A European nuclear arsenal
The strongman of Poland ruling national conservative party has fueled a debate which was previously held in only an extremely limited capability. In an appointment with the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Europe must be a superpower with a nuclear arsenal to rival that of Russia. He admitted that this type of plan will be very pricey and that he didn't anticipate such investment.
That aside, Kaczynski has tackled a taboo subject usually only accepted by individual voices. One example is German MEP Roderich Kiesewetter, of the conservative Christian Democrats, who lately told the news agency that Europe needs nuclear security as a deterrent if the US were no longer to extend its protection.
Trump to the rescue?
In principle, it is about the question of whether US President Donald Trump is ready to sacrifice Chicago to save Warsaw. What would his answer to that be? The political situation has changed so rapidly, and with it the current state of defense policy. How reliable would a European nuclear deterrent be? 30 years ago, London and Paris would have been flattered to be chosen as the defenders of the European continent. What EU state will be ready to accept such a nuclear defense force now? Never mind what Britain's choice to leave the EU has made for any credibility that idea still had.
That leaves simply France with its nuclear weapons which, within an emergency, could perhaps still only about rip the arm away from a Russian bear. Witney's conclusion: The dialogue is very much the one that is on the fringe, or even totally out of the realm of the possible. There's no tangible threat, said Ulrich Khn of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The arguments for this type of dialogue are typical there now in the era Trump, but at the same time, he says, this is not helpful. NATO still exists, and under US management, traditional weapons are now being stationed in Poland stationed in Poland and the Baltics.
So long as NATO exists, Europeans must steer clear of a nuclear race, he said. Khn added, the suggestions aren't practical. Russia has between 2,000 and 3,000 tactical atomic weapons, and therefore Europe would face huge expenses if it were to acquire an adequate arsenal to function as a deterrent. The main question is who'd control the red button? Apart from all of these issues, there is also the fact that the most of European citizens, including those in Poland, are against participating in a nuclear arms race.
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P.S. Having returned from several recent trips to Poland I am acutely aware of the NATO geo-political situation there!
I saw this NATO battalion in Wrocław as well!!
http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/299810,NATO-troops-meet-residents-in-southwestern-Poland
Poland will sink NATO - heed my words!!
There may be a grain of truth in that comment @thecentreofitall.
Kaczynski is definitely a one term leader in Poland!