Secrets To FRANCE NUCLEAR POWER SOVEREIGNTY OR SOLIDARITY? Even In This Down Economy #primepointnews

As president of France in the 1960s, it was he who launched the policy of French strategic independence.

Of course, he said, Americans were more our friends than Russians are. But the US too had interests. And one day their interests would clash with ours.

In the world of today, his warnings have never seemed more clairvoyant.

From his principle of superpower detachment, de Gaulle conjured the notion of France's sovereign nuclear deterrent – whose existence is now at the centre of debates over European security.

France and the UK are the only two countries on the European continent which have nuclear weapons. Currently France has just short of 300 nuclear warheads, which can be fired from France-based aircraft or from submarines.

The UK has about 250. The big difference is that the French arsenal is sovereign – i.e. developed entirely by France – whereas the UK relies on US technical input.

On Wednesday President Emmanuel Macron aired the idea that France's deterrence force (force de frappe) could – in this highly uncertain new era - be associated with the defence of other European countries.

His suggestion drew outrage from politicians of the hard right and left, who say that France is considering "sharing" its nuclear arsenal.

That – according to government officials as well as defence experts – is a falsification of the argument. Nothing is to be "shared".

According to Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, the nuclear deterrent "is French and will remain French – from its conception to its production to its operation, under a decision of the president."

What is under discussion is not more fingers on the nuclear button. It is whether France's nuclear protection can be explicitly extended to include other European countries.

Until now French nuclear doctrine has been built around the threat of a massive nuclear response if the president thought the "vital interests" of France were at stake.
content source -- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c871e41751yo

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