“Poland must pursue the most advanced capabilities, including nuclear and modern unconventional weapons,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told his country’s parliament earlier this month. “This is a serious race — a race for security, not for war.”

Coming as the Trump administration signaled it is essentially pulling back from protecting Europe, Tusk's statement seemed to suggest a potential lurch toward nuclear weapons proliferation in Europe — something at odds with decades of European policy.

While questions remain over the US' ongoing commitment to its role as Europe’s nuclear security guarantor, China is expanding its nuclear arsenal. And Russia, which maintains the world’s largest stockpile of warheads, repeatedly invokes the threat of using them to warn NATO and the EU against getting directly militarily involved in Ukraine.

The overall picture raises two difficult questions. How can Europe maintain a continent-wide nuclear deterrent? And is there a possibility that other countries will join the nuclear club? (Euronews)