France “Angry and Bitter” After Biden’s “Stab in the Back”

Washington hijacks a 2016 French-Australian $40 billion submarine deal from its French vassal

Last year: “French President Macron says US is ‘definitely’ back, welcomes Biden to ‘the club'”

France accused U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday of stabbing it in the back and acting like his predecessor Donald Trump after Paris was pushed aside from a lucrative defence deal that it had signed with Australia for submarines.

The United States, Britain and Australia said they would establish a security partnership for the Indo-Pacific that will help Australia acquire U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and scrap the $40 billion French-designed submarine deal. [Under the deal with France Australia would have played a part in building them. The US offers no such terms.]

“This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr Trump used to do,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told franceinfo radio. “I am angry and bitter. This isn’t done between allies.” [Because you are not “allies”. You are a vassal and they are an overlord.]

In 2016, Australia had selected French shipbuilder Naval Group to build a new submarine fleet worth $40 billion to replace its more than two-decades-old Collins submarines.

Two weeks ago, the Australian defence and foreign ministers had reconfirmed the deal to France, and French President Emmanuel Macron lauded decades of future cooperation when hosting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in June.

“It’s a stab in the back. We created a relationship of trust with Australia and that trust has been broken,” Le Drian said.

Relations between Trump and Macron soured during Trump’s presidency, and diplomats say there have been concerns in recent months that Biden is not being forthright with his European allies.

Washington’s actions in Australia are likely to further strain Transatlantic ties. The European Union was due to roll out its Indo-Pacific strategy later on Thursday and Paris is preparing to take on the EU presidency.

“This is a clap of thunder and for many in Paris a Trafalgar moment,” Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director of the Paris-based think tank the Foundation of Strategic Research said on Twitter, referring to a French naval defeat in 1805 that was followed by British naval supremacy.

He said it would “complicate the transatlantic cooperation in and about the region. Beijing will benefit.”

Biden said on Wednesday France remained a “key partner in the Indo-Pacific zone.”

Morrison said in a statement that Australia looked forward to continuing to work “closely and positively” with France, adding: “France is a key friend and partner to Australia and the Indo-Pacific.”

Source: Reuters

12 Comments
  1. ken says

    Didn’t France screw over the Russians a while back when the US asked them not to turn over the Mistral ships to Russia.

    Hey France….. This is called Karma.

    1. gooid says

      No, They were forced by the US to apply sanctions ti Russia. Screwed by the US again.

      1. ken says

        Forced?

        1. Mr Reynard says

          Hmm.. They got an offer, that they couldn’t refuse ?

          1. ken says

            The French lost an international trade partner,,, many french potential jobs, all because Ukraine decided to go nazi and treat ethnic Russian Ukrainians like a disease and still are.

            Then NATO, mostly ankle biter Poland, all pissed because they thought Russia would just hand over its naval port Sevastopol. (talk about stupid) Russia repatriated the Crimea. And of course its all Russia’s fault,,, not the fascist Ukrainians or the Americans who were behind it all… Remember “Fk the EU Nuland”?

            France lost money, prestige and most of all trust.

            1. Mr Reynard says

              Sorry Ken, comment is in French, but picture say’s it all ..

              http://ekladata.com/NnU7nSIegl3XjFk96d-VLjRCOy8.jpg

            2. XSFRGR says

              Yes, but has France learned anything from U$ treachery??

  2. yuri says

    back stab—“the cult of sincerity: amerikans are not sincere–it is a performance”. David Riesman

  3. Keepin1000 says

    France and it’s leaders are full of BS just like USA, Britain, Australia, China, etc… 1000’s of yrs later and these leaders are still at war… it’s all a show.. French leaders have always been cowards , now there crying because they got punked… lol… take care of your own country which is a mess and you keep killing your own people but now Rothschild protege Macron want people to tell sorry for him… lol

  4. Chacko Kurian says

    There is no honour among thieves.

  5. XSFRGR says

    France should remember that it’s dealing with Americans; it doesn’t matter if it’s Trump or Biden.

  6. Cap960 says

    Biden stabbed no one in the back. He wasn’t even told about the deal.

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