The strong force as seen in nuclear matter
The nuclear force, is now understood as a residual effect of the even more powerful strong force, or strong interaction, which is the attractive force that binds particles called quarks together, to form the nucleons themselves. This more powerful force is mediated by particles called gluons. Gluons hold quarks together with a force like that of electric charge, but of far greater power.
Marek is talking of the strong force that binds the quarks within the protons and neutrons. There are charges, called colored charges on the quarks, but protons and neutrons are color neutral. Nuclei are bound by the interplay between the residual strong force , the part that is not shielded by the color neutrality of the nucleons, and the electromagnetic force due to the charge of the protons. That also cannot be simply described. Various potentials are used to calculate nuclear interactions.
Simplicity and similarity of form for all forces comes not in the formalism of forces, but as Marek said the formalism of quantum field theory.