[ Flash ] Deterrence Deterred

Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz's dangerous fantasy of "advanced deterrence" has just collided with the wall of reality.

For years we have stated the obvious: nuclear deterrence cannot be shared. It is technically impossible, legally forbidden, and—above all—politically unworkable.

Yet since 2017, Emmanuel Macron has pursued a relentless, methodical demolition of every pillar of French sovereignty, with the crown jewel—France’s independent nuclear deterrent—now offered up in yet another act of slow-motion national suicide. All to grease the skids for the next rung on his personal career ladder.

The latest clown show? A predictable crash-and-burn affair, perfectly in line with a decade of governance built on vaporous rhetoric, frittered credibility, and one squandered opportunity after another. Ten wasted years.

This episode furnishes yet another irrefutable piece of evidence in the indictment: “Europe” does not exist.

The response to President Macron’s March 2 speech—delivered with theatrical gravity beside France’s nuclear submarines at Île Longue—was swift and merciless.

Elbridge Colby, great-grandson of the legendary CIA director, now the Pentagon’s No. 2 and its foremost strategist (he drafted the US National Security Strategy), essentially told him to take his pet project of “advanced deterrence” (dissuasion avancée) and shove it through the shredder.

France’s nuclear force was built to defend France—full stop. Extending its credibility hundreds or thousands of kilometers eastward to shield others is neither credible nor welcome in Washington’s eyes.