On the frayed Atlantic solidarity
The world is divided into two groups of politicians: some allow themselves to be scathingly mocked by Joe Biden, others do not laugh.
In the NATO part of Europe, badly shattered back under Donald Trump, the news that Biden had forgotten what Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s name was at the AUKUS bloc’s inaugural presentation has been picked up with delight. The President said, addressing Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison, “Congratulations to you, Boris, on this outstanding day, and congratulations to you too… like you, anyway, the guy on the other side, congratulations too. Bless you, old man.”
Old age forgetfulness is a common phenomenon, it may not be worth laughing at. But it is not at all funny that American generals stole a president’s right to be the first to press the “nuclear button”. True, they pulled that stunt under Trump, but Biden did not notice that his “right of the first night” has disappeared. Not because he is oblivious, but because the generals do not believe in his intelligence, just as they did not believe in Donald Trump’s sanity. The trick is simple: the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, has agreed with all the top commanders that if a “fire” command comes from the president, not to execute it, but to consult among themselves further to see if the president is out of his mind.
Funny? It depends.
So when Joe Biden claimed in a CNN interview that “America has no troops in Syria”, the humorists didn’t even pay attention. No means no. Biden knows better. And the ones that are there are not Americans.
It is easy to make fun of the American president’s mind, but many do not care. There are countries whose leaders are sad. Take for example the outstanding fighters against aggressive Russia – the Baltic States. For them, Biden’s turn to create a new Anglo-Saxon bloc sounded like the sound of a funeral bell. America is withdrawing to another front, and who will help the Baltic orphans, who gave everything they had to fight the “Russian threat”?
Not wishing to tolerate any more attacks of the Baltic dwarfs, Russia and Belorussia declared a cessation of transit through their sea ports. Transshipment of oil and oil products as well as bulk cargoes will go through the ports of the Russian Federation. The figures indicating the change are convincing: Estonia will lose 70% of Russian fertiliser exports, Latvia 93%, Lithuania 99%.
And in Washington they seem to notice nothing. They don’t promise to compensate losses to the Baltic States. Not only that: they ask to continue spending 2% of their GDP on defense. If to take into account that 30% of budgets of Baltic republics consists of the European injections, and their sources are drying up, it looks like an original offer: go on performing your allied duty, boys, and God will serve the poor.
What about France, which lost its contract to build submarines for Australia. On the one hand, the Americans like to play jokes on their allies in this way; they have just played one on the democratic government of Afghanistan. On the other hand, it is not the allies’ fault – they were counting on “Atlantic solidarity”. And here comes Biden, who has dotted the i’s. This is especially true of the French.
At one time French President de Gaulle was looking for protection against the “Soviet threat” but soon realised that he had fallen into a trap. The Americans were deploying their bases in Europe, including France, making the French hostage to a potential Soviet nuclear strike. “The participation of a state in NATO, where the Americans are in undivided command, can easily involve that state, against its will, in a dangerous military adventure,” de Gaulle said and withdrew from the NATO military structure in 1966. France then declared about the withdrawal from the territory of the country of 29 American bases with 33 thousand servicemen. But in 2009 President Sarkozy, who was not at all de Gaulle in his statesmanship, brought France back into the NATO military bloc.
Germans are more far-sighted, they have long understood that America is a very peculiar ally: you never know when it will bail. This is why Germany has long promoted the idea of a joint European military force. And France is thinking about it – they don’t want to get into trouble trusting American jokers.
Dmitry Sedov, FSC