Negotiations on submarine cooperation between the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom continued for several months without France being informed. The convention is called “Okus”.
The security agreement between the three countries led to Australia scrapping an agreement from 2016 to buy 12 French submarines. The contract value was 776 billion Norwegian kroner, According to the latest numbers. But the political loss may be just as painful.
There were lies, double manipulation, great breach of trust and contempt, Foreign Minister Le Drian said, To French TV 2 this weekend.
Senior politicians from the United States and Australia met colleagues from Fanrkrike and pretended to be nothing.
Yesterday, French Defense Minister Florence Parly described the submarine crisis as a “strategic turning point”. The ambassadors of the United States of America and Australia have been withdrawn.
The “New Beginning” between Europe and the United States came to an abrupt halt.
Relations between NATO allies have been greatly strained.
On the way: French President Emmanuel Macron with then-Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, on one of the old Australian submarines, May 2, 2018. These are the submarines that Australia will now replace with more modern ones.
Photo: Brendan Esposito/AFP
Among other things, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has no plans to meet his US counterpart separately during the United Nations High-Level Week in New York. It is continuing now.
President Joe Biden’s staff is trying to hold a phone conversation with President Emmanuel Macron, but Macron now appears to be making himself up to the task.
provokes the isolation of America
Reactions are strong in large parts of Europe.
European Union President Charles Michel accuses the United States of “breach of loyalty”.
“Disappointing and disappointing, and not just for France” are the words German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas uses about the US approach.
The French Embassy in Washington, D.C., has been notified of the submarine agreement Just a few hours Before President Joe Biden announced that last Wednesday.
Acquisition of technology: Australia will share US submarine technology to build nuclear-powered submarines. The cancellation of an agreement to purchase 12 French diesel submarines caused a diplomatic crisis. This photo shows the USS Oklahoma City attack submarine at the US Naval Base Guam in the Pacific Ocean, August 19.
Photo: Mc3 Naomi Johnson/AP
America is back, the transatlantic alliance is back, Sa Biden I am Munich I am February.
Since then, the United States has dictated the pace of withdrawal from Afghanistan in a way provocation many European governments. But they couldn’t have done anything without American planes and American intelligence in Afghanistan.
Then comes the case, in which President Biden sacrifices allied interests to stop China in the Pacific.
Different opinions within the European Union
All the EU politicians and bureaucrats who spoke of their support or “understanding” of France’s wrath.
But there is no agreement about the consequences this issue should have on relations with the United States in the short and slightly longer term.
- France has suggested that the European Union consider postponing a planned trade and technology meeting in Pittsburgh on September 29. Agence France-Presse reported that Sweden, Ireland and the Baltic states oppose the proposal. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said today that there is no reason to be disappointed with President Biden. It also warns against raising challenges among allies “to a level where it does not belong.”
- French President Emmanuel Macron has long spoken of Europe having to restore its “military sovereignty”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen He said last week That a separate EU military force would be “part of the solution.” European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell I have spoken toR. that the European Union needs a “reaction force” of 5,000 soldiers.
But many EU countries question its European power.
European Defense: France wants a more independent European defense. But neither Norway nor the former Warsaw Pact NATO countries are particularly interested, which could reduce US commitments to Europe.
Photo: Alfredo Estrella/AFP
There must be an end to delusions of European strategic autonomy, German Defense Minister wrote Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in November.
She noted that Europe is unable to replace the United States as a provider of security.
But after experiencing a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, it opened up to a potential “coalition of the willing”, provided everyone in the EU agreed.
Tweet from the German Defense Minister,
Photo: NRK
Even this is questionable.
For Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Russian neighborhood is dominant in foreign policy. Relations with the United States are more important than relations with any other country in the European Union and NATO.
Ambitions on a collision course
Both Australia and the United States argue with The nuclear-powered submarines of the Aukus program have a greater range, are quieter and can stay underwater longer.
France had an agreement to supply diesel submarines with a shorter range.
Australia thinks they’re getting something better now. Previously, only the United Kingdom had a share in US technology for nuclear-powered submarines.
President Emmanuel Macron envisioned a strategic partnership that would develop over decades. By holding the submarine and cooperating with Australia, France will once again become a power factor with a military footprint in the Pacific.
Want more: US and French warships at a joint international naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean on June 26, 2018. But France has ambitions to be more than just helping the United States in the region.
Photo: Stephen Robles/AFP
This year, the French Navy has been very active in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea, between mainland China, Taiwan and Japan.
About 8000 French soldiers and dozens of ships are deployed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS.
In 2018, President Macron defined France as “the power of the Indo-Pacific”. For Macron, the term includes the region from Djibouti in the Horn of Africa to Polynesia in the central Pacific Ocean.
– France got the way
Washington focuses on China and France on the way, writes CNN.
Biden is very focused on competition with China. He mentions China regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan and when it will justify thousands of billions for infrastructure.
The threat from China is also something Democrats and Republicans can agree on and get around.
It is about who will lead the world forward. Then French sentiments were less important.
Meeting: US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison met yesterday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Photo: Brendan Smyalofsky/AFP
– Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a comment that the United States would not leave Australia alone in the field, or even better, at the peak.
As if the submarine agreement that Australia already had with France did not exist.
Not sure about the consequences for NATO
There has not been much tension between the United States and the main allies in Europe since the 2003 Iraq war. At that time, a “coalition of the willing” led by the United States and Britain entered to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.
Both France and Germany opposed the invasion.
But NATO recovered from that crisis.
Now, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is asking countries to “look up” and rally around common challenges.
But the US’s superpower position is now weaker than it was in 2003. Donald Trump’s “America First” strategy has also affected Europe.
Now President Joe Biden has proof. That is, it differs from Trump, also in practical politics.
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