France rethinks nuclear deterrent

[Thermodyne]

Looks like the French are rethinking their use of WMD. While this is in line with US thinking, it means that there will be more reasons to use them.

Updated: 28-Oct-2003


SHAPE News Summary & Analysis
28 October 2003


FRANCE-DEFENSE
France’s nuclear deterrent is in the midst of a revolution. President Chirac is expected to confirm this within the weeks ahead—possibly during a forthcoming visit to Brest, where the Strategic Oceangoing Force is based, reported Liberation, Oct. 27. According to the newspaper, a senior military official has confirmed that the “reorientation” will be “finally decided on” at the beginning of 2004. Without citing any country, the official reportedly added that France’s strike forces now target what the United States calls “rogue states,” nations acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Noting, in a related article, that President Chirac is rewriting France’s nuclear doctrine to deal with rogue states armed with chemical and biological weapons, The Times concludes that Chirac has decided to follow the United States by widening a nuclear strategy that was originally designed to deter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The newspaper adds that in a televised interview Monday, Gen. Norlain, a former head of the Higher Institute of National Defense Studies, acknowledged that a shift in strategy was inevitable, given the changes in the geopolitical climate. The Washington Times observes that if the report is true, the French shift would echo a policy change formulated by the Bush administration in 2002. The newspaper quotes defense expert Francois Heisbourg stressing, however, that a shift in French strategy began Last year with little fanfare. The Daily Telegraph writes that if confirmed, France’s shift will overturn 40 years of French nuclear strategy founded on the principle of deterrence against declared nuclear powers. In unveiling such a new strategy, Chirac would bring France into line with America, which has said it might one day be necessary to use nuclear weapons against nations with weapons of mass destruction, stresses the newspaper. “The change in French policy would bring France closer to the new U.S. doctrine expressed in January Last year,” observes The Independent.

Edit: Typo

[ October 29, 2003, 11:23: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]