China does not need to "present itself" to be a "credible" world power, whatever that is. they are much more of a global force than France is, or even Europe.
"strategic autonmy" makes some sense in a totally perfect world. But this ain't that. Yet he's correct that "it's in nobody's interest to accelerate a crisis in Taiwan"
Macron has also wrapped his trip to Russia in early 2022. He was unable to dissuade Putin from invading, but he did relay some messages from Putin to the world. Open dialogue is good, but sometimes he's an effective mouthpiece for Russia (and maybe now for the PRC) because of his standing and willingness to "advance" their interests.
"Present" itself means to be take seriously as in the case of whether anyone should take their offer to be a mediator in Ukraine seriously.
To respond to both you and @basso yes Macron does have a lot of Gualist in him. I don't think that is really a problem and might be helpful. While Macron failed in his reachout to Putin I think it is good to have someone who can bridge between Western interest / NATO to Russia, PRC and others who are strategic rivals. This is what I mean by "present" to the extent that Macron can present himself and France as not being completely mouthpieces of the NATO or others but independent enough to deal with multiple sides.
@basso this was a good piece. Thank you for posting good material. Appreciate it I respect your opinion but you're completely off base here. Read this piece when you can Macron is a scumbag. Don't trust the French for a moment. @basso is 100% right here. Europe simply isn't even stepping up for Ukraine. It's all America America. We've given more aid than every country combined multiplied by three. When history looks back at this moment it will show America met the moment.
Leaked Documents Suggest Ukrainian Air Defense Is in Peril if Not Reinforced A huge influx of munitions is needed to keep Russia’s air force from changing the course of the war, according to U.S. officials and newly leaked Pentagon documents. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/us/politics/leaked-documents-ukrainian-air-defense.html
Lend lease program we are giving some but selling a lot more, and we needed to clear out our stockpiles of old stuff, this has been a boom for our country and economy. DD
I'm starting to change my view of Ukraine slowly. This is utter ridiculous. If Europe wants to use us openly then we need to make it clear that they need to step it up in Ukraine ASAP. That's insane. This is all coming because biden finally passed some industrial policy to look out for American own interests. Were literally saving all of Europe when none of their major countries are even spending 2.5% of GDP. They're free loading off of us and expecting us to do all their self defense. **** them seriously. Time for a talk with Europe and their commitment to Ukraine. "Productive" it definitely wasn't. He went with the goal of having China broker a peace and call for peace talks. China didn't do either of those and instead it got France to drive a wedge between usa and Europe. Macron got played like a school boy. Europeans are utterly useless. This is a great read @basso
Please don't. The rest of us Putin bootlickers don't want you joining us. I might have to rethink my position.
You were a putin sympathizer for awhile when it was embarrassing to be pro Russian. I have no interest on being on the same as you in anything in life. Believe me. Not saying we should end funding. Simply stating we need to push Europe to do more
France isn’t the US so can’t fault them for having different interest. The stakes here though are very high beyond just Ukraine and Taiwan but regarding overall global safety when any direct confrontation between great powers possibly ending civilization. If Macron can act as an intermediary between the West / NATO and Russia and the PRC that’s something that should be encouraged. At the moment he still fulfilling his obligations as a member of NATO and standing by the West. In a speech in the PRC he pointed out why Ukraine matters and why the PRC shouldn’t support Russia. I don’t expect he will change they view. And yes from the French standpoint his trip was productive. He got a lot of trade deals for France. If we want a world where ties of mutual benefit are what tamp down fighting wars this is a good thing. Putin felt that nationalism was more important than maintaining robust trade and an economy. The PRC isn’t there and Xi does care about the state of the PRC economy and keeping global trade ties. That is most likely the biggest impediment towards both aiding Russia more and invading Taiwan. The more he can be reminded of that the less likely war breaks out. On the other hand just isolating the PRC will likely push them to war faster. We shouldn’t appease the PRC though but this is where France acting somewhat independently can mediate things.
