French President Emmanuel Macron said it would be “madness” to ignore the threat Russia has become for Europe and said he is open to discussing the extension of France’s nuclear deterrence to Paris’s European allies.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it would be “madness” to ignore the threat Russia has become for Europe and said he is open to discussing the extension of France’s nuclear deterrence to Paris’s European allies.
Does the UK not have first strike capabilities?
(I know nothing!)
It has the capability, but not the doctrine. Most nato countries have a mutually assured destruction policed enforced by secondary strikes in retaliation for a nuclear attack. France says “fuck that” and has a nuclear warning shot. None of the retaliatory nonsense. Clear aggression will be met with a limited nuclear strike with a dare to do something about it and start the real fireworks.
All “nuclear doctrine” is just outlining how far each country is willing to hold when playing chicken. America can afford to sit back and wait to retaliate because no one strike can feasibly take down every nuke America has. France doesn’t really have that option, so their public stance is to use nukes as soon as their ability to use said nukes could be compromised, hence preemptive nuclear option.
Fascinating insight, thank you