Poland is not building nuclear reactors only for green energy reasons, though that is how it will be presented for the public and is a good reason. Poland is building nuclear reactors because Poland wants independence from and leverage with Brussels and Russia. https://twitter.com/notesfrompoland/status/1272921475067019264

As discussed in our Digital Salon with @ShellenbergerMD, nuclear power capability is always also an implicit capability for nuclear weapons: https://palladiummag.com/2020/05/21/digital-salon-with-michael-shellenberger-nuclear-power-is-the-real-green-energy/

We all know how powerful nuclear weapons are for maintaining a country's independence and international leverage. Just look at North Korea. The long-running conflict around Iran's nuclear program is happening because everyone understands this implicitly.

Japan does not have nuclear weapons. But they do have nuclear reactors. And they know that this is enough to get the message across. Poland does too. Like Japan, Poland is stuck between the West and a large historical nemesis: Russia, or in Japan's case China.

Poland has a thousand-year history of being overrun by foreign empires, typically Russia or Germany. A Nuclear Poland would not be so easy to overrun. Polish independence and sovereignty has been hard won and the Poles know it. They do not want to lose it!

We all fear nuclear-based Mutually Assured Destruction. But MAD is also a mechanism to reduce conflict. Most importantly, perhaps nuclear weapons are not necessary to enforce MAD. Perhaps we only need nuclear reactors and nuclear power to get the same effect. And it's green too!

Watch the full Digital Salon with @ShellenbergerMD on @YouTube here: