable ally” is a prophylactic against being left alone again.

Michnik’s background as a dissident editor matters. He’s speaking from a civic tradition that treats the West not as an abstract “international community” but as a civilizational lifeline after Soviet domination. “America needed our help” isn’t just about America; it’s about Poland staking a claim on America’s protection. Help, in this worldview, is a down payment on credibility - and credibility is the currency of security.