You would never think of James Bond and French nuclear testing as having any similarities. I guess that's why the man in Congressional Research Service game me a funny look as I asked him for all the reviews of "Golden Eye" that they had on Lexis/Nexis. "This can't be legislative," he said to me.
"You'd be surprised," I retorted. "It has to do with French nuclear testing."
On Thursday, Feb. 1, Jacques Chirac, the President of France, spoke to the Joint Session of Congress. Many members of Congress protested his arrival and subsequently refused to attend his speech, leaving a noticeable vacancy in the Congressional seats. The reason: the nuclear testing programs that France carried out in the South Pacific. Chirac announced during his speech that France had, in fact, completed its nuclear testing, and that it was now against further testing by other countries, saying, "Together we must promote disarmament and combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." Well Jacques, a little too late for that, don't you think?
Greenpeace was the major leader in the crusade against French nuclear testing. Many Greenpeace members were arrested and jailed for venturing too close to the nuclear test sites on their boat in an effort to prevent the tests. Joining up with members of Congress, they held a press conference the day before Chirac's visit to bring attention to this matter. In a letter written to Chirac by Congressmen Ed Markey (D-MA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and co-signed by 35 other members of Congress, they commended Chirac's decision to end France's nuclear testing in the South Pacific but condemned the actions that already took place, both for their violation of the nonproliferation treaty and for the irreparable environmental damage they caused in the South Pacific. At this press conference Greenpeace presented a separate letter written to both Presidents Clinton and Chirac, urging them to stop any further testing. This letter was signed by many notable figures, such as Johnny Depp, Michael Stipe (the lead singer of the group R.E.M.), and Christie Brinkley, to name a few.
So this is where the James Bond part comes in.
Pierce Brosnan, the new 007, was at the Greenpeace press conference. He denounced Chirac's actions and proceeded to sign the Greenpeace letter, all done with full pomp and circumstance, of course.
That's why I had to retrieve all those "Golden Eye" reviews. Since I work for Congressman Markey, I had to read through them all so that my office could formulate an analogy between the new James Bond and the French nuclear testing for the press conference. I know it sounds weird, but the analogy is really quite simple.
You see, in "Golden Eye," James Bond has a sidekick, agent 006. At the beginning of the movie, they're working together; they're allies. Pretty much like the relationship between the United States and France. By the end of the movie, however, James Bond's friend betrays him. Though I haven't seen "Golden Eye," based on my previous experience with James Bond movies, I will safely conclude that a confrontation between the two men occurs. This is exactly what must happen with us and the French people.
Though the French are our allies, and we have a strong friendship, we cannot stand idly by while they explode these bombs in the South Pacific. Not only have they permanently damaged the environment there, but they flagrantly violated the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Chirac said in his speech, "France has finished once and for all its nuclear testing, after a final series designed to give us the assurance that our deterrent capability is reliable and safe.
Well, it's nice to know that they definitively have the capability to blow up several countries. But what if in the near future other countries decide to do the same, just to be assured that they too can blow up many countries just in case the need arises? Will the United States stand up to them? Or will the United States only stand up to countries with whom it doesn't have a favorable relationship?
Let me conclude with this: If James Bond did not stand up to his "friend" at the end of the movie, the outcome would have surely been different. The "bad guy" would have won, and Bond wouldn't have gotten the girl. When someone does something wrong, we must stand up to that.
France must know that their actions in the South Pacific were wrong and will not be tolerated by the United States and the international community. History has dictated to us in the past what will happen if we don not stand up for our beliefs and what will happen if we just stand by while acts of atrocity occur. In fact, that's how we got involved in this nuclear mess in the first place.
