Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said his country is open to hosting U.S. nuclear weapons. Why in the world is that up for discussion right now?
Well, as we learn more about Russia’s murderous invasion of Ukraine and the latest discovery of bodies in Bucha, it’s becoming apparent that Moscow has sights set on Poland.
Right now the dominant concern in NATO countries is that the Russians will not stop not just until they’ve gotten all of Ukraine, but until they’ve moved beyond Ukraine. The problem is for the Russians to feel secure, they need to secure a series of gateway territories that separate the Russian space from the rest of the world.
And Putin’s goals for the last 20 years is about getting Russian troops on the ground in as many of those gateways as possible.
Ukraine, unfortunately for the Ukrainians, sits between the Russians in two of those gateways, the Bessarabian Gap that moves over into the Turkish space and the Polish gap, which goes into Poland and the German space.
So from the Russian point of view, they don’t have to just get Ukraine. They need to move into Poland proper and fairly deep into Poland proper.
So, if you’re in Poland, and you can read a map, you know that if the Russians win in Ukraine, they’re coming for you one way or another. Ergo why he wants Nukes. The question is: Will the United States do it?
The United States has had nuclear weapons in Europe, specifically in Germany, now for decades. And yes, it’s a deterrent. I don’t mean to suggest otherwise, but if you really want to stop the Russians from entering Poland, you don’t just need a nuclear facility. You would need the army facilities to protect it as well.
So if the goal is to stop Russia before it can move into NATO territory, you need to put the American facilities as far east in Poland as is possible so that the Russians know that the day they cross the border they’re facing American troops directly. That, of course, puts them directly in harm’s way, which is the whole point.
