OPEN LETTER TO THE TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF FRANCE Concerning Nuclear Deterrence and the Survival of Humankind
Mr President-Candidate Macron, Mrs Candidate Le Pen,
As you have certainly norticed, although it’s a subject that you have both carefully avoided, nuclear deterrence is irremediably bankrupt. At least our deterrence, that of France and the West. It has not prevented Vladimir Putin from starting the war that is now ravaging Ukraine at the door of Europe. Nothing scares him. And he, possessing some 6000 atom bombs, does not hesitate to threaten whoever "stands in the way of Russia". Any state (...)
1. The UNGA, meeting under urgency on 2 March 2022, adopted, by 141 votes in favour, 5 against and 35 abstentions, a resolution ordering a stop to fighting and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. This resolution must be implemented immediately and fully.
2. The war of aggression waged by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine, in contradiction with the Assurances given to it on the 5 December 1994 by the Budapest Memorandum and with the UN Charter, must be condemned immediately, without (...)
War in Ukraine: the Bankruptcy of Nuclear Deterrence
The war which Vladimir Putin declared on 24 February 2022 against Ukraine, and de facto against Europe, will surprise only people who have veiled their faces and blocked their ears for decades... and who continue to do so.
Other time, other spirit. On 8 December 1987, Gorbachev and Reagan signed the Washington Treaty which eliminated the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) from Europe, preparing the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the End of the Cold War.
If France’s leaders had heard the calls (...)
