French President Emmanuel Macron warned Friday that European nations “cannot remain spectators” in the face of a potential nuclear arms race and urged them to push an “international arms control agenda”. “Europeans must realise collectively that in the absence of a legal framework, they could rapidly face a new race for conventional weapons, even nuclear weapons, on their own soil,” Macron said in a speech laying out France’s post-Brexit strategy for its nuclear arsenal. Macron said France remains convinced that Europe’s long-term security depends on a strong alliance with the US, its key partner in the NATO alliance. As a result, European nations should be signatories of any new deal to limit the development of new intermediate-range weapons, Macron said. Macron has already begun a costly modernisation of France’s atomic arsenal, arguing in January 2018 that “deterrence is part of our history, part of our defence strategy, and will remain so”.

Source: Pakistan Today February 07, 2020 13:30 UTC