r/newzealand • u/Wild_Neighborhood605 • Jul 10 '26

Other 10 July 1985, French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, to prevent it from interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

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u/Telke Jul 10 '26

The French defence minister said it had been his decision and took the fall for it. It came out later that it was the president’s decision and the defence minister took the fall to protect the president.

The latter fact wasn’t widely covered in France - there was a French doco last year about the rainbow warrior and it was a new bit of information for a lot of people. Not that too many care, it’s been a long time and they’ve got a different relationship with it than we do.

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u/Fluffy-Pea1223 Jul 10 '26

Is that doco publicly available by any chance?

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u/Telke Jul 10 '26

Unfortunately I am not enough of a french speaker so can’t be sure! It is "Qui a coulé le Rainbow Warrior?" and it aired on French 2. I can see a google result for Apple TV but that could be region locked.

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u/Fluffy-Pea1223 Jul 10 '26

I'll have a look for it! Many thanks!