Needstrat: End of French Nuclear arms tests

On 29 January 1996 President Jacques Chirac announced the end of French Nuclear arms testing. President Mitterrand had already ended them in 1991, but Chirac resumed testing in 1995. Many, including myself reacted with disbelief and outcry, boycotting French wine. It worked, Chirac ended the tests before schedule and signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) later in 1996.

The first French tests were made in Algeria from 1960. After Algeria’s independence, they moved the bombing to a Pacific uninhabited paradise – the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls. People in the region, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan protested, as did many French. The Japanese are the only ones who have been on the receiving end of nuclear arms, and protests there were especially extensive.

http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/mururoa-irradie-pourlafrance2.htm

The Mururoa atoll. Can you imagine a better place to test nuclear arms?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/110223-nuclear-war-winter-global-warming-environment-science-climate-change/

A nuclear bomb explodes in atest on the Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia in the early seventies.

To protect nature and human beings Greenpeace protested with the presence of the ship “Rainbow Warrior” and campaigners. In 1985 the “Rainbow Warrior” was blown up in Auckland, New Zealand by French intelligence agents. The international scandal led to the resignation of the French the Minister of Defense, and dismissal of the head of intelligence.

The Ecosystems of the Mururoa atolls have received extensive damage, including fractions and the radiation of Plutonium will likely continue for thousands of years. In the end France signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Merci France. There are still countries that have not signed. We have work to do.