FRANCE: Trouble on Mount Olympus

Increasingly irascible about his growing army of critics, France's Charles de Gaulle last week pursued his lonely, proud way.

¶ At long last, Parliament received his blueprint for an all-French atomic striking force, currently known in France as the force de frappe. At a cost of $1.3 billion over five years, De Gaulle's program would provide 50 medium-range bombers, a handful of atomic missiles and an atom-powered sub. The plan's reception was hostile. Members of the finance and defense committees pointed out that such a meager atomic force would cost a lot of money but still not give...

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