France Foreign Policy and Diplomacy

Africans subjected Macron to ridicule and humiliation, by Valeria Verbinina for VZGLYAD. 03.07.2023.

The French president proclaimed "the end of the era of French Africa" ​​- and all in order for the countries of the Black Continent to believe in French neutrality and meet the envoys of Paris better than the representatives of Moscow and Beijing. In reality, everything turned out exactly the opposite: the Africans subjected Macron to ridicule. How did this happen?

French President Macron returned from a tour of Central African countries, making Gabon, Angola and both Congos happy with his visit. The official purpose of the trip was to participate in the summit with an extensive environmental agenda, as well as to strengthen economic ties.

As a result - let's pay tribute to the speechwriters - many beautiful words were uttered. “Renewed partnership”, “joint construction”, and even this statement was made : “Africa presents all the opportunities for competition. It is necessary that the conditions for its participants be equal. We must win our place, no more, no less.”

However, there are suspicions that it will not be so easy to do this, since China, India, Russia and Turkey are the main competitors in the competition. Moreover, none of these countries had colonies in Africa and can easily build relationships that are not burdened by old scores that stretch from the past.

So that France will not be reminded of them once again, it generously offers to forget everything and switch from the “France-gendarme” format to the “France-businessman” format. So, at least, the strategy chosen by Macron is called in France itself.

It is understood that it is no longer worth saber-rattling and in general it is too intrusive to remind of oneself. No, no one will disband the remaining French military bases in Africa - at least not yet. Are they bothering anyone? Macron himself is definitely not interfered with, which means that everything is in order. In general, it is necessary to develop trade relations, because business is above all.

Trade with Africa is in decline - the share of France is estimated at only 4%, while the share of China is 18%.

Competitors are pushing - especially the French are made nervous by the "Russian bear and the Chinese dragon." Involuntarily, one has to conclude that, despite the declared love for the environment and everything related to nature, President Macron suffers from some kind of strange allergy. Moreover, in the case of the dragon, one cannot even refer to the fact that this is an allergy to wool.

It would not be a strong exaggeration to say that Macron's strategy fits into the scheme "since we can no longer rob you as our colony, we will rob you under the guise of business, dear equal partners." However, it is naive to think that the people of Africa do not understand this and are not aware of the essence of what is happening.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that dislike for the former colonialists on the continent is only growing, which greatly complicates France's any attempts to establish friendly relations. The French stubbornly attribute the reasons for this dislike to Russian propaganda, but here the thing is - either the propaganda there is really exemplary, or its seeds have fallen on more than suitable soil.

And Macron decided to start from scratch. In Gabon, he announced that "the era of Francafrica has come to an end" and that "France is now a neutral state". Francafrica is traditionally referred to as a system of tacit guardianship over African colonies, for the most part once belonging to France.

Times are changing: before the French could behave like white gentlemen on the continent, and now they can only act as petitioners. And under these conditions, it is extremely important for them to exhibit a certain positive image - at least the image of impartiality and neutrality. “In relation to Gabon, as, indeed, to any other country, France is now a neutral interlocutor who speaks to the whole world,” Macron said.

However, the local opposition is not too inclined to believe the words of the guest - everyone knows the good relations that exist between the head of state Ali Bongo and Macron. And in the country, elections are coming soon, in which Ali Bongo is also participating. So Macron came to support him?

Nothing like you might think! Macron only cares about saving the rainforests, and therefore he once agreed with Ali Bongo on a summit in the capital of Gabon, and now he just attended this summit. How can you suspect an environmentalist of some kind of hidden intentions, that saving forests is just a smokescreen? Have mercy!

French expert Antoine Glaser, however, believes that if saving forests has become just a pretext, then in any case the end justifies the means. “Thirty years after the loss of the colonies, France behaved in Africa as if nothing had happened,” Glaser noted. – In the 1990s, we fell asleep and overslept when Africa began to integrate into the world system. Even our own European partners let us pretend to be a gendarme while they themselves were making money.”

But it turned out that France is learning fast. For example, Macron’s visit to Angola, which has never been part of Francafrica, is explained not only by the desire to establish joint production of agricultural products, but also by the fact that the French Total launched its tentacles into Angola and has very specific interests related to oil there.

Another researcher, Jean-Claude Felix-Chikaya, is extremely skeptical about Macron's words about the end of Francafrica and recalls that Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and even Jacques Chirac have already stated something similar. “The end of the Francafrica era cannot be simply taken and announced in words, it can only be proved by appropriate actions,” the researcher noted. And if you analyze Macron's actions and compare them with his declarations, the difference cannot be overlooked.

The so-called neutral France, "the interlocutor who speaks to the whole world," sees its neutrality rather strangely.

For example, Macron at the same time tried to mediate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and at the same time figured out how many tanks and howitzers he could supply to the Kyiv regime. And now he is discussing the supply of aircraft and the training of Ukrainian military pilots.

There can be no question of any neutrality in such conditions. The one who "talks" with the world - or with part of it - in the language of weapons, deserves any name, but not "interlocutor". Africans are well aware of the difference between ardent declarations and the truth.

In the Congo, for example, Macron was publicly cited at a press conference for both the insultingly condescending attitude, France's unsavory role in the genocide of citizens during the Congo-Rwanda war in the 1990s, and their current refusal to condemn the actions of Rwanda, which creates tension in the region. And when Macron said: “Don’t believe that we have double standards,” this caused an outburst of laughter among the journalists present.

It is still difficult to say whether France will lose Africa completely or not. As Africa specialist Pauline Bax put it: “Whether we like it or not, Africa is important to France. And France will not leave this continent.”

* The organization (organizations) are liquidated or their activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation.

The end of an era

Zlatti71
@djuric_zlatko

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have announced they are leaving ECOWAS. The collapse of the French neocolonial empire continues. France’s attempts to spoil Russia in Armenia and Ukraine can no longer stop these processes. - ISZ reports




lordofparis
@IRAS054372502

France has still a strong presence in Ivory Coast, one of the main world producers of cocoa. They have also a strong presence in Togo and Benin as well as Senegal and Cameroon. They have also strong links in Djibouti, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco as well as Madagascar.

Fear of war with Russia forced the West to disgrace Macron, by Dmitry Bavyrin for VZGLYAD. 02.28.2024.

When French President Emmanuel Macron said that Western troops could be sent to Ukraine, he disgraced the whole world. Now France is trying to understand how it happened that only its president is ready to send troops to war with a nuclear power, although he is a “military leader without an army.”

"I really don't understand why he said that." This phrase from sociologist Bruno Jeanbart from an interview with Politico is the most complacent and loyal comment to the French President that he can now count on. Emmanuel Macron made the biggest image blunder of his career while trying to make everyone love him. Everything except Russia, of course.

Now the whole world knows that, having convened a meeting of allies on the conflict in Ukraine, the French President allowed the direct participation of military personnel from EU and NATO countries in it . He spoke rather vaguely, but in a way that sounded menacing: there was no consensus, but nothing could be ruled out, because “Russia cannot be allowed to win,” because “the fate of Europe is at stake.”

It seemed to follow from this that some EU and NATO countries wanted to take direct part in a war with a nuclear power, while others did not want to. Naturally, journalists were interested in the full list of suicides, but it quickly became clear that only Macron was on it. Not as the bravest, but as the stupidest.

The first to surrender the French ally were representatives of those governments that were easiest to suspect of wanting to fight with Russia - Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden. The question remains: even if they don’t even think about sending troops into Ukraine, then who does?

The Germans clarified the issue. Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke out immediately for himself and for all of NATO - no one is considering this option for themselves. And Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who was also present at the meeting, said that sending military personnel to Ukraine was Macron’s own proposal, which was not supported by anyone.

Strictly speaking, I don’t even want to call this a proposal from France, whose political class is literally up in arms. Comments like “think first, speak later” were expressed by the right in the person of Marine Le Pen, the left in the person of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and centrists from the socialist and republican camps. Only the president’s own appointees either sang along with him or pretended that nothing had happened: just think, the boss wanted to fight a nuclear power that is not perceived in France as a security threat for purely geographical reasons.

The Balts, who for the same reasons are the most nervous, interestingly, remained silent. That is, the macronov coalition still has potential participants. The haberdasher and the cardinal are power.

This situation has become especially toxic for Macron because France no longer has an independent and combat-ready army. This problem is known to the French and is hotly discussed: support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine has undermined what is left after Macron’s reforms. Soon after his move to the Elysee Palace, he cut funding for the armed forces, which were already “undernourished.”

The only French president who never served in the army for a day became the most despised by the military elite. And now, as Le Figaro, a magazine focused on her, put it, Macron “donned the cloak of a warlord opposing Putin, but did it without troops or ammunition.”

However, no one really knows how many French will be needed to defend Paris. They never tried to defend Paris.

After reading the morning press and assessing the loss to their reputation, the French authorities began to crawl away. Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournet said that the hypothetical presence of Western military personnel in Ukraine would not mean complicity in the conflict. There are, they say, areas for action that do not cross this border, for example, mine clearance operations, joint production of weapons and protection against cyber threats.

Whether they will cross or not will be decided by the Russian Armed Forces, but it is unlikely that Western advisers will be able to count on a fundamentally different attitude towards themselves than the Ukrainian military. However, if we are talking only about advisers and consultants, then there is no sensationalism in Macron’s statements. They are already present in Ukraine, it’s just that most often it is framed not as a business trip, but as a mercenary activity.

Thus, the mountain gave birth to a mouse, thereby disgracing the whole world. Macron found himself in the state of a man whose proposal was met with deathly silence from some and twisting of a finger to the temple of others.

It could only have been worse if, in response to Macron, they had told some anecdote born from the history of French military glory. For example, like this:

– What is a thousand palms raised up? - Five hundred French soldiers.

The reason for this embarrassment is Macron’s sick ego, traumatized by the pro-Ukrainian press. The French President is often criticized there, saying that he talks more than he does - and it’s hard to argue with that.

For example, over the past five years, Macron has tried to lead a coalition of EU countries advocating cooperation with Russia, after the start of the Northeast Military District, a coalition of those countries that are cautious about the conflict with Moscow, and, for some time now, a bloc of hawkish countries demanding only victory from Kyiv . If only there was something to do, if only to be the main thing.

The French media often accuse Macron of the fact that, despite his desire to be a plug in every barrel, his activity brings little practical benefit. For example, in terms of the volume of assistance for Kyiv, be it weapons, ammunition or money, France, which wants to lead and inspire, lags significantly behind not only Germany and the UK (not to mention the USA), but also from Poland.

In the first year of the Northern Military District, supporters of an aggressive war in Europe put Scholz on the spot, but he “corrected himself” and paid off: he sent all the arsenals he could to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, except for long-range Taurus missiles, attaching to them the most generous check on the continent. Now “lagging behind” is Macron, who organically needs to be first in everything.

Therefore, he gathered his allies and decided to inspire them with several bold proposals to intercept the agenda.

On the one hand, he seemed to kick Scholz, who was holding Taurus, by proposing to create a coalition to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles. The subtlety is that the Baltic states will not help Macron in this matter, and those who are ready to supply such missiles (for example, the USA and Britain) are already doing this without asking Macron.

On the other hand, he portrayed something like an admission of past mistakes in order to gain more confidence in himself. Macron knows how to work for the public - and has already done this before, for example, he apologized to Eastern Europeans for his insufficient Russophobia in the past, and this time he supported the idea of ​​​​a project to purchase shells for the Armed Forces of Ukraine around the world. Until recently, this same man pretended to be a zealous owner and argued that you only need to buy shells made in Europe.

Now his priority is victory over Russia, so he is ready to buy shells somewhere else, if only Moscow would be empty. He is even ready to send French troops to Ukraine. Or he just says he's ready. Or he’s really ready, but won’t do anything, because in Europe the last thing the French need is this (even less perhaps the Portuguese), and Emmanuel Bonapartovich’s bold initiative caused bewilderment among them at best, but more often - hooting.

Macron is an outstanding example of bright packaging with absolutely empty content. He is charming, efficient, proactive, bursting with ideas and tries to seem brave, but all his foreign policy initiatives led to fiasco . About the President of France, who managed to be re-elected for a second term (and this is something the French allow few), it cannot be said that he is an accomplished loser, but in all other respects he is what he is: a laughing stock.

https://vz.ru/world/2024/2/28/1255654.html

Plans for a “war with Russia” have turned all French politicians against Macron, by Valeria Verbinina for VZGLYAD. 03.09.2024.

"The President told us something amazing." With these words, the French opposition comments on the results of the meeting with the country’s leader Emmanuel Macron, who declared his readiness to send troops to Ukraine. It seems that with his words Macron scared not Russia, but, first of all, French politicians and their voters.

French President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting with the leaders of the main opposition parties, at which the conflict in Ukraine and the strategy that the French authorities intend to follow were discussed. It is the latter, it must be said, that causes the greatest concern among the opposition. As you know, Macron opened Pandora's box by saying that France could send ground troops to Ukraine, which would actually make it a full participant in the conflict.

During a meeting with party leaders, the French President repeated that there are “no restrictions, no red lines” when it comes to assistance to Ukraine. According to Macron, “You cannot (successfully) confront someone who does not adhere to any restrictions and red lines, wasting our own time trying to define them.”

Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the Unconquered France party, speaking to the press following the meeting, noted that he was “leaving with even more anxiety than he came in.” According to him, “there is a feeling that the president of the republic is not aware of the risks that arise from the persistent desire to take the military route.”

The head of the Republican Party, Eric Ciotti, emphasizing that his party “supports Ukraine,” nevertheless actually repeated the words of his colleague, noting that “sending ground troops to Ukraine is irresponsible and dangerous.” However, he feels that with his statements, Macron, aggravating the Ukrainian issue, is trying to use it as a tool in the fight for seats in the European Parliament, since there are only three months left before the elections. Also, according to Ciotti, Macron’s statement “isolates France” on the international stage.

Nevertheless, the position of a defender of the interests of Ukraine allows Macron and his fellow party members to repeatedly attack their main opponents - Marine Le Pen's National Rally, which is traditionally considered a party that has a good attitude towards Russia. It got to the point that Prime Minister Attal compared the party of Marine Le Pen and its current leader, Jordan Bardella, with “Moscow’s troops” and a “foreign occupying army.”

Bardella himself strongly condemned Macron’s “belligerent position,” believing that France should support Ukraine, but “behave in such a way as not to end up as a belligerent party.” Socialist Olivier Faure put it quite ironically: “Unfortunately, our president is grimacing as always,” and, like Ciotti, suggested that Macron is using the conflict in Ukraine as a tool in the run-up to the European Parliament elections.

On the eve of the meeting with opposition leaders, on Wednesday evening Macron considered it necessary to hold a meeting with his predecessors, Presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. As a result of this meeting, Sarkozy refused to communicate with the press, and Hollande preferred to answer journalists’ questions very mysteriously: “In military affairs, I adhere to the rule - the less you say, the better you act. You don’t have to say what you are going to do, you have to do what was not said. This is what ensures the greatest efficiency.”

According to Hollande, “the only possible solution (to the conflict) is that we show that we support Ukraine and are in full solidarity with the Ukrainians, that we will provide them with any necessary support, without participating in any battles ourselves.”

Perhaps Macron is really, as Faure put it, “grimacing” and his main goal is to make an impression on the eve of important elections. However, many nevertheless take his words seriously and rightly point out the possible consequences.

“He is preparing minds for France to intervene in the conflict,” said the head of the French Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, in an interview with BFMtv. - At least that's how it seems to me. He told us: if the front moves towards Odessa or Kyiv, what will we do? We should not have any restrictions regarding our intervention. This is exactly how he presented the state of affairs.

But this is not the way to deal with the fears of the French. Yes, everything must be done so that Ukraine can defend itself and so that the front does not move, but everything must also be done so that France does not become a belligerent party and does not interfere in the conflict. He (Macron) is leading us towards a direct confrontation with Russia."

Developing the topic, Roussel added: “I asked him a direct question about the fact that at the beginning of the conflict he said that there were red lines that France was not going to cross. I asked him if they still exist. He replied that no, there should be no restrictions, since the nature of the conflict had changed. Thus, the French President is well aware that tomorrow France could go to war with Russia. And this is extremely alarming, this is a turning point...

Since these words are uttered by the president of the country, with his rhetoric he is participating in the escalation of the conflict. Each time we take another step towards making this conflict universal, and this is precisely what is dangerous.

Plus the President told us something amazing that I think everyone should know. He said Russia was asking for a ceasefire. And the president said that we should not satisfy Russia’s demands, because this means that positions will be fixed and this will allow Russia to rearm.

But listen, it is during a truce that we can begin discussions and negotiations. It would also give Ukraine and the EU time to produce weapons in case negotiations fail.”

No less interesting than the comments of politicians are the comments of ordinary Frenchmen. “There is no doubt that his strategy is intended to make his failures in all other areas forgotten. A good war will make the French forget everything, and besides, he will not lose the elections,” writes a user with the nickname Anti pasteque on the Figaro website.

"He pretends to be a frog that swells up to imitate a bull" - writes Le Cid 1er, revealing a good knowledge of La Fontaine's fables. “Let’s enlist all the illegal immigrants who were sentenced to deportation from France, and clandestine migrants, into the army, and send them to Ukraine,” suggests an anonymous commentator. “He should have done a better job of tackling the growing insecurity within the country and the increasing violence that is plaguing France... for example, in the beautiful city of Marseille, people have to survive amid the squabbles of warring drug traffickers,” notes one Raslacaisse.

But solving problems in Marseille appears to be much more difficult than threatening intervention. And, by the way, in Monsieur Lafontaine’s fable, everything ended very badly for the frog - it eventually burst from the strain. As the original text says, “the world is full of people who are no smarter than her.” Looking at Macron, it is clear that this is the case. Macron wanted to achieve the consolidation of French society and electoral advantages, but the reaction of both politicians and voters showed that he achieved exactly the opposite. Anti-Russian rhetoric - at least in such a radical form - turned the entire French society against him.

https://vz.ru/world/2024/3/9/1257205.html

Danger awaits a hawk who messes with a warrior heron, Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

French Troops in Ukraine May Be Play by Macron to Propel Himself to Status of 21st Century Sun King, by Ilya Tsukanov for Sputnikglobe. 03.20.2024.

Russian Foreign Intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin revealed Tuesday that Paris is planning to send thousands of troops to Ukraine. The new info comes just days after the French president doubled down on threats to put boots on Ukrainian soil “to counter Russia." Sputnik asked security analysts about the implications of these developments.

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s bombshell revelation about French plans to deploy 2,000+ troops to Ukraine may signal a play by President Emmanuel Macron to raise his stature as a major European and even global leader, but would almost certainly wind up undermining the regional security order, Russian and European security and international affairs observers have told Sputnik.

“With these actions and statements, Macron is trying to play his own [independent] role in a new alignment of the European community,” says Alexander Mikhailov, head of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, a Russian security-affairs think tank.

“It must be understood here that Macron presently has the strongest cards” among any European leader, according to Mikhailov. “He feels the most confident in the post of leader of the ‘European locomotive’, and is set to rule over France until 2027. That is, he's not a lame duck, and unlike [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz and the leaders of EU-level institutions, is a politician ‘in full bloom’,” rather than someone planning to retire into political obscurity in the foreseeable future.

With France enjoying military capabilities that are unmatched by any of its neighbors, and possessing a powerful Foreign Legion (i.e., presto mercenaries in a pinch), Macron undoubtedly has access to both the personnel and the resources to send troops to Ukraine, the Russian observer believes.

“The question, rather, is in what legal status this could be formalized,” Mikhailov stressed, expressing “serious doubt” that Paris would rally the courage to send an official contingent of French troops to the east, given repeated warnings by Russian officials about the “extremely negative” consequences such a step might entail.

Naryshkin warned in his statement Tuesday that French forces in Ukraine would immediately become a priority target for the Russian military.

Alexandrov doesn’t believe Macron will commit to send a formal contingent of troops to Ukraine. “But France could of course theoretically create a base – a pool of personnel for the constant replenishment of mercenary units, and perhaps is already doing so,” the analyst said.

21st Century Sun King of France?

“Macron would be very happy to devise a situation in which he could propose some kind of a path for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and, as it were, to try to play a role of a ‘peacemaker’ who, just in time for the Paris Olympics, has successfully resolved a complex European conflict and elevated himself not just to the role of most important leader in Europe, but a world leader who fixed a complex conflict which even other key world players such as China and the United States could not cope with,” the observer said, delving into the possible reasons for the French president’s obsession with Ukraine.

Tiberio Graziani, chairman of Vision & Global Trends – a Rome-based think tank, agrees that Macron is trying to present himself as a great European leader, and can't rule the possibility of Paris sending troops eastward – even if it is without the approval or support of EU institutions and the United States.

“Furthermore,” Graziani told Sputnik, “the 2011 attack on Libya, perpetrated against the Italian-Libyan friendship agreements, made it clear that France, Britain and the USA do not always take into account the alliance relationships and spheres of influence of their allies. International law as we knew it during the so-called Cold War no longer exists. The first to destroy the principles that underlie international law (sovereignty of states, inviolability of borders) was the United States.”

Macron may be searching for a casus belli for intervention in Ukraine Graziani said, adding that France's colonial past has shown that Paris certainly has the capabilities and experience of using troops and mercenaries to attempt to impose its will on other countries, particularly in Africa.

“It is difficult to make a prediction and an evaluation,” according to the observer. “Certainly, a rash move like the one repeatedly stated by Macron would lead to the destruction of the European security system based on NATO. Most likely, Macron’s constant utterances about sending military fighters to Ukraine are linked to the fear of having Trump in the White House,” Graziani believes, pointing to the Republican nominee for president's repeated talk of ending the Ukrainian quagmire and trying to improve US ties with Russia.

France's Defence Ministry denies the presence of French soldiers in Ukraine, or plans to send forces to the conflict-torn Eastern European country.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240319/french-troops-in-ukraine-may-be-play-by-macron-to-propel-himself-to-status-of-21st-century-sun-king-1117433277.html

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