PT Jan-67 - Herbert W. Armstrong Library and Archives
PT Jan-67 - Herbert W. Armstrong Library and Archives
PT Jan-67 - Herbert W. Armstrong Library and Archives
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26<br />
The PLAIN TRUTH<br />
<strong>Jan</strong>uary, 19<strong>67</strong><br />
France is to have any long-term voice<br />
in world politics, she must become a<br />
strong member of the atomic club,<br />
Just how strong is De Gaulle's nuclear<br />
force?<br />
French Nuclear Force<br />
The French nuclear weapons program<br />
has finished its sixth year of<br />
development. It won't be completed<br />
until the early seventies. This French<br />
effort will give other hopeful c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
to the nuclear club an idea of what is<br />
in store for them - since it is being<br />
built on a do-it-yourself basis. To becomc<br />
a full-fledged member, the entry<br />
fee is high! Large sums of money, vast<br />
technical <strong>and</strong> engineering know-how,<br />
more money, a great deal of lime, <strong>and</strong><br />
st iH more money afC rcguired. Even<br />
France as the world's fifth largest industrial<br />
power has had to sacrifice in<br />
order to meet the gualifications.<br />
France's total tab for the next six<br />
years' nuclear qevelopment will be on<br />
the order of 10 to 12 billion dollars.<br />
The force is expected to produce a<br />
total explosive power of 40 megatons<br />
by 1970 - about seven times the total<br />
amount of TNT exploded in World<br />
War II.<br />
American defence experts, who<br />
claimed a stockpile of 300,000 megatons<br />
of weapons as of 1961, ridicuJe the<br />
French program. However, the Frendl<br />
force, as it is presently planned, is 110t<br />
an ojJen.rh;e force but is merely defon<br />
.flue. It is likened to the sting of a<br />
bee. The idea is that the potential<br />
aggressor would prefer to go elsewhere<br />
than to receive a bad sting.<br />
Using twelve KC-135 jet tankers purchased<br />
from the United States for midair<br />
refueling, the French fee l they<br />
could knock out at least five Russian<br />
citi es using their supersonic Mirage 4<br />
bombers armed with 6o-kiloton bombs.<br />
They feel confident that Russian defences<br />
cou ld be penetrated by low-level<br />
air attack to th is degree at least well<br />
into the late sixties. The French are<br />
banking on the unwillingness of the<br />
Russians to trade five of their cities<br />
for the complete destruction of France.<br />
The French atom force was pushed<br />
through by De Gaulle for two reasonSj<br />
one, the prestige <strong>and</strong> power it gives<br />
him over his European neighbors; two,<br />
as a means of overcoming complete<br />
rei iance on the U. S. for protection.<br />
Ever since the Cuban crisis there has<br />
been a growing fear among Europeans<br />
that the United States just might not be<br />
willing to trade the risk of all-out war<br />
AmbolSodor CoII"ge Phofo<br />
With arms outstretched in typical pose, President de Gaulle arouses throngs<br />
gathered at Place Feillet, NoumEw, New Caledonia.<br />
with Russia just for the defence of<br />
Europe. For this reason De Gaulle has<br />
pushed atomic development.<br />
De Gaulle's Strategy<br />
~an in a IIurry<br />
De Gaulle sees little time left for<br />
him to play the really big role in the<br />
New Europe. He precipitated the<br />
NATO crisis to speed things up. He<br />
has been described as "an old man in a<br />
hurry." The elements of a great European<br />
change are ali' about. There is<br />
emerging communist satellite llalionalism<br />
led by Romania. The increasing<br />
Soviet an.xiety over the bad boy of<br />
communism - China. American preoccupation<br />
in Asia. And most recently,<br />
the emcrg ing nationalistic Germ an impatience<br />
for reunification!<br />
De Gaulle went to Moscow last year<br />
to see what he could do to speed up<br />
the cold war thaw. He suggested that<br />
France <strong>and</strong> Russia could prepare the<br />
ground for a settlement of the German<br />
<strong>and</strong> European problem. H e strengthened<br />
the relationship between France<br />
<strong>and</strong> Russia by starting the sol idification<br />
of cooperative scientific <strong>and</strong> trade<br />
agreements. The groundwork has been<br />
guietly laid over the past three years.<br />
Note too, that he took care not to<br />
short-sell either the Gennans or the<br />
U. S. A., nor to conclude a deal at their<br />
expense, De Gaulle, as well as Russia,<br />
knows that for the time being America<br />
will play a part in the solution of<br />
European affairs.<br />
De Gaulle is gambling for Germall<br />
slIpport. He had this support with<br />
Chancellor Adenauer, with whom he<br />
established a very close party spirit!<br />
Both wefe critical of the "Anglo<br />
Saxons," Both envisaged a hierarchical,<br />
Catholic commonwealth of Europe.<br />
Then later under Erhard <strong>and</strong> his pro<br />
American Defence Minister Schroeder,<br />
the Franco-German honeymoon-ship hit<br />
the rocks. De Gaulle knows he has no<br />
chance of lead ing Germany or Europe as<br />
long as the American colossus is present<br />
on the Continent. The U. S. State<br />
Department knows its European influence<br />
depends upon Germany remaining<br />
a faithflll ally.<br />
D e Gaulle now knows that he can<br />
bank on greater German support since