Podcast: Journalism on Trial in the Philippines with Maria Ressa

France to give Norway nuclear protection

When the sun shines, we’ll shine together — but when it doesn’t, you’ll have the protection of France’s nuclear arsenal. That, to adapt the classic Rihanna record, was the message from French President Emmanuel Macron to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at a bilateral meeting in Paris on Wednesday. Norway, like the rest of Western Europe, has relied on the US nuclear deterrent for decades. But as the Trump administration sows deepening doubts about the US commitment to NATO, the continent is slowly but surely rethinking its security posture, especially in light of potential threats from Moscow. Poland and Lithuania, which border Russia directly, became the first countries to explicitly join France’s nuclear umbrella after Macron snapped it open to fellow European nations this spring. Paris controls the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal after the US, Russia, and China. That’s some umbrella -ella -ella, eh?