Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Wednesday November 07 2018, @09:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the who's-da-boss? dept.

France's Macron Calls for Creating a 'European Army'

French President Emmanuel Macron called for the creation of a "true European army," issuing a sharp critique of trans-Atlantic security ties days before U.S. President Trump is due to visit France.

Europe's security ties with the U.S., which have been a bedrock of the continent's stability for decades, have come under strain as Mr. Trump has demanded more military spending from European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and questioned the alliance's benefits for the U.S. Such tensions have led Mr. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to publicly question whether the continent can still rely on the U.S. to come to Europe's defense.

Mr. Macron went a step further by grouping the U.S. among foreign powers he considers a potential threat to the continent. "We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America," Mr. Macron said on French radio.

Mr. Macron made the remarks as part of a weeklong tour of World War I battlefields ahead of the centenary of the Nov. 11 Armistice, when the French leader is due to host Mr. Trump, Vladimir Putin of Russia and many other heads of state.

Also at Newsweek.

Emmanuel Macron: Six held in 'attack' plot against French president

Six people have been arrested in France on suspicion of planning to carry out a "violent" attack on President Emmanuel Macron, officials say. The individuals, reported to be five men and a woman, were picked up by the French security services in Brittany, north-east and south-east France.

An investigation is now taking place into a "criminal terrorist association", a judicial source said. Details of the suspects and the alleged plot have not yet been released.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 07 2018, @05:36PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 07 2018, @05:36PM (#759064)

    First of all most of the EU members are already in NATO, but apparently that isn't good enough.

    The unspoken, but real, point of having an "EU army" is not to complement NATO, but to get rid of it. This is a proposal to get the US out of Europe. As an American, I support the proposal wholeheartedly.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday November 07 2018, @08:48PM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Wednesday November 07 2018, @08:48PM (#759141)

    The unspoken, but real, point of having an "EU army" is not to complement NATO, but to get rid of it. This is a proposal to get the US out of Europe. As an American, I support the proposal wholeheartedly.

    I'm somewhat less certain you should be happy about that. If the US withdraws so does your powerbase, the "friends" (we can really talk about if they are friends or not) in Europe won't like you very much after that and if they don't like you they'll pretty much stop buying your overprices military hardware etc. So while a lot of Euros might not pay that magical 2% on their own military spending they do seem to be buying American products quite a bit. Which would pretty much go away if you start to build a Euro-Army, even tho as noted previously that is so filled with horrors it's not even funny and unlikely to ever be a thing. No point in buying that bribe- and friendship goods anymore, no world resale to your lackeys and allies anymore so you as the american taxpayer is going to have to suck up the entire bill from the military industrial complex -- that is unless you think you are somehow going to be spending less on military which would just be hilarious.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by number11 on Wednesday November 07 2018, @09:52PM

      by number11 (1170) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 07 2018, @09:52PM (#759165)

      They'll see what good, caring friends the US is, when they tell the US to stop interfering with their continued observance of a treaty that all those parties concluded with Iran.