Two days, two results.

The first came on Tuesday, it was the result of a poll: America is no longer the Germans' favorite ally.

It's France now.

And the Germans no longer want America's nuclear umbrella either.

Only a fifth find it good, while forty percent want Germany to seek protection in Europe in the future, with the nuclear powers France and Great Britain.

Konrad Schuller

Political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper in Berlin.

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The next day, on Wednesday, then the opposite finding.

It came from the chancellor.

In the Bundestag, in the budget debate, she mentioned her "American friends" in the first minute.

warm words.

She blew the icy breath of reality at the European aspirations of the people surveyed: "At the moment, Europe cannot defend itself alone."

It's no coincidence that people are turning their backs on America.

You see how the “American friends” under President Trump are questioning NATO.

Trump has even gone so far as to single out individual countries that he would be reluctant to defend if the worst came to the worst.

Most recently that was Montenegro.

When would it be Germany?

In the Ukraine affair, everyone could see that Trump is ready to blackmail dependent countries without mercy.

And with the Syrian Kurds, everyone could see them dropping loyal allies from one day to the next.

So Europe.

So France and Great Britain.

But because Great Britain is just saying goodbye to the EU, its guarantee of protection would not be entirely credible.

A nuclear power that wants to extend its deterrent capability to another country is taking a big risk.

A conflict on foreign borders can then make their own capital the target of a nuclear strike.

Therefore, if such a defensive pact is to impress an opponent, the connection between protégé and protector must be close.

So France.

While the country has far fewer nuclear weapons than America, it does possess four nuclear submarines, at least one of which is always ready to unleash nuclear fire on any attacker.

There are also two aircraft squadrons on land and a number of other bombers that can take off from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

According to the French, this is enough to defend the “sanctuaire”, their own territory.

The force is considered large enough to make any attack on France itself seem intolerably risky.

Russia, for example, would have to fear for Moscow and St. Petersburg if it were careless enough to touch the "sanctuary".

However, there is more to an “extended” deterrence that includes allies in addition to one's own territory.

The key point is credibility.

The protecting country must make it clear to the enemy that it is actually prepared to go to nuclear war for the protected.

America has been showing how to do this for decades.

First, it deposits pledges: the United States maintains military installations in many NATO countries that are so valuable that protecting the ally becomes practically self-protecting.

In Germany, these include Ramstein Airport, a central distribution point for American supplies worldwide, several important command facilities and the "Landstuhl Regional Medical Center", the largest American military hospital outside the United States.

The pledges also include nuclear weapons.

America keeps several dozen bombs in bunkers at the German Büchel Air Base.

The signal is: whoever attacks Germany is attacking America's nuclear power.