France: When to use nuclear weapons

President Nicolas Sarkozy will not let anyone forget that France is a nuclear power, said Paris’ Le Monde in an editorial. In a major speech last week, Sarkozy outlined and updated France’s nuclear policy even as he presided over the launching of a new nuclear-armed submarine, “Le Terrible,” which has a missile range of around 5,000 miles. Yet rather than ramping up France’s nuclear deterrent, Sarkozy announced that he was cutting France’s total capability to fewer than 300 warheads. This, he said, was a return to Charles de Gaulle’s vision of a minimal deterrent that would create “strength from weakness.” Sarkozy distanced himself from the views of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who in 2006 announced that France could use nuclear weapons to retaliate against terrorists. France, Sarkozy said, should remain “sufficiently vague” about when it would use nuclear weapons in order “to keep potential enemies off balance.”

Sarkozy was certainly specific enough to scare me, said Jean-Paul Piérot in Saint-Denis Cedex’s L’Humanité. His version of vagueness amounted to a generalized threat to go wild with nukes. In what looks like a “dangerous shift” in policy, he announced that France might consider “limited nuclear strikes” anytime it felt its “vital interests threatened.” He even named the enemy that caused him the most concern. “I am thinking in particular of Iran,” Sarkozy said. “Iran is increasing the range of its missiles while grave suspicions hang over its nuclear program.”

So much for Sarkozy’s promise of radical new policies, said Jacques Patoz in Paris’ L’Indépendant. The firebrand president was elected last year on a policy of “rupture” with the staid old ways. But after less than a year of this new breed of president—loud, brash, involved in every little aspect of life to the point of micromanaging children’s textbooks—the French decided they’d had enough. Sarkozy’s approval ratings were dismal. So in the past few months, Sarkozy has attempted to be “more traditional.” The return to a vague nuclear doctrine is just part of that transformation.

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Ultimately, though, Sarkozy came out in favor of peace, not war, said L.G. in Paris’ Le Figaro. His speech was not only, or even primarily, about French nuclear weapons. It was a call to all nations to reaffirm the commitment to nuclear disarmament. In that field, “France has long led the way.” We were the first country to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the first to dismantle its test sites. Sarkozy has challenged other nuclear countries to follow suit, notably the U.S., which has merely made its test facilities dormant, able to be reactivated at any time. He has also proposed a new treaty that would ban surface-to-surface short-range and intermediate-range missiles. Clearly, Sarkozy is “committed to combating nuclear proliferation.” If he succeeds, he will have contributed greatly to peace and stability in the world.