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French President Emmanuel Macron Calls for an EU Army, 6 Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack Macron

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

takyon writes:

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.

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Original Submission

• Re:Way to Break up the EU (Score: 2) by Lester on Thursday November 08 2018, @11:00AM

  by Lester (6231) on Thursday November 08 2018, @11:00AM (#759336) Journal

  • EU population is much aged than Russian population. So they can conscript much more soldiers. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't see EU population becoming fierce warriors.
  • Russia has much more natural resources than EU (oil and gas, to begin with). Tanks, jets fighters, bombers, helicopters and trucks don't move with renewables yet.
  • Money marks the difference if you can keep the battle far from your soil. Send armies out of your homeland and use proxy fighters. WW II is a good example. UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium and were much richer than Germany and were crushed by German army. UK survived because it is an island and Hitler was more worried by Eastern front. Without Russia now we would be talking in German. By the way, Russia won WW II, not Western allies, while 40 divisions fought in France since 1944 and and no more 20 in Italy and Africa since 1943, 200 divisions fought in Eastern front since 1940. Western aid to Russia is almost a myth. In 1945, it was less than 10% of Russian own production and, in the worst times, 1940, it was less than 5%. Russia, a country those days with a mostly farming economy, won the powerful Germany almost alone. Think of today that Russia has a military industry.
  • Actual military, security terms, the EU's in pretty good shape in asymmetric wars with the aide of USA, sorry I meant NATO. If Yugoslavia war or current Syria War is an example of EU military power... well
  • 10 millions refugees are a threat if you do nothing. I'm more afraid of an army of lambs led a lion than of an army of lions led by a lamb. No matter how strong you are if you are doubting each minute whether to use the force or not. The will to fight may change a lot of things.

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