this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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To be fair, maybe he actually thought that US would back his idiotic plan, and when was told to go pound sand that's where he flipped to US is unreliable narrative.
Here he is saying it five months ago: https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-china-america-pressure-interview/
In March 2022: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/macron-distances-himself-from-us-biden-calling-putin-a-butcher/2547489
In Sept 2020: https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-europe-dependency-us-arms/
Fair enough, it's not the first time he's made noises like this, but US not backing his hare brained scheme is likely the reason behind the latest outburst.
It's not an "outburst", it's his consistent line. He's staking his career on this "autonomous Europe" bet
https://web.archive.org/web/20230531170024/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230411-president-macron-to-visit-netherlands-amid-row-over-china-comments
https://web.archive.org/web/20230608023631/https://www.politico.eu/article/74-percent-of-europeans-agree-with-french-president-emmanuel-macron-on-china-us-defense-report-shows/
Germany, UK and France were something like the centers of influence in the EU. Since UK brexited, Macron tries to capitalize on France being the one calling the shots, but doing it in a pretty embarassing manner. Remember his call to Putin early in 2022? Whatever one thinks about the subject of the call, he ran rogue from the EU and tried to be the frontrunner of EU-Russia relationships and probably claim the title of the peacemaker. Predictably, the only things he's got are a tacker's lecture and international WTF. And he also does this to the US, making himself look like a middleman in a EU-US dialogue. He looks like a Napoleon from historically incorrect jokes about his height, but not being a Napoleon-tier historical figure himself, but rather a side character. The type you skip all dialogs with.
Except the effect of his "autonomous Europe" policy is Europe being more and more dependent and more and more sabotaged by USA. Sure, Germany have more to say about it and they are gargling on US boot totally lately, but France influence is almost as big.
I guess they had a decent shot at it in the last two decades, but they blew it completely, and considering what Hollande and Merkel did with Minsk agreements, maybe they were never really intended to do it anyway.
There's a big difference between rhetoric and policy. The policy Macron is pursuing is ensuring the opposite of independent Europe.
No he's just inconsistent, trying to appease different audiences.
yeah that's the most likely scenario