France: Une Paix Séparée?

Does France seek a separate peace with Iran? That is the question as the United Nations’ Security Council gets set to meet over the weekend. In the runup thereto France has been siding with Russia and Communist China against a resolution of Bahrain that would authorize the opening of Hormuz by any means. The Iranians promptly allowed a French vessel to pass through the strait this morning. Are the cheese-eating surrender monkeys back?Could be. On Thursday, according to Bloomberg, President Emmanuel Macron took a swipe at President Trump. His line is that Mr. Trump is weakening the North Atlantic Treaty by casting doubt on America’s commitment to the defense pact. Yet Monsieur Macron told reporters at Seoul Thursday that “alliances like NATO are defined by what isn’t said — that is, the trust that underlies them.” Huh? We’ve read the United Nations Charter six ways to zero — and the North Atlantic Treaty to boot — and we can’t find in either of the two parchments any language saying they’re defined by what isn’t said. This week the UN Security Council’s deliberations over a proposed resolution to reopen the Strait of Hormuz illustrated that deliberation, as opposed to military action, is the arena in which France and many of the Europeans excel.The text was proposed by the Arab representative at the Security Council, Bahrain. The United Arab Emirates, and other targets of Iran’s endless missiles and drone attacks, helped write the proposal. America backed it too. It was meant to authorize means to ensure freedom of navigation in the crucial strait under the UN Charter’s Chapter Seven, which authorizes the use of force. Beijing and Moscow threatened a veto. Enter France. Paris was working with Bahrain and the others to weaken the proposal. As it stands ahead of the vote tomorrow, the text calls for “exclusively defensive measures” at the Strait and demands that any action would first be communicated with the UN. “Thank you, Paris,” they are likely saying at Tehran. How do we know? This morning, according to Bloomberg, a French container ship was allowed free passage through Hormuz. The debate at Turtle Bay comes amid larger tensions between Washington and its purported NATO allies. Great Britain wavered on whether to let America use the air base at Diego Garcia for the offensive. Socialist-led Madrid barred America from using NATO bases in Spain. Even Giorgia Meloni’s Italy refused America permission for its bombers to refuel at a NATO base on Sicily. Yet Monsieur Macron claims Mr. Trump is undermining the alliance? It’s hardly the first time friction has arisen between France and America vis-à-vis military threats and the scope of NATO. In the 1950s, President De Gaulle sought to bolster France’s strategic autonomy, particularly in terms of nuclear arms. De Gaulle’s idea of an independent “force de frappe” animated his removal of the French fleet from the NATO umbrella in 1959. He later led France out of NATO’s military structure.De Gaulle’s demarches led President Eisenhower in 1960 to caution that the French attitude risked the viability of the North Atlantic alliance. Eisenhower told Monsieur le Président that while he viewed the treaty as “a keystone of American policy,” the support of the American people “results from their view that our European partners in NATO share with us a common desire to ensure the effective defense of the Atlantic area.”If “the American people,” Ike added, “should come to feel that their European allies no longer share this common desire,” then “our people might be no longer willing to continue their long-term involvement in the defense of Europe.” Amid the fecklessness of France, over the threat posed by Iran, Eisenhower’s warning to De Gaulle — and the danger of a separate piece — resonates all the more powerfully in our own time.

France: Une Paix Séparée?

France: Une Paix Séparée?

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