Norway became the ninth nation to officially sign a defense agreement with France that affords it the protection of France’s nuclear arsenal, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced yesterday after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

• The Narvik Agreement adds Norway to Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. France has agreed that if these nations are attacked by Russia, it will threaten and potentially use its nuclear weapons in response.

Since World War ii, the United States has provided the main nuclear deterrent against Russia. France has had its own nuclear arsenal since 1960, but only recently has it begun to offer it as a strategic and political tool.

This will contribute to the rise of an independent European military.

• If a French nuclear umbrella can be used to guarantee European security, what need does Europe have for the American nuclear umbrella?

Why Norway? According to Reuters, Norway “has long been a so-called Atlanticist nation, one which believed its security was best achieved via close alignment with Washington.” This is evident in Norway being a member of nato but not of the European Union.

• This decision, however, marks a clear shift away from the United States and is an overall sign of distrust in American defense guarantees in Europe.
• Støre justified the decision to turn to France by stating that Norway is “doing this in light of the security policy situation in Europe, including Russia’s massive rearmament, also in the nuclear domain, and that it is waging a full-scale war against another European country.”

The nuclear umbrella was part of a larger defense agreement the French and Norwegian leaders signed yesterday.

• According to Støre, that agreement will provide a “framework for closer cooperation on hybrid warfare, maritime security, space cooperation, cybersecurity, support to Ukraine and defense industrial cooperation.”

With this agreement, Macron is furthering his goal to build a “true European army.” It may appear that France will lead that army; however, Bible prophecy is clear that this soon-to-be European army will be led, not by France, but by Germany.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 2024:

Macron’s support for Europeanizing France’s bombs gives Germany more negotiating power. Germany can in effect say, We don’t need your nuclear bombs, we can have France’s or develop our own bombs with French support. This means the U.S. has lost power over Germany’s security. What then is left for America to do other than trying to uphold good relations with Germany on its terms? As I have often warned, Bible prophecy indicates that Germany’s relations with America are about to worsen to the point that Germany will use American bombs against its maker!

The expansion of the French nuclear umbrella and a defense pact between France and Norway hastens the rise of that independent, German-led, European military superpower that will attack the United States.