Page 40 - Unlikely Stories 4

La Force de Frappe

national corporations—de facto economic and political empires
without the power of arms—are carving up the world today the way
the great maritime nations did in centuries gone by. When the Soviet
Union disintegrated and the United States entered decline, that was the
end of the threat of world war, of nuclear annihilation. If we have a war
to fight, it will be a trade war.”
“Again I disagree.” Jacques Marteau maintained his ramrod posture.
“Europe is less stable now than during the Cold War. Economic
dislocations caused by the technology you refer to are creating a new
class of permanently unemployed. Capital flees on satellite
transmissions. Third-world migrants overburden welfare programs.
And Germany, as I am sure came to your notice at the university, has
reunited. In the final analysis, France’s real position in Europe, not
simply its prestige, is the result of its nuclear weapons. Germany has
none. Were it not for this simple fact, we would be back where we
were between the wars, with nothing but the modern equivalent of the
Maginot Line between us and Teutonic bellicosity.”
Pierre Laroche shook his well-coiffed head sadly.
“Ah, there it is. The old paradigm of Europe destabilized by a strong
Germany. Bismarck over Metternich. The constituency is evaporating
for such views, are you not aware? We cannot turn back the clock to an
era in which we ‘dead white males’ made the rules and enforced them
with an iron fist. The monarchy is gone and the republic may not be far
behind. If we wish to preserve our culture—the real goal, I believe, of
national government—then it must be through the new instruments of
global projection of power and influence: technology, commerce,
exploitation of intellectual and artistic properties as well as wine, cheese
and the remnants of fashion.”
Marteau frowned.
“Realpolitik is not to be scoffed at. The world is still round: every
nation is between others, and the location of many borders and
ownership of most vital resources are in dispute, actively or potentially.
Culture, whatever it is, cannot exist without a nation of independent
citizens. The only credible deterrent to expansionist aggression is
nuclear; unfortunately, we cannot count upon the United States for that
protection. Between the pacifists, the isolationists, the missile treaties,
and the bankrupting arms race with the Soviets, America will not be
able to defend us against the next Hun or Bolshevik invasion force. For
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