AGiven the uncertainties surrounding the upcoming presidential election in the USA, a discussion has begun in Europe regarding the future defense of the continent. This is also regarding the nuclear component. Who will put the “nuclear umbrella” over Germany in the future if President Donald Trump no longer wants to do this? Here we first look at the French and also the British arsenals, although national interests and vanities must of course be taken into account. Debates regarding nuclear weapons and the transatlantic relationship have accompanied the alliance for decades.
For several years in the 1960s, NATO discussed a model that would have put nuclear defense on a completely new footing, the “NATO Multilateral Nuclear Force” (MLF). This happened once morest the background of a world in which the USA and the Soviet Union were at least perceived to be on equal terms when it came to nuclear weapons. In addition, Great Britain had nuclear weapons, France was just building up a corresponding capacity. Although London maintained close relations with the United States, it did not want to be seen as merely an appendage of Washington. As nuclear “have-nots,” the other NATO states ultimately had to rely on America to support them with full military force in the event of a conflict.
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