A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
French officials are frustrated that their American counterparts have been willing to engage with the junta that overthrew Niger’s president.
The coup in Niger is injecting fresh tension into the France-U.S. alliance.
The two countries are at odds over how to respond to the ouster of the West African country’s president in July. France is refusing to diplomatically engage with the junta and strongly supports a regional body that has threatened military intervention. The U.S. has dispatched an envoy to meet with the junta leadership and held back from officially declaring the takeover a coup — insisting there’s still a negotiated way to restore democracy.
WNU Editor: It appears that the majority of ECOWAS governments are onboard to launch a military intervention against Niger (see video above). The French are also onboard. But to succeed everyone will need to rely on US logistics and transport, and if the above Politico article is accurate, the US is looking for an alternative solution.
Washington has chosen its own interests over its allies, a French diplomat has told the newspaper, following Victoria Nuland’s visit to Niger.
The presence of the ‘Maidan midwife,’ US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, in post-coup Niger has enraged Washington’s NATO ally, France, Le Figaro reported over the weekend, citing a source within the French Foreign Ministry.
The US “did the exact opposite of what we thought they would do,” a French diplomatic source told the paper, adding that “with allies like these, we do not need enemies.”
Paris has been insisting on the reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum ever since a new military government came to power in Niger in a coup in late July.
BRUSSELS — More people are mad at French President Emmanuel Macron.
After weeks of protests over an unpopular pension overhaul plan at home, the French president now faces outrage from allies abroad over his chummy trip to China and remarks on the need for Europe to stand apart from the United States on Taiwan and other issues.
The visit and its aftermath have angered politicians and analysts on both sides of the Atlantic, highlighting gaps between the U.S. and French approach to China, showcasing division within the Eropean Union — and probably delighting Beijing.
The interview in question took place during a three-day visit to China that raised eyebrows for its surprisingly upbeat tone, considering that Beijing has yet to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The ‘great risk’ Europe faces is getting ‘caught up in crises that are not ours,’ French president says in interview.
ABOARD COTAM UNITÉ (FRANCE’S AIR FORCE ONE) — Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China.
Speaking with POLITICO and two French journalists after spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Macron emphasized his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”
He said “the great risk” Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” while flying from Beijing to Guangzhou, in southern China, aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One.
WNU Editor: French President Macron's trip to Beijing must have been an eye--opener for him to make such a remark. Not surprising. US politicians are reacting (see below).
Funny to see how American politicians are suddenly very concerned about Europe's course towards Ukraine.
Why would Europe trust a 'partner' who destroys NordStream to sell their expensive gas? 🤔
* Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron tried to paint over their economic tensions
* But Biden refused to apologize for the Inflation Reduction Act, which Macron has said would cost Europe jobs
* 'I make no apology' for it,' he said but did admit there are 'glitches' to tweak
* Macron called Biden's subsidies in the Inflation Reduction plan 'super-aggressive' for businesses
* He told lawmakers the climate-friendly policies will 'kill a lot of jobs' in Europe
* Two leaders put on a friendly face during joint press conference at White House
Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron tried to paint over their economic tensions on Thursday when the U.S. President hinted there is room to change the climate subsidies his French counterpart called a threat to Europe.
In a private meeting in the Oval Office, the two leaders went head-to-head over Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and policies that Macron says will kill jobs.
Afterward, Biden defended his plan to revive America's economy, which includes $368 billion to fund green technology for U.S. manufacturers.
French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Washington Tuesday to discuss a slew of issues with US counterpart Joe Biden, ranging from aligning policy on Russia's invasion of Ukraine to easing trade spats.
Macron, in a rare honor the first French leader to be invited for two US state visits, can look forward to another 21-gun salute and ostentatious White House dinner that ex-president Donald Trump provided in 2018.
His traveling entourage of foreign, defence and finance ministers, as well as business leaders and astronauts, illustrates the range of transatlantic cooperation Paris hopes to push forward.
Joe Biden in 2019: “We need a president who is respected on the world stage.”
Joe Biden today: "I tried to talk to [French President Emmanuel Macron] last night. We spoke with his staff, but he was at the Eiffel Tower having a good time."
* While in Paris, Harris said she 'remains concerned' about Russia days after saying she's worried about their military amid tense immigrant crisis in Belarus
* She said on Saturday - her last day in Paris - that the five-day trip is about 'making clear the long-standing relationship' between the US and France
* Earlier this week, Harris was mocked for appearing to use a French accent while visiting the Institut Pasteur science lab
* Meanwhile, the entire Biden administration appears to have growing fears of an imminent conflict in Eastern Europe
* Harris said the 'eyes of the world' are on the Belarus border as Russia and Belarus carry out snap military drills where a migrant crisis is on Poland's border
* Belarus said the drill was in response to the 'build-up of military activity' at the border, where 15,000 troops have been stationed to hold back the migrants
Vice President Kamala Harris told French reporters that America remains 'very concerned' about Russia outside of a shop in Paris on Saturday after buying pots and skillets.
As the Biden administration warned of an imminent threat in Eastern Europe over fears of a Ukraine invasion amid an escalating crisis at the Belarus-Poland border, Harris strolled through Paris with her husband Doug Emhoff.
When asked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict the vice president said: 'I cannot talk to you about classified information' and went on to express her concerns on the crisis.
I subscribe to France 24. They had a panel discussion last night on her trip to France. None of the panelists were impressed with her, and all of them were critical of the Biden administration's policies toward France. Policies that were not even discussed on her 4-day trip .... Kamala Harris asked how France trip would 'prepare' her for the presidency (FOX News).
* Documents obtained by The Australian suggest President Joe Biden knew France hadn't been told Australia planned to cancel the submarine deal
* The paper reported on the existence of a 15-page documents, signed off on by the National Security Council, that details how AUKUS would be announced
* The document says Australia would tell France the submarine deal wasn't happening on September 16, the same day of the AUKUS announcement
* NSC, British and Australian officials discussed how best to tend to France's bruised feelings once AUKUS was official, the paper said
* Biden told French President Emmanuel Macron: 'I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not going through'
* Macron maintains he was blindsided, while Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he gave Macron a heads up the deal was in trouble in June
The White House knew France would be taken by surprise by Australia cancelling their $90billion submarine contract, according to a report Monday that throws doubt on President Joe Biden's claims French President Emmanuel Macron knew in advance that the deal was doomed.
The Australian reported the existence of a 15-page document laid out in detail how the world would learn about the new AUKUS pact which caused a diplomatic rift and caused the French to pull their U.S. ambassadors.
The document, signed off by Biden's advisers in the National Security Council, said Australia would tell France on September 16 - the day AUKUS was announced - that it would be pulling out of the submarine deal.
WNU Editor: Either President Biden lied to French President Macron, or no one bothered to tell President Biden that France would only know that the sub was cancelled on September 16, the day AUKUS was announced.
Either explanations make President Biden look bad, and the diplomatic damage is alrady starting.
For one. Australia now feels President Biden is scapegoating them to salvage his relationship with France .... How Joe Biden threw Scott Morrison under the bus (The Australian), hence the leak of all of these documents to the Australian press.
(CNN)President Joe Biden on Friday admitted that his administration was "clumsy" in its handling of the deal that deprived France of billions in defense contracts.
The comment came during of a closely watched meeting with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Rome, meant to repair fractured ties after a rift over an agreement to provide Australia with submarines.
"I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not going through, honest to God," Biden said on Friday, sitting alongside Macron in the French Embassy to the Holy See.
According to French officials, Mr. Blinken also stayed silent on June 25 when his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, welcomed him back to Paris — where Mr. Blinken spent his high school years — and extolled the importance of the French submarine deal.
And as recently as Aug. 30, when the French and Australian defense and foreign ministers held their annual “consultation,” they issued a joint communiqué that said the two countries were committed to deepening cooperation in the defense industry and “underlined the importance of the Future Submarine program.”
By that time, the Australians not only knew the program was dead, they had nearly sealed the agreement in principle with Washington and London.
WNU Editor: The job of a diplomat is to know what is happening in the country that they are based in before it makes the news. This is done by developing and cultivating contacts and friendships with an understanding that they will be in the "loop" when a decision is made.
That definitely did not happened in this case, and the French have a right to be upset. You do not treat allies like this.
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron meet during a bilateral meeting at the G-7 summit, Saturday, June 12, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to speak with President Biden in the next few days about the submarine deal the U.S. and U.K. made with Australia in an apparent snub to France.
Gabriel Attal, a French government spokesperson, said on Sunday that Macron would seek "clarification" from Biden regarding the cancellation of France's submarine deal with Australia, according to Reuters.
"President Biden asked to speak to the President of the Republic and there will be a telephone discussion in the next few days between President Macron and President Biden," Attal said.
* France recalled its ambassador to the US on Friday amid the dispute
* It comes amid growing fury at defense deal between US, UK and Australia French
* French foreign minister cited 'exceptional seriousness of the announcements'
* The deal resulted in cancellation of $90 billion Australia deal with fance to build submarines
* Australia will instead use US nuclear sub technology
* On Thursday the French Embassy cancelled event to mark cooperation between US and France
* The White House and State Department tried to repair the diplomatic damage
In a stunning break with the United States' oldest ally, France has recalled its ambassador to the US after a blowup over a new pact between the US, Great Britain, and Australia.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves LeDrain announced the move to recall ambassador Philippe Etienne Friday night, saying it came in a request from French President Francois Macron.
American, Japanese, French and Australian troops pose for a picture after the opening ceremony for exercise Jeanne D’Arc 21, in Camp Ainoura, Sasebo, Japan, May 11, 2021. (Sebastian Riveraaponte/U.S. Marine Corps)
About 200 members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, US Marines and the French army took part in a joint drill held in the Kirishima training ground in southwestern Japan on Saturday.
The US Marines' Osprey aircraft were not deployed due to heavy rain that hit the training ground, which straddles Miyazaki and Kagoshima Prefectures.
In the first joint drill involving the Ground Self-Defense Force and the French army, French troops jumped from a Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter, simulating landing on a remote island.
BREST, France — French President Emmanuel Macron hoped on Tuesday that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will show a greater military commitment to fight against Islamic extremists in several theaters of conflict and especially in the Middle East.
Macron, who made his New Year’s speech to the French military in Brest, in western France, said “I am certain that in the coming weeks, the new administration (Biden) will need to make key decisions that will mark a greater commitment and awareness in the fight against terrorism" in Syria and Iraq.
WNU Editor: Besides Syria and Iraq, French President Macron wants the US to get involved in this war ....'France stuck in dead end war in Mali' (Anadolu Agency). President Trump told French President Macron that the U.S. was not going to get involved in foreign wars, and that US forces will leave Syria and Iraq. Will the Biden administration say the same thing? By the looks of it French President Macron is confident that the Biden administration will say yes.
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian speaks during a news conference at a meeting to discuss how to push forward stalled Arab-Israeli peace talks, in Amman, Jordan, September 24, 2020. Khalil Mazraawi/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union and the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden should suspend a trade dispute to give themselves time to find common ground, France’s foreign minister said in remarks published on Sunday.
“The issue that’s poisoning everyone is that of the price escalation and taxes on steel, digital technology, Airbus and more particularly our wine sector,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told Le Journal du Dimanche in an interview.
He said he hoped the sides could find a way to settle the dispute. “It may take time, but in the meantime, we can always order a moratorium,” he added.
At the end of December the United States moved to boost tariffs on French and German aircraft parts, wines and other spirits in the Boeing-Airbus subsidy dispute, but the bloc decided to hold off on retaliation for now.
WNU Editor: Not surprised that the French Foreign Minster wants to suspend this trade dispute. France enjoys a $14+ billion trade surplus with the U.S. .... U.S. trade in Goods with France (U.S. Census).
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