Can Poland Become the World’s Next "Nuclear Power?"

The idea is not as far-fetched as it seems

Fifteen years ago, it was taboo to consider in public if Poland could become the world’s next nuclear power. Anyone who tried was dismissed as trading in non-serious ideas and militaristic fantasy. Today, that’s not the case.

A new defense philosophy has seized Warsaw: It is better to be the hammer than the anvil. One result of this shift: a nuclear Poland—at least one with access to nuclear weapons—is a realistic possibility.

Rather than sleeping on this seismic change in Polish military thinking, the Trump administration should seize a limited window of opportunity to permanently close the door on Russia’s aims for regathering the “lost” lands of its long-dead empires.

Misreading Russia has deadly consequences in the East. Unlike in America, where geopolitical debates unfold in think tanks, classified SCIFs, and media outlets, leaders in countries like Poland face existential consequences if they get Russia wrong. History is their unforgiving schoolmaster. Poland, in particular, is defined by cycles of occupation, subjugation, and resistance.