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"Europe Is Making An Important Message To The Kremlin"

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"Europe Is Making An Important Message To The Kremlin"

The West is going back to nuclear defense.

French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to London had several important implications, and perhaps the most high-profile news was the creation of a joint French-British nuclear weapons alliance. And that will resonate far more with the Kremlin than all the shells and missiles the Europeans are promising to make in the coming years.

This is what former British army officer Hamish De Bretton-Gordon wrote in a piece for The Telegraph. He emphasized that this is the second major announcement on Europe's nuclear defenses in the past few weeks. Earlier, the British defense minister announced the acquisition of U.S. F-35A aircraft, which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, to carry the U.S. B61 tactical nuclear gravity bomb.

"The effectiveness of nuclear deterrence depends on parity and balance, and this position has been seriously shaken by some of the U.S. president's comments on Europe in recent months. These may have signaled to the Kremlin that the US would not respond if Russia used tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine or even in Europe. The fact that Putin and his thugs have consistently threatened a nuclear attack since the broader war in Ukraine began indicates that they are thinking about it in detail. As three days have turned into more than three years, they may think they can end Ukraine quickly with tactical nuclear weapons and we will not respond," the author wrote.

He agreed that Britain launching a Trident missile, which is a hundred times more powerful than Russia's tactical nuclear weapons, is unlikely in such a situation. In such a case, a response "less than the unleashing of Armageddon" is needed. And now it looks like it will be.

Hamish De Bretton-Gordon added that while the F-35A and B61 probably won't enter service until the end of the decade, now that France and Britain have formed a nuclear alliance, Putin should have assumed that France's tactical nuclear weapons would be aimed at his army if he used his own nuclear weapons against Ukraine. According to the author, such a possibility would instill fear in the dictator's heart, since the Russian army is "the foundation of his power."

An equally important element of the announcement of a nuclear alliance between France and Britain, the former British officer calls the agreement to work together on technology and warheads.

"Europe is looking for strong military leadership as we confront the latest tyrant, and nothing says military strength more than nuclear weapons. The intentions demonstrated by this agreement, and the general agreement of most Europeans to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense (or defense-related things, anyway), is a compelling psychological and physical message to Putin that he will understand - it is his language that we have spent far too long learning or, rather, memorizing," the author of the piece stressed.

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