RT: ‘I won’t be f***ed’: French armed forces chief quits after clash with Macron over budget cuts
The French military chief has resigned after an open conflict with President Emmanuel Macron over spending. Pierre de Villiers publicly complained about Macron’s cuts to the military's budget, reportedly saying that he won’t be “f***ed like that.”
“In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country,” De Villiers said, as cited by French media.
He added that Macron had accepted his resignation.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: French President Macron broke his election promise of increasing the defense budget .... hence the disagreement and resignation.
More News On French Military Chief Pierre de Villiers Resigning After Clash With French President Macron Over Budget Cuts
Macron accepts resignation of French military chief -- France 24
Macron replaces army chief who quit in row over budget cuts: military source -- Reuters
France's armed forces chief resigns after clash with Macron over budget cuts -- Reuters
France's top military chief quits after public bust up with Macron -- The Local France
French military head de Villiers quits over cuts -- BBC
French military chief Pierre de Villiers quits after clash with President Macron -- SKY News
Head of French military quits after row with Emmanuel Macron -- The Guardian
French army chief resigns over Macron spat -- Politico.eu
French Armed Forces Chief Quits in Row Over Budget Cuts With Macron -- Sputnik
Macron names François Lecointre new armed forces chief -- France 24
New French Military Head Named After General Quits in Spat -- US News and World Report/AP
Macron Suffers Biggest Test of Authority as Military Head Quits -- Bloomberg
When a leader comes to power, especially an "outsider" such as Trump or Macron are, oftentimes a campaign promise has a meeting with reality. when this happens, something must yield. Since reality will never yield simply because someone does not like it, it would be best to adjust he campaign promise.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would have preferred Le Pen and thought she would have been much better for the country, this is a decision for the French to make according to what they feel best serves their country and Americans, as long as France does not harm us, should respect the decision made by the French people.
Furthermore, while I will not pretend to understand the French situation not being from France or knowing anyone from France, given what appears to be the French financial situation as well as that of much of the "west" Mr. Macron probably made the proper decision. France probably simply cannot afford the military spending the defense chief wanted. When confronted with a conflict between reality and a campaign promise, team Macron wisely chose to reality.
If the funding is needed to carry out so called commitments, there are three basic options. 1.)Scale back the commitments deciding what is in the core interests of the country and focusing on that. 2.)Find a way to get this done on less money. On this note, the Russians do fabulously well spending less money on the military than "western" nations do. The "west" would do well to study the Russian model. Of course daring to suggest such things gets one branded as a Russian toady, unpatriotic, or any other slew insults some wish to throw out. 3.)Some combination of 1 and 2 might be the best approach.
As stated, the French will have to decide this but based upon what information I do have I really don't see how any "western" nation can sustain their current level of defense spending. Team Macron appears to be wisely adjusting course.
Probably the best place to start for "western" nations including the United States would be scrap the aircraft carriers. These items are worse than useless in modern warfare against even a country with a crap navy let alone one with a strong navy.
youtube.com/watch?v=LPn0KFlbqX8
ReplyDeleteyoutube.com/watch?v=8zuNiizkTUA
Ma crone cut the defense budget. Is France in debt? Did he do it to balance the budget?
ReplyDeleteHe probably put it all in social spending, plans to spend more, plans to borrow more, rinse, repeat until the FALL
No surprise here, Macron is a Socialist, who was a member of Hollande's government just prior to the election campaign. Socialists tend to cut military as a way to save money instead of cutting the bloated social programs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, most of these Socialist European and Canadian governments expect to the do the heavy military lifting for them like they always do. The US needs to show them otherwise.
ReplyDelete"who was a member of Hollande's government just prior to the election campaign"
ReplyDeleteWhat was his position?
...and Mr. Davenport is corrreto-mundo.
ReplyDeleteThe news hides and obfuscates more than it tells the plain, unvarnished truth.
Macron
"Minister of the Economy, Industry, and Digital Affairs"
26 August 2014 – 30 August 2016
Deputy Secretary General of the Office of the President
15 May 2012 – 15 July 2014
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Hollande
François Hollande was the President of France from 2012 to 2017.