Poland

How Poland's politics begin:

Buzek's years move the camps (the left gathers, the right splits); so do Open the Files, the Spirit of the Round Table and Radio Maryja. Elections are called by focus, never by the calendar. With historical focuses on, the AI elects Miller, then Law and Justice in 2005.

The signature mechanic:

One bar between the West (Berlin, the Union and its army) and the East (Russian gas and markets), in the Between Berlin and Moscow decisions. It starts a little towards the West.

Towards the West: industry and stability, and Ask the Defence Union needs it 30 towards the West; at the far end Poland is Berlin's junior partner and pays in political power.

Towards the East: cheap gas and political power; at the far end Poland is Finlandised. In the middle, the army and the nation are on guard.

Russia's Gathering of the Lands pushes Poland west, and opens Lend-Lease and Military Advisers decisions for every land it targets.

The tree is split like the map: the West half (Westward: the Weimar Triangle and the Defence Union, America, Kyiv's advocate, the hard line on Russia, the missile shield; capstone Anchored in the West) and the East half (Eastward: the Yamal pipeline, Lithuania, the Poles of the East, Kaliningrad, a dialogue with Moscow; capstone the Eastern Partnership). The deeper a focus, the further the bar must lean its way.

Foreign policy:

Lithuania, Ukraine, Kaliningrad, America and Germany can turn Poland's offers down: a joint brigade, the football, an open border, visas, the northern pipeline, the missile shield. A refused offer can be made again by decision.

Germany may invite Poland into the Weimar Triangle and sponsor it for the Defence Union; Belarus and Ukraine may make offers of their own.

The historical road:

Miller governs from 2001: the accession referendum, the Rywin affair, Iraq or not, the Starachowice affair and the hospitals, the economy's turn, and Belka's caretaker government.

The Election of 2005 needs every line; the left loses 8 points of the Two Camps, and the count decides: Law and Justice under Jaroslaw Kaczynski (historical) with the camps at 60 or more, else Civic Platform under Donald Tusk; then a Poland in Europe.

The early road of the Kaczynskis:

Law and Justice wins in 2001 when Solidarity's heirs reach 50 in the Two Camps. The Fourth Republic, the anti-corruption bureau, lustration, history policy, solidarity against liberal Poland, and a hard look east.

The Election of 2005 needs every line: Jaroslaw Kaczynski again with the camps at 65 or more, else Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz at the head of a broader right.

Inside the road, the Belweder may hold a sabre that has waited a long time.

The populist road:

Self-Defence's farmers win in 2001 after Lepper's Hour, when neither camp leads (40-60). Debts forgiven, the banks tamed, the Union's terms renegotiated, trade with the East and the countryside first.

The Election of 2005 needs every line: Andrzej Lepper again under 60 in the Two Camps, else Roman Giertych's League of Polish Families (the nationalists).

The federal road:

The left wins in 2001 with The President's Own Party (or the bar 20 towards the West): Kwasniewski leaves the presidency to govern. Into the Defence Union, the euro's joint government, the Weimar Triangle as Europe's engine, the Orange Revolution, liberal reforms at home.

The Election of 2005 needs every line: Marek Belka for the left under 50 in the Two Camps, else Donald Tusk for the liberals.

A re-enactment at Lublin may get out of hand.

Some roads are hidden:

Inside Law and Justice, the Belweder's cellars; inside Kwasniewski's Europe, the anniversary at Lublin. Each opens from inside one road and replaces it. Only one hidden road can open. The AI never takes one when historical focuses are on.