WHEN CHIRAC appeared on television to lecture us about the Pacific tests he gave no impression that his decisions would ever be democratically debated.
The massive opposition to the tests could only reflect the "irrational" fears of an ill-informed population, or the wicked manoeuvres of rivals powers. All the French require is a bit of education, the Polynesians a bit of repression, the Australians and New Zealanders the expression of contempt.
Chirac identifies the control of nuclear weapons with a presidency which is personal and sovereign; that is, with an extremely centralised state structure.
He wants a bomb for the 21st century—"for future generations"—and refuses to get rid of it. Chirac simply follows an old French policy—let the Europeans, especially the Germans, pay, we'll intervene in their name and take the benefits for ourselves.
This policy leads to proliferation. If the bomb is necessary for "the security of France", other governments will draw the same conclusion for their interests.
In the end there is only one way of avoiding proliferation—the universal banning of the weapons and the dismantling of existing stocks. But the powers of Paris, London, Washington, Moscow and Peking have no interest in this.
Chirac intends to project nuclear weapons far into the next century.
The test ban treaty has no meaning and no chance of being enforced unless atomic weapons are banned.
The same applies to the non-proliferation treaty. Chirac's option leads straight into a 21st century of nuclear terror.
• Translated from Rouge.