French To Retarget Their Nukes?

France is to enact a historic shift in military strategy by targeting its nuclear missiles on "rogue states" that have weapons of mass destruction, it was reported yesterday...

In unveiling such a new strategy, M Chirac would bring France into line with America, which has said it might one day be necessary to use nuclear force against nations with weapons of mass destruction.

I love that last part. Chirac is looking at bringing France into line with the US. Eating that kind of humble pie has got to be painful to his pride. But then again, an acknowledgement of reality after vocal denial usually is a shot to the old ego.

The bottom line here is that nukes still work. They are, in quantity, still a real deterrent. I'm pretty sure that somewhere, some rational imam has realized that really ticking off the US probably isn't a bright idea. Yeah, you might pull off some great operation in the name of Allah, but it's awfully hard to spread the religion when most of the followers are turned to glowing dust in the wind by an infuriated nuclear power.

It's good to see Chirac finally wising up to the ways of the world. Appeasement is not the end all answer. Sometimes the best defense is having an offensive capability that inspires fear in the enemy.

And telling them that the nukes are already targeted on them - well, it helps to put the fear of Allah in them. It means that the thought has already been taken out of the decision loop. It goes from piss us off, let us think while we retarget, and then push the button to piss us off, push the button. It takes out that extra doubt inducing step.

I don't often say this, but if the report is accurate, this is a good move by Jacques.