President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that terrorism posed the greatest threat to France as he presented his new defense strategy.
“Today, the most immediate threat is that of a terrorist attack,” Sarkozy said in an address to some 3,000 senior officers in Paris.
“The threat is there, it is real and we know that it can tomorrow take on a new form, even more serious, with nuclear, chemical and biological means,” he said.
The speech followed the release on Monday of the first major defense review in 14 years that confirmed France’s goal of returning to NATO command and identified intelligence as crucial to confront the threats of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Written by a blue-ribbon panel of 35 experts, the white paper on defense called for doubling the intelligence budget for new satellites, drones and other surveillance equipment. The investments would be offset by a sizable cut of 54,000 military and civilian defense ministry personnel over the next six or seven years from the current level of 320,000.
France will trim its army, navy and air force from 271,000 troops to 224,000, with the army alone set for a 24 percent cut.
Some 50 military bases, garrisons and other defense facilities are to be closed in a move that has already touched off protests in towns that fear economic hardship.
The new doctrine reflects a shift for France, which has the largest army of the EU, to make homeland security part of its defense strategy in the age of terrorism, cyber attacks and natural disasters.
“For the first time in centuries, France does not base its defense policy on the hypothesis of a major military conflict in Europe and that is quite revolutionary,” said Bruno Tertrais, a member of the expert panel. “For the first time, we are dealing simultaneously with defense and homeland security issues.”
France’s defense spending will total 377 billion euros (US$583 billion) from next year to 2020, the document said.
The new policy sets at 30,000 the number of combat-ready troops, down from its current targeted level of 50,000, and calls for the shutting down of some of France’s four permanent bases in Africa.
Underscoring the new focus on intelligence-gathering, a national security council will be set up at the Elysee palace and a former ambassador to Iraq and Algeria, Bernard Bajolet, has been named to the newly-created post of national intelligence coordinator.
The last defense review was carried out in 1994 and focused on consolidating the gains of the end of the Cold War. The previous one dates back to 1972.
“There is a very strong emphasis on intelligence, recognizing that the world may not be more dangerous than it was in 1994 ... but it seems more unpredictable,” Tertrais said.
The white paper also recognizes that France lacks the means to assess strategic developments in Asia, suggesting it could boost its intelligence-gathering means in that region, Tertrais said.
“This is a major shift from external security to interior security,” said Jean-Pierre Maulny, the deputy director of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies. “In one sense, it creates the impression of more modest French ambitions abroad and a return to protecting borders.”
The white paper calls on France to participate at all levels of NATO, confirming Sarkozy’s intention to bring France back into the integrated command, which it left in 1966 when Charles de Gaulle rejected US dominance of the alliance.
“This is a rapprochement with the Americans,” Maulny said.
It also reaffirms Sarkozy’s drive to strengthen European defense, with a call for a 60,000-strong EU force.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS