ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of allied conventional operations would hinge largely on access to France's logistic infrastructure, and allied combat power—and conventional deterrence—could obviously be reinforced by French conventional forces. The French government has pointed out as clearly as its domestic and allied critics that even successful sanctuarization in an East-West conflict—nonbelligerency respected by the Soviet Union and backed up by France's options to implement a national deterrent maneuver and threaten to strike Soviet cities—would not be sufficient to assure French security interests. The nonbelligerency and national deterrent maneuver options are nonetheless retained, because they justify the no automaticity principle regarding possible participation in a forward battle. France has, in other words, articulated with greater emphasis and candor an attitude widespread in governmental circles in Western Europe. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
