Poland has chosen the U.S. government and Westinghouse to build the central European country’s first nuclear power plant, part of an effort to burn less coal and gain greater energy independence.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said late Friday on Twitter that Poland would use the “reliable, safe technology” of the Westinghouse Electric Company for the plant in Pomerania province near the Baltic Sea coast. The exact location remains to be identified.
A strong Poland-U.S. alliance “guarantees the success of our joint initiatives,” Morawiecki said.
President Obama sure is making a lot of dramatic, far-reaching foreign policy moves right before he leaves office. If you think this move isn’t motivated by Obama’s selfish political calculations, just think… would he have done this (or slap Israel; or change Cuba policy; etc.) if Hillary had won?
U.S. and other Western nations have carried out exercises on NATO’s eastern flank in past years, but the new deployment – which includes some 3,500 U.S. troops – marks the first-ever continuous deployment to the region by a NATO ally.
It is part of a larger commitment by President Barack Obama to protect a region that grew deeply nervous when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then began backing separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east.
If we were going to do this, we should have done it in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine. It might have had a deterrent effect to stem Russia’s advance at that time. It’s too late now. All it does is set up political landmines for the incoming president.
Here’s how this will go down… Trump will pull back these troops because their deployment to Poland serves no purpose and aggravates Russia for no gain. Then the Democrats and media will jump on Trump and accuse him of being pro-Russia, a puppet for Putin, etc. Domestic political posturing ensues.
At least they are doing it with American weapons. It’s a shame that they have to do it because they can’t rely on American support in the face of Russian aggression.
Warsaw wants to buy the Patriots because it is concerned about Moscow placing missiles in Kaliningrad that borders northern Poland, the BBC’s Adam Easton in Warsaw reports.
Poland currently has no defence against such weapons.
The missile deal – which could be worth about $7bn (£4.7bn) – is the largest in Polish history, our correspondent says.
It is part of Poland’s plans to spend $35bn to modernise its military over the next eight years.
75 years ago today, Germany launched Fall Weiß (Plan White), the invasion of Poland, beginning the European phase of WWII.
On 17 September, the Russians would enter Poland from the East. The combination of the Wehrmacht in the west and the Red Army in the east was too much for the Polish forces to counter, and by 6 October, the September Campaign was over, and Poland had fallen.
