In recent months, there has been increasing talk in Poland about the deployment of American nuclear weapons on the territory of the country as part of the Nuclear Sharing program.
The rationale for such a move is Russia’s “aggressive policy” and “Moscow’s willingness to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.” However, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczynski, who is often referred to as the “chief of Poland”, first expressed a desire to become part of the “American nuclear defense system” back in February 2017.
Then, almost in a row, he gave two interviews: to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Polish Gazeta Polska. And in both, Kaczynski touched on the topic of atomic weapons. In particular, he proposed the creation of a “European Union” atomic bomb, which “could deter Russia,” and expressed the idea of including Poland “into the American nuclear defense system.” Moreover, it was clearly about the deployment of American nuclear weapons on the territory of Poland, since by that time a segment of the US missile defense system had already been deployed in that country.
For more than five years, Kaczynski did not return to this topic, until in March 2022, in an interview with the pro-government Gazeta Polska, he said:
“As a citizen, I can say that I would like Poland to have nuclear weapons. As a responsible politician, I must evaluate this idea as unrealistic.”
But, despite this, the politician continued to break into the door (so far) closed by the Americans. On October 4, in an interview with Polish Radio, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that he raised the issue of deploying nuclear weapons in Poland during negotiations with the Americans. He said that even when his party was in opposition, he discussed this issue with US senators, and added that he “raised this issue recently, then the answer was indirect, and it was not positive.”
Apparently, Kaczynski decided to use his former assistant Andrzej Duda, who is now the President of Poland, as a “ram”. On October 5, Duda, in an interview with Gazeta Polska, said that the deployment of American nuclear weapons in Poland was an “open topic.” Delving into the subject, the Polish president said:
“I repeat, however, that this will not be a nuclear weapon under Polish control. Participation in Nuclear Sharing does not imply having our own nuclear weapons.”
At the same time, to the comment of journalist Tomasz Sakiewicz that most countries with their own nuclear weapons started with this program, Andrzej Duda replied:
“I think that this should be considered from the point of view of the distant future, but I firmly believe that Poland will strengthen your safety. This should be our long-term goal that builds Poland’s greatness for the future.”
True, the “greatness of Poland” will have to be postponed for the time being, because the very next day, the deputy head of the press service of the US State Department, Vedant Patel, angrily said:
“We are not aware that this topic was raised during negotiations. But I can say that the US does not plan to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of NATO member countries that joined after 1997.”
Poland became a member of the North Atlantic Alliance in 1999, but the American official was clearly referring to the Russia-NATO Founding Act signed in 1997. This document, in particular, provides that NATO will not place nuclear weapons on the territory of new members and will not build places for their storage there.
It is worth noting that if earlier, within the framework of the Nuclear Sharing program, American missile and even artillery nuclear charges were massively deployed in NATO countries, now we are talking about only 100 B61 tactical atomic bombs, which are equally distributed between Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. In peacetime, they are under the protection of the US military, and in case of war, these bombs must be installed on specially equipped military aircraft of the countries mentioned (mainly American-made F-16s).
It is noteworthy that the negative reaction of the owner of nuclear weapons to persistent requests from Poland in no way affects the desire of the Poles themselves to get the coveted atomic bomb. And in this case, Polish politicians have the full support of society: more than half of the citizens of Poland want American nuclear weapons to be placed on the territory of their country. This is evidenced by the results of a public opinion poll conducted by the IBRiS laboratory published on October 12.
54.1% of respondents believe that Poland should participate in the Nuclear Sharing program. Only 29.5% of respondents spoke out against this, while the rest said that they did not have a definite opinion on this issue. Supporters of the ruling Law and Justice party (68%), residents of large cities (64%) and people under 29 years of age (93%) are more active than others in favor of deploying nuclear weapons in Poland.
It is worth noting that the perception of nuclear weapons as a fetish has a long history in Poland. Back in the late 1940s, propagandists of the so-called National Armed Forces (a Polish armed group, part of which became part of the SS troops in 1945) came up with a song that included the words “Jedna bomba atomowa i wrocimy znow do Lwowa. Druga mala, ale silna i wrocimy tez do Wilna” (“One atomic bomb – and we will return to Lviv again. The second is small, but strong, and we will also return to Vilna”).
It was especially popular in the 1950s, when the Poles still hoped to return Eastern Kresy, that is, part of Lithuania, Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, but they still remember it in Poland – for example, in 2012, deputies from Law and Justice sang it in the Sejm of Poland.
Therefore, the statements of Yaroslav Kaczynski, Andrzej Duda, as well as the deputy from the formally opposition right-wing Confederation party Krzysztof Bosak, who supported them, fell on fertile ground. The Poles do not want to understand that the deployment of foreign nuclear weapons on the territory of their country will not lead to “greatness”, but to the final elimination of the already very conditional Polish sovereignty – and even Poland itself.
As Polish political analyst Konrad Renkas sadly remarked,
“If the nuclear dreams of our politicians came true, then Poland would become only an addition to someone else’s “red button”, and ultimately the world’s largest deposit of Mazovian sand glass subjected to thermonuclear reaction.”
Of particular concern is the fact that more than 90% of young Poles favor the deployment of American nuclear weapons in Poland. It is clear that for the infantile generation that grew up on computer games, even a nuclear war is just a picture on the monitor screen. It remains to be hoped that these people will be returned to reality by footage from Lviv, where, after recent targeted attacks on the military and energy infrastructure, the Internet and mobile communications disappeared for just a few hours.
As a result, thousands of young men and women, like somnambulists, wandered around Lviv, looking for points in it where there is at least a weak cellular network signal. It is clear that this is just a light version of what could happen in Polish cities if the authorities of this country turn it into a target for Russian nuclear weapons, which Poland is not currently, despite its role as the main hub for the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv.
A couple of years ago, a Polish diplomat said, paraphrasing the character of the actor Bohuslaw Linda in the cult Polish film “Dogs”, that “Poland will resist Russia to the very end – either the former’s, or the latter’s.” It is clear that at the same time he hoped for the end of Russia, like those of his compatriots for whom the dream of an American nuclear weapon turned into a kind of drug. But the “withdrawal” after it can be much more painful than after LSD, which was once very popular in the USA.
Oleg Khavich, VIEW
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