PT Jan-67 - Herbert W. Armstrong Library and Archives

26
The PLAIN TRUTH
January, 1967
France is to have any long-term voice
in world politics, she must become a
strong member of the atomic club,
Just how strong is De Gaulle's nuclear
force?
French Nuclear Force
The French nuclear weapons program
has finished its sixth year of
development. It won't be completed
until the early seventies. This French
effort will give other hopeful candidates
to the nuclear club an idea of what is
in store for them - since it is being
built on a do-it-yourself basis. To becomc
a full-fledged member, the entry
fee is high! Large sums of money, vast
technical and engineering know-how,
more money, a great deal of lime, and
st iH more money afC rcguired. Even
France as the world's fifth largest industrial
power has had to sacrifice in
order to meet the gualifications.
France's total tab for the next six
years' nuclear qevelopment will be on
the order of 10 to 12 billion dollars.
The force is expected to produce a
total explosive power of 40 megatons
by 1970 - about seven times the total
amount of TNT exploded in World
War II.
American defence experts, who
claimed a stockpile of 300,000 megatons
of weapons as of 1961, ridicuJe the
French program. However, the Frendl
force, as it is presently planned, is 110t
an ojJen.rh;e force but is merely defon­
.flue. It is likened to the sting of a
bee. The idea is that the potential
aggressor would prefer to go elsewhere
than to receive a bad sting.
Using twelve KC-135 jet tankers purchased
from the United States for midair
refueling, the French fee l they
could knock out at least five Russian
citi es using their supersonic Mirage 4
bombers armed with 6o-kiloton bombs.
They feel confident that Russian defences
cou ld be penetrated by low-level
air attack to th is degree at least well
into the late sixties. The French are
banking on the unwillingness of the
Russians to trade five of their cities
for the complete destruction of France.
The French atom force was pushed
through by De Gaulle for two reasonSj
one, the prestige and power it gives
him over his European neighbors; two,
as a means of overcoming complete
rei iance on the U. S. for protection.
Ever since the Cuban crisis there has
been a growing fear among Europeans
that the United States just might not be
willing to trade the risk of all-out war
AmbolSodor CoII"ge Phofo
With arms outstretched in typical pose, President de Gaulle arouses throngs
gathered at Place Feillet, NoumEw, New Caledonia.
with Russia just for the defence of
Europe. For this reason De Gaulle has
pushed atomic development.
De Gaulle's Strategy­
~an in a IIurry
De Gaulle sees little time left for
him to play the really big role in the
New Europe. He precipitated the
NATO crisis to speed things up. He
has been described as "an old man in a
hurry." The elements of a great European
change are ali' about. There is
emerging communist satellite llalionalism
led by Romania. The increasing
Soviet an.xiety over the bad boy of
communism - China. American preoccupation
in Asia. And most recently,
the emcrg ing nationalistic Germ an impatience
for reunification!
De Gaulle went to Moscow last year
to see what he could do to speed up
the cold war thaw. He suggested that
France and Russia could prepare the
ground for a settlement of the German
and European problem. H e strengthened
the relationship between France
and Russia by starting the sol idification
of cooperative scientific and trade
agreements. The groundwork has been
guietly laid over the past three years.
Note too, that he took care not to
short-sell either the Gennans or the
U. S. A., nor to conclude a deal at their
expense, De Gaulle, as well as Russia,
knows that for the time being America
will play a part in the solution of
European affairs.
De Gaulle is gambling for Germall
slIpport. He had this support with
Chancellor Adenauer, with whom he
established a very close party spirit!
Both wefe critical of the "Anglo­
Saxons," Both envisaged a hierarchical,
Catholic commonwealth of Europe.
Then later under Erhard and his pro­
American Defence Minister Schroeder,
the Franco-German honeymoon-ship hit
the rocks. De Gaulle knows he has no
chance of lead ing Germany or Europe as
long as the American colossus is present
on the Continent. The U. S. State
Department knows its European influence
depends upon Germany remaining
a faithflll ally.
D e Gaulle now knows that he can
bank on greater German support since