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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.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 07 2018, @11:03PM (3 children)
Today's Russia has a population of 144 million. The EU has a population of 513 million. The average life expectancy of a Russian man is 66 years. In the EU it's 79 years. The GDP of Russia is $1.58 trillion dollars. The GDP of the EU is $17.28 trillion.
In short, Russia is not the threat to the EU that the Soviet Union was to Western Europe in the Cold War.
Also, George W Bush was reasonably friendly with Russia. During the eastern expansion of NATO that brought in the Baltics Russia became a partner (I forget the exact designation) of the alliance. That was when Yeltsin was around. Putin was the one that eventually ended that relationship and took a stronger stance against NATO. Obama was pretty friendly with the Russians also; there was a PR event in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit a giant restart button to signal a fresh, warmer relationship with Russia under Putin.
There's an additional dimension to current European security: energy. With Germany, Denmark, and other EU states rapidly moving to renewables dependence upon Russian oil and natural gas is waning, too.
So in actual military, security terms, the EU's in pretty good shape. There is no pressing need to form an EU army.
Some people think that 10 million refugees from Syria and North Africa represent a fundamental threat to European security and identity, but I don't. Those refugees are vastly, vastly outnumbered. Even if all of them turned out to be murderous terrorists Europeans could quickly squash them like bugs and kick them out. It's just not even a contest.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 07 2018, @11:35PM (1 child)
Worlds population is afraid that either country push the button and start nuclear holocaust. She push a big fat red button. That's a brilliant morbid joke.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 11 2018, @03:41AM
If I remember correctly, the diplomatic stunt was a spoof of this device:
https://www.staples.com/Easy-Button/cat_CL163314 [staples.com]
As for the "reset":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_reset [wikipedia.org]
Classic.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Lester on Thursday November 08 2018, @11:00AM