Polish journalist Przemysław Staciwa responded to my recent praise of President Karol Nawrocki, which was first published at my Substack but then went viral after being republished by ZeroHedge, at the popular Kanał Zero’s website (they also have an even more popular YouTube channel). Titled “’European katechon’, or the kiss of death for Nawrocki”, he referenced my description of our president’s new historic role in preventing the federalization Europe (I’m a proud dual citizen), but he did so negatively.
According to Staciwa, “The problem is, these are not the kind of allies the head of state would want. Korybko is a well-known propagandist in Moscow.” He then referenced my appearances on Russian and Chinese state media as well as my contributions to the Dugin-affiliated Geopolitica think tank to imply that I have ulterior motives in praising Nawrocki. The innuendo is that I’m playing some kind of game, perhaps at the Kremlin’s orders, to “confuse people and further polarization” as Staciwa speculated.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m fiercely proud of my work and will never apologize for it, and none of my partner sites in my 12.5 years working as a political analyst ever told me what to say. I independently formulated a worldview that closely aligns with Russia’s, the focus of Staciwa’s conspiratorial innuendo, but that doesn’t make me its puppet. In fact, whenever I feel that it’s appropriate with a view towards improving policy implementation, I very proudly critique Russia.
Among the many examples of this are this one here from summer 2022 where I highlighted how Russia underestimated its adversaries and then this follow-up one here that fall where I shared 20 constructive critiques of its special operation that I’ve since regularly hyperlinked to in my work in the years since. I even politely rebuked the chief of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service for claiming that Poland will annex Western Ukraine while my recent critiques focus on the soft power tactic that I call “Potemkinism”.
Going even further, I’ve also blamed Russian diplomats for dropping the ball in Syria, Armenia, and Mali, and I’ve posted on X about how the online “Non-Russian Pro-Russian” community has been hijacked by Leftists, Islamists, and “Third Worldists” who aren’t cultural or political Russophiles at all. As the proverbial icing on the cake, I’ve even politely rebuked none other than former President and incumbent Deputy Chair of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev for smearing us as “Polacks” on two occasions.
No objective observer would therefore describe me as a “pro-Russian propagandist” since I clearly have my own worldview that’s at times not perfectly aligned with the Kremlin’s and I also never shy away from constructively critiquing Russia when I feel it’s warranted. As earlier mentioned, I’m proud of my worldview and its close alignment with Russia’s, but I’m not its puppet nor would I ever accept becoming one since I’m too proud of my work to abandon my independence no matter the price.
At the same time, I’m also a proud constructive critic of Poland too as Staciwa noted when referencing my first viral analysis about how Poland was functioning as the Slavic Turkey regarding its support of right-wing extremists during “EuroMaidan”. I’ve since continued to constructively critique Poland in literally hundreds of analyses since then with a view towards improving its own policy implementation just like I hope to improve Russia’s. I’ve also shared my candid views about their future ties here.
I believe that their millennium-long rivalry, of which I’m in the center as a proud American-Polish Russophile with “Old Rus” (“Ukrainian”) roots, has returned. Poland and Russia need each other to be strong as counterintuitive as it might sound at first since each would grow complacent, stagnate, and then decline without the spectre of the other threatening it. That would disrupt the global balance of power, which I truly believe would be to the world’s detriment, and should thus be avoided at all costs.
Accordingly, despite it being extremely unpopular here (and I can’t stress enough just how much some folks in Moscow disapprove of my work), I continue to analyze Poland almost weekly. Not only that, but I praise Nawrocki for his conservative-nationalist views at home and abroad while also drawing attention to the restoration of Poland’s long-lost Great Power status, which folks can read about here. For those who aren’t aware, Russian experts hate Nawrocki and love Donald Tusk, which I’ve talked about here.
On that topic, because of my constructive critiques of Russia, my views on the Russian-Polish rivalry, and my praise of Nawrocki that parallels my very sharp criticisms of Tusk’s ruling liberal-globalist coalition (Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski also blocked me on X for this), I’m “canceled” by many here in Moscow. I’m not invited to events like my “peers” are, and one even defamed me an “Israeli spy in Russia”, including in a chat of ~100 “influencers”, where not one defended me like I wrote about here and here.
I treat those organizers and my so-called “peers” with total contempt, not caring what people like that think about me, but I’m bringing it up to reinforce the indisputable fact that portraying me as a “pro-Russian propagandist”, and especially implying that I’m part of some psy-op, is flat-out wrong. All that I am is a proud Russophilic American-Pole with “Old Rus” ancestry who, true to our Polish traditions, is fiercely independent in ways that at times offend everyone from Americans to Poles and even Russians.
It’s precisely because I’m so independent and feel so strongly about both the quality of my work as well as its importance, whether to the discourse on whatever it might be that I’m writing about or the positive influence that I hope for it to have on policymakers, that I recently praised Nawrocki yet again. I don’t care that some of my Polish compatriots think poorly of me for my Russophilic views, connections to Russian state media, and whatever else since I find consolation in Roman Dmowski’s famous quote.
“I am a Pole so I have Polish responsibilities”, namely, as I truly believe them to be, constructively critiquing Poland whenever I feel that it’s warranted just as I do with Russia despite this being frowned upon (especially during ongoing special operation) as well as praising it whenever I feel it’s deserved. I accept that he and some of his other supporters besides myself of course might disapprove of my praise but I’ll never self-censor, neither under pressure from some folks here in Russia nor from Poles online.
What you see is what you get, and I acknowledge that I’m a “unique” person in the sense of having an interesting background as many have described it and “testing the limits” of expressing myself on sensitive matters such as critiquing the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia’s foreign spy chief, or Medvedev. I do all of this because I’m independent no matter what my critics claim, and to Russia’s credit, nobody has bothered, threatened, or persecuted me for trying to help it through my constructive critiques.
Nevertheless, I’ve been viciously defamed by some top “Non-Russian Pro-Russians” (who are actually Leftists, Islamists, and/or “Third Worldists”, not Russophiles at all) just like some fellow Poles have defamed me on social media, albeit from the opposite angle of course. Circling back to Staciwa, I didn’t like how he misdescribed me as a “pro-Russian propagandist” and claimed that I gave Nawrocki a “kiss of death” with my praise, nor did I like how he didn’t reach out to me before publishing his article.
That’s why I’m not reaching out to him before publishing my response, but I’ll probably share it under his social media accounts as well as Kanał Zero’s. If he’s an honest guy, then regardless of his domestic political disposition and views about Russia, I’d expect him to accept that he was flat-out wrong in misdescribing me as a “pro-Russian propagandist” and implying that I’m part of some psy-op. Perhaps he’s not an honest guy, few of my critics thus far have been, in which case he just discredited himself.
And Przemek, if you read this far, then let’s do a written interview sometime! I’d be happy to introduce myself to more of our compatriots, especially after you inadvertently raised greater awareness of myself and my work among them than I ever could have on my own, so please consider it. You can reach me at my Substack or X, just send me a direct message and let’s do this! If not, then that’s fine, but I’m willing to bury the hatchet if you are. It’s an easy way to prove your own independence like I just proved mine.
