© Strategic Culture Foundation
Just what is Emmanuel Macron thinking with his recent media trysts which have gained the attention of the world? Initially, we thought his statements about sending French troops to Ukraine to fight Russian forces was merely chaf to throw up in the air to distract journalists and a gullible French public. It's true, it has rattled Germany which promptly replied to Macron, reminding him that EU countries are not "at war with Russia" - a curious statement given that just a week earlier, a leaked audio conversation with German air force chiefs revealed that they wanted to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine so as to hit the Crimean bridge.
Of course, now that we all know what the intentions of the Germans were, Scholz has been forced to backpedal and downplay the scandal, sticking to its position of neutrality.
But if you think that's funny, wait until you see what Macron has in store for Old Europe. Could it be really true that he believes French troops could end up in Ukraine? A quick glance at the actual quote from
Le Parisienne interview
would suggest the opposite and that he's hedging his bets, or, as some suspect trying to bait the Americans into wanting to get there first. Is this what the British expression "jumping the gun" really means?
"Maybe at some point - I don't want it, I won't take the initiative - we will have to have operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter the Russian forces," he is quoted as saying. In reality, it seems as though he has been misquoted as there is no story here. Even he is saying on the record that he won't authorise it. So is he hinting at other western countries taking the lead, perhaps the Poles, Lithuanians and Latvians? Possibly.
But in reality, the most likely scenario would be the U.S. biting the bullet and financing a private army made up of various nationalities.
Yet even this initiative would need to be prepared for media and even Russia itself so that the underlying point is clear: this is not a NATO war.
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