Hello, Pierre de Villiers finally resigned. This french president for whom "the french culture doesn't exist" already made the army his ennemy.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20170719/french-army-chief-quits-after-public-row-with-emmanuel-macron Breaking news. The chief of France's armed forces resigned on Wednesday just days after he was publicly hauled back into line by French president Emmanuel Macron after a public row over cuts to the military's budget. General Pierre De Villiers, 61, presented his resignation to Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday morning.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/nato-share-breakdown-country-2017-2 Here's a breakdown of each country's contribution, based on 2016 figures provided by NATO: United States, 3.61%. Greece, 2.38%. Britain, 2.21%. Estonia, 2.16%. Poland, 2%. France, 1.78%. Turkey, 1.56%. Norway, 1.54%. Lithuania, 1.49%. Romania, 1.48%. Latvia, 1.45%. Portugal, 1.38%. Bulgaria, 1.35%. Croatia, 1.23%. Albania, 1.21%. Germany, 1.19%. Denmark, 1.17%. Netherlands, 1.17%. Slovakia, 1.16%. Italy, 1.11%. Czech Republic, 1.04%. Hungary, 1.01%. Canada, 0.99%. Slovenia, 0.94%. Spain, 0.91%. Belgium, 0.85%. Luxembourg, 0.44%. If anything, France should be spending more on defense.
Macron is starting to come across as arrogant and egotistical. Besides, he promised to honour the nato 2% pledge.
Time to sanction? It seems unfair that Brussels and Berlin bully Warsaw and Polish pleas fall on deaf ears in London and Paris.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-germany-idUSKBN197156 BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany threatened on Friday to retaliate against the United States if new sanctions on Russia being proposed by the U.S. Senate end up penalizing German firms. The Senate bill, approved on Thursday by a margin of 98-2, includes new sanctions against Russia and Iran. Crucially, it foresees punitive measures against entities that provide material support to Russia in building energy export pipelines. Berlin fears that could pave the way for fines against German and European firms involved in Nord Stream 2, a project to build a pipeline carrying Russian gas across the Baltic. Among the European companies involved in the project are German oil and gas group Wintershall, German energy trading firm Uniper, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV and France’s Engie. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman described the Senate bill, which must be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by President Donald Trump before it becomes law, as "a peculiar move". He said it was "strange" that sanctions intended to punish Russia for alleged interference in the U.S. elections could also trigger penalties against European companies. "That must not happen," said the spokesman, Steffen Seibert. In an interview with Reuters, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said Berlin would have to think about counter-measures if Trump backed the plan. "If he does, we'll have to consider what we are going to do against it," Zypries said. The sharp response from Berlin comes at a time of deep strains in the transatlantic relationship due to shifts in U.S. policy and a more confrontational rhetoric towards Europe under Trump. The new U.S. president has lambasted European partners for not contributing more to NATO, slammed Germany for running a large trade surplus with the United States and broken with allies on climate change with his decision to exit the landmark Paris agreement on combating greenhouse gas emissions. Ironically, the part of the Senate bill that targets Russia was introduced by some of the president's top critics, including Republican hawk John McCain. They are intent on limiting Trump's ability to forge warmer ties with Russia, a key foreign policy pledge during his campaign for the presidency, but one he has been unable to deliver on amid investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
He will be replaced by a yes man. This is normal politics. Generals resign over cuts very often. I respect those who do. Sending people to their deaths requires them to be men of honour. Generals who just go along with it? The losing kind of general. Not one you want in charge of your army. I don't expect many people to join America in sanctions on Russia's energy industry. America may have rival gas to sell, but not everyone does.
Like Turkish military! *reaction .. Like Polish courts. Like ****. I never thought the French Army would surrender.
He is the kind of man able to say something and one hour after saying exactly the opposite. Most of his speech are made of long senseless sentences who can be interpreted as you which. We're already one of the country with the most interventions, in Mali. Furthermore, protecting the indenpendance of a country is too to reduce debt. However, Macron doesn't wish to lower the number of interventions and will probably endanger the life of the soldiers. The danger for France don't come from the oustide, so it's not the army which would be the most suited to act.
