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4°- Sunday, June 19, 1988 -

{
1 HAVE to, ‘admit some-_ ;
thing: |

‘| fully, apiiieciate Warren Beat- .,

ty" 5 urge to shave nuclear sub?
marines. }

Ef was in his position, would

‘seriously entertain the thought of :
~ quclear submarines mysel fi

It is a tempting thought, don’ t
we all know? - Wen

» Little wonder navy officers’ are
. drooling at the thought: of the
power, ‘theyll have at their com--
‘mand. They are about to enter the
big leagues under the;

‘Canada's may be a) minor fleet
compared with the superpowers’,

"but with even just half a dozen nu.”

clear subs, we would be able to.’

take on all except five navies in the ©

“world and fi nish them ¢ off *
singlehandedly. oes

It is enough to: make any manly ,

Canuck weak with a rushi of”
machismo j juice? Ah, to ‘be able to
do. that!/Wap!|| Feels 4 food. ©:

Of course what worries me is
just ‘how good that fecling of being

tow loan & make the point that we can "t

chit, the odople who
fights are, generally .

ferent down around St. Pierre and
Miquclon, ch?‘

What am I talking about? Well, e
* nobody refers to’ France’ Ss:

“Falklands.”* ve,
You read it here firsts,
But I know something about

French. nationalism and the violent

- Gallic streak.

Iti is certainly n not beyond th the

"

"go to somebody" s rescue, or

. perhaps decide to blockade the
islands. |

Of course; Otiawa could only

If there is another leyendary’

yessel to be considered when we

attempt to measure the impact of a
nuclear submarine, it is Captain

make a decision like that if we had \ Nemo's magnificent Original nuke,

nuclear subs of our own, since one
French nuclear submarine could —
wipe out the entire Canadian

Navy? should it be assembled in |

one spot, in less. than an-hour.

a

ce : ;

Ti is certainly not beyond the French 1 to exert
theif/own awesome undersea might someday to ward
off ‘any pressing or territorial claims or fi shing rights

by Canada.”

French to exert their own awesome |
undersea might someday to ward

off any pressing or territorial |. |
claims or fishing rights by Sal

And it is always equally possible. .

that Canada's rulers, — most'of

them Gallic themselves — might. i! yO

». someday sce St. Pierre and Mi. |
‘guelon as Canada’s ‘*Malvinas."” iy
‘subs are equipped with nuclear -
a joxeapons.. They don't need to.be'in. *

I paint this scenario merely to |
i predict the future and anything i is:
political

movement arising on-Miquelon, *’
demanding.» union with Quebec,

A nuclear. submarine represents’
a quantum leap in military capabil-
ity. The French Amethyste class
. $ubs can travel at 40 knots and
stay at sea for. months at a time. ips
Forty knots underwater -— jniok ibe.
about it}* ‘
What mere surface craft Stands 3°

‘chance against such a fast fish?

ff

tis not 3 matter of whether the

“order to-zip across iricredible
\ distances at incredible speeds. |

- Every admiral in history must
have dreamed of such power,”

"although it is doubtful any of them

could really have imagined

anything quite like this.,

Each one of those:
equivalent of.what an underwate

Bismarck would have been during

the Second World War, Guess who: .

1

the Nautilus, with which Jules’
Verne precognitively envisioned
him ter: rorizing the seas.
\Non:nuclear navies dan’t stand /
much of a chance against one of

these ultra U-boats, that’s all there’
is to it. Too fast. Able to stay out

ie long. I ,

: The only answer to one is
“another sone. !

I understand this.

I also know that power is addic--
tive, and once we have a nuclear YS
navy, the brass will never let it go.

The future is so utterly upredic: .

- table, the only thing we-can be sure |

of is change and new dangers at
every turn. Lay

{simply don't trust Canada any os

‘more than I trust other countries, J
don’t think we show that many /
signs of being superior. And |,
therefore, we are‘just as likely, as
anyone else to blunder into a.con-

*. frontation involving : our mighty
new weapons, «|

«For all the good mititaly and

* sterritorial reasons that Warren’
: Beatty and the military establish. -

ment understand so. well, it ree

mains that. by introducing yet more. '
nukes into a fragile political ¢co- .

_ system, you: increase the odds of.

somebody pushing back at. some-

_ body pushing back.

We actually become less secure
not more®

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