On the right foot
Getting off to a good start in terms of security after a tense summer is for France to pay close attention to public security. It then means seeking to redevelop the strategic space of its geopolitical neighbourhood. Finally, it is to free oneself from the traps set by an indiscriminate American administration that blows hot and cold and destabilizes global governance. It should be noted that, pragmatically, expected progress is currently being developed.
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A fine diplomatic sequence
Summits of heads of state are often of little use, other than staging the supposed agreement of the leaders. This is even more true of the G7s, usually. However, the end of the summer saw a fine diplomatic sequence led by President Macron, who succeeded in generating an opening on the Iranian issue and an agreement on the taxation of the GAFAs. This was followed by a speech to the ambassadors that signalled a change of line and certainly a pragmatism that seemed to us to be a good method
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Lorgnette: Buying Greenland
Donald Trump’s summer offer to buy Greenland sparked the eternal flow of sarcasm and caused a diplomatic crisis with Denmark, which remains sovereign on the island. It should be recalled that the idea is not as absurd as it seems (the United States has already bought Louisiana and Alaska and made two proposals to buy Greenland in the past), that America has the Thule base there, that yesterday’s geostrategic interest in the USSR is now being renewed with the increased interest in the Arctic, particularly by China. Finally, it should be noted that geologically, the island is more American than European. Nevertheless, Denmark remains sovereign, there is a status of autonomy (as in the Faroes, whose recent elections highlighted the independence fighters) and this raises the question of all these northern islands (Greenland, Faroe, Spitzberg/Svalbard) but also the place that Europe (not the EU, given Norway’s non-membership) could have on these polar issues. In other words, instead of giggling, take a serious interest. France has apparently an ambassador for the poles: we haven’t heard him on the subject.
JDOK
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Photo credit: La Moncloa – Gobierno de España on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND