Obama’s Visit to Poland key to Affirming NATO’s Strength

I'm always interested when the leader of my current home and my former home meet. 

Polish President Komorowski and U.S. President Obama

Clearly President Obama's meeting this week with Polish President Bronisław Komorowski is among the most important post-Cold War meeting between leaders of the two countries.
 
It looks as though Vladimir Putin may have realized the gig is up and is yielding his expansionist ambitious. But as President Barack Obama is set to push Europe to be stand firm, it’s Poland that will push the U.S. president to stand even firmer against the Russian leader.

From the Associated Press:

 

President Barack Obama will press European leaders this week to keep up pressure on Russia over its threatening moves in Ukraine, while seeking to assuage fears from Poland and other NATO allies that the West could slip back into a business-as-usual relationship with Moscow. …

Yet those reassurances may be of little solace to NATO allies who sit near the Russian border, particularly Poland, where Obama will open his trip Tuesday. In April, the U.S. moved about 150 troops into Poland to try to ease its security concerns, but Obama is likely to get requests from Polish leaders for additional support.

"He's going to hear a very strong message from Polish officials that the mission has not been accomplished," said Heather Conley, a Europe scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "In fact, the work has only begun."

While in Warsaw, Obama will also meet with regional leaders who are in town to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland's first post-communist free elections. Among those leaders will be Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko, who won Ukraine's May 25 election and will hold his first bilateral meeting with Obama.