V Corps Reborn in Poland

The U.S. Army’s V Corps officially returned to Europe Friday with a ceremony at the unit's new forward headquarters in Poznan, Poland, from where it will command missions along NATO’s eastern flank.

The first soldiers attached to the Poznan headquarters began arriving last month after the Army reactivated the unit at Fort Knox, Ky. About 200 troops will eventually be assigned to the forward element in Poland while an additional 400 will work from Kentucky.

The activation of the Poznan mission came after Polish President Andrzej Duda on November 9th signed off on a security cooperation pact that paved the way for the unit to officially launch.

U.S. Army Europe said in a statement this week that they expect the new headquarters to be fully operational by November 2021.

“The mission of V Corps will include command and control of assigned and rotational units in support of U.S. Army Europe and U.S. European Command,” USAREUR said. “The Forward Headquarters will be critical to accomplishing these responsibilities.”

V Corps will play a key role in upcoming U.S. European Command exercises, including Defender-Europe 21, which will take place in the Balkan and Black Sea regions in the spring, USAREUR said.

The military announced in February that it was reforming V Corps to provide more support to an expanding Army mission in Europe. In September, the Army selected Poznan, Poland as the command post.

V Corps’ history in Europe dates to 1918 when it was activated during World War I. It was a fixture in Germany throughout the Cold War but was deactivated in 2013 as part of the Army’s gradual drawdown in Europe.

 

Deepspot in Poland

On Saturday in Mszczonow (near Warsaw) the world's deepest swimming pool at 149 feet in depth opened when it was filled with nearly 2.3 million gallons of water.

Considered a training center for divers the swimming pool, called "Deepspot" is more than twenty times the volume of a standard 25-meter-long pool and features reproductions of underwater caves and Mayan ruins, as well as a small shipwreck that can be explored.

It's really a good place to learn and train in order to dive safely," said Przemyslaw Kacprzak, a 39-year-old scuba instructor who was among those attending the swimming pool's opening.

The swimming pool is also going to be used for training by firefighters and the army.

The construction lasted two years and cost over $9Million.

 

 

Poland & Hungary veto EU Budget

Earlier this week, Poland and Hungary rejected the $2.1 trillion seven-year EU budget that was set to provide economic relief for EU countries hardest hit by the effects of the Covid-19  virus, because so-called “rule of law” and "values" provisions was attached which would allow Brussels to deprive countries of funds for not following the establishment line.

 

Then a couple of members of the European Parliament from Sweden slammed Poland and Hungary and talked about the two conservative countries leaving the European Union after vetoing the bloc’s budget this week.

Helene Fritzon, head of the delegation for the Swedish Social Democrats in the European Parliament, said that Poland and Hungary Poland were playing an “ugly game” and stated, “They put the whole of the EU in a very serious position when they now signal that they intend to use their veto.”

Tomas Tobé, another MEP who is supposedly center-right told broadcaster Sveriges Radio, “We cannot budge now. If we fold now, then this has been established, then we basically say that it is OK to continue in this direction as we have seen from Hungary and Poland.”

Tobé went on to state that it was a question whether or not Poland and Hungary belong in the European Union.

The EU only view countries which let migrants in as those governed by the rule of law. Those who protect their borders cannot qualify as countries where rule of law prevails.

If this budget harboring other conditions gets adopted, there will be no more obstacles to tying member states’ share of common funds to supporting migration and use financial means to blackmail countries which oppose migration.