The New York Times (NYT) surprised observers when one of its reporters debunked Poland’s claims that Wagner threatens the Suwalki Corridor, which had hitherto been automatically accepted as true by the Mainstream Media (MSM). In his piece titled “At Risk of Invasion or Lovely to Visit: Two Views of a Polish Border Area”, Central & Eastern European bureau chief Andrew Higgins cited locals who informed him that there’s nothing to worry about. In fact, they’re increasingly perturbed by the ruling party’s rhetoric.
According to him, the resultant drop in tourism is negatively affecting the local economy, and the region’s residents can’t wait for the mid-October’s elections to arrive since they expect that the “Law & Justice” (PiS) party’s fearmongering will finally end after then. About that, Higgins reported that many of them are of the view that this is an artificially manufactured issue that was concocted purely for electioneering purposes. Here are some analyses that lend credence to their assessment:
* 18 July: “Fake News Alert: Wagner Isn’t Going To Invade The Suwalki Corridor”
* 21 July: “The Latest Polish-Belarusian Border Tensions Actually Advance Both Of Their Interests”
* 30 July: “The Reported Deployment Of Around 100 Wagner Fighters Made The Polish Premier Freak Out”
* 10 August: “Poland Might Exploit Wagner’s Presence In Belarus As The Pretext For Sabotaging Peace Talks”
* 18 August: “Poland’s Ruling Party Is Making Fall’s Elections All About National Security”
Near the end of his report, he informed readers that even some former high-level Polish military officials and a currently serving unnamed senior Lithuanian one disagree with PiS’ narrative:
“Several retired Polish generals have questioned insistent claims that Wagner fighters in Belarus pose a serious threat and whether they are anywhere near the Polish border. (Some reports say they have mostly left Belarus.) A senior Lithuanian military official, who asked not to be named so that he could give his views frankly, said: ‘There is really no such threat, but being politically correct I must remain silent.’”
This confirms that the locals aren’t trying to spite the ruling party after its rhetoric harmed their region’s economy since the opinions that they shared are reflected by professionals in the know.
The NYT’s report is a bombshell since it reshapes the MSM narrative towards this issue, with it no longer being considered so-called “Russian propaganda” to push back against PiS’ fearmongering about Wagner’s alleged threat to the Suwalki Corridor. This is the first time that a major Western outlet debunked an anti-Russian propaganda campaign since the special operation began, which is a milestone in its own right but even more impressive when remembering that Poland is one of the US’ top partners.
The “Civic Platform” (PO) opposition and other anti-PiS movements might therefore feel emboldened by this development to more openly expose the ruling party’s latest electioneering tactic ahead of mid-October’s national elections. It might have been with this intended outcome in mind that the NYT ordered Higgins to reshape the MSM narrative towards this issue as part of the Western liberal–globalist elite’s efforts to help oust Poland’s comparatively more conservative-nationalist government.
The above insight suggests that they were driven by self-serving ideological/political interests to expose PiS’ lies about Wagner’s alleged threat to the Suwalki Corridor, which doesn’t discredit their reporting but helps better understand why they’d unprecedentedly debunk an anti-Russian propaganda campaign. The example that the NYT set is that liberal-globalists can lie about Russia with impunity, but the MSM might begin fact-checking those of their ideological opponents who do so for electioneering purposes.
