Fabian Hoffmann
The withdrawal of the United States from European defense has major implications for nuclear deterrence on the continent.
The United States possesses the largest, most diverse, and most capable nuclear arsenal among NATO’s nuclear powers. Since the early Cold War, it has used this arsenal to extend nuclear deterrence over Europe and protect non-nuclear NATO states.
Without the United States, this extended deterrence arrangement ceases to exist in its current form. President Emmanuel Macron has offered to fill that gap by extending France’s nuclear umbrella over European states. In this post, I examine how well France and its nuclear forces can assume this role and the credibility challenges they face.
How the United States has projected extended deterrence
To understand if France can replace the United State’s nuclear umbrella, it is important to understand what the United States was able to offer its European allies in terms of its extended nuclear deterrence “product”.
No comments:
Post a Comment