Is France NATO's worst member?
Recent comments by French president Emmanuel Macron may have unseated Turkey from it's
position as worst NATO ally.
It's no secret that since Turkey's Erdogan took power in 2014, the nation has become
the worst NATO ally.
In fact, under President Erdogan, Turkey technically wouldn't qualify for NATO membership as he's
cracked down on free press and used national press to silence opposition groups.
After the military attempted a coup to restore democracy in Turkey, Erdogan had over 200
journalists and 120 media outlets closed.
In 2019 Turkey was kicked out of the F-35 program by the US, after it went against America's
wishes and bought S-400 air defense units from Russia- which Russia could use to collect
intelligence on operational F-35s in the Turkish air force.
Meanwhile in the current Ukraine-Russia war, Turkey has waffled between its commitments
to NATO and its wish to build stronger economic ties with Russia, but has generally leaned
towards supporting Ukraine.
And on top of all this, Turkey is constantly threatening war with fellow NATO member and
neighbor, Greece, over disputed islands.
This makes Turkey NATO's most difficult member, one who's very commitment to Article 5 has
been rightfully called into question on more than one occasion.
But France's Emmanuel Macron has now raised the question- will France become NATO's most
self-sabotaging member?
On April 9th, Macron was flying back home after a three day trip to China.
During his trip he was attempting to woo China into pressuring Russia to end the war, a noble
goal- but with China nothing comes without significant cost.
And on his flight back, Macron may have revealed what China demanded of France in return- in
effect, complete capitulation of Europe from the NATO alliance.
At least where Chinese ambitions are concerned.
Speaking to reporters, Macron stated that Europe's greatest risk was getting caught
up, quote- “in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic
autonomy”.
Macron further warned that Europe should not blindly follow the US into a conflict with
China over Taiwan, and instead France and Europe should seek a, quote- “third path”-
end quote, with China.
Macron's remarks were met with a hail of praise from Chinese officials- and you know you're
doing something good for the world when an authoritarian state threatening to invade
its peaceful neighbor because it believes that neighbor belongs in its sphere of influence,
praises every word you say.
Reminder, we're talking about China here, not Russia, though you'd be forgiven for being
confused.
On that same trip, Macron was briefly joined by European Commission President Ursula von
der Leyen, who seemed to be on a different page than France.
The EU president plainly stated to China's Xi Jinping that an invasion of Taiwan would
be completely unacceptable.
Xi clapped back stating that anyone who thought they would be able to deter Beijing on its
ambitions with Taiwan was quote- “delusional”.
Macron, who is starting to sound a lot like Xi's second favorite lapdog after Vladimir
Putin, was quick to state on return from China that Europe was basically helpless to stop
the war in Ukraine, so how credible was it for it to try and deter China from invading
Taiwan which was on the other side of the world?
To be completely fair to Macron, he was right on Ukraine- Europe has over relied on the
US for its own security, and was completely unprepared to stop, or even supply a nation
waging a war in its own backyard.
In fact, Europe had done basically the opposite of being prepared for a confrontation with
Russia, not just slashing its defense budgets to criminal lows, but actively intertwining
its economy with Russia.
In the famous style of Germany's Angela Merkel, Europe thought it could deter conflict by
bringing Russia into the economic fold- despite warnings from some Europe nations and the
US that this was foolish.
Instead, Europe was giving Russia all the leverage it could over it, becoming critically
reliant on Russian energy which Russia could use to blackmail Europe into coercion.
The greatest shock of the last year of war in Ukraine is the pain Europe was willing
to endure to cut ties with Russia, but that pain could have been avoided if Europe had
bothered to read the writing on the wall, present since at least the late 2000s as Russia
launched increasingly aggressive political operations inside European countries.
Now, Europe seems set to repeat its mistakes but this time with an even more powerful authoritarian
state- China.
Already, Europe and China deal in about $800 billion of bilateral trade, making China Europe's
second largest trading partner after the US.
At a time that the US is urging readiness to decouple with China, and pressuring its
own companies to find alternatives, Europe seems reluctant to take the pain once again
and instead is embracing even closer economic ties with the Asian hegemon.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day though, so who knows- maybe China will be deterred
from invading Taiwan if Europe threatens to cut off its supply of Nutella.
Macron seems to think that it's not even in Europe's interest to get involved at all however,
and instead seems to be taking speaking points directly from Chinese propaganda.
He argues that Europe must not become an American vassal state, and that it must reduce its
dependency on US weapons, energy, and even the US dollar for global trade.
All of these happen to be key Chinese policy objectives also shared by Moscow.
Macron isn't completely wrong on European dependence on the US for defense, and notably
was completely silent on the matter of US security guarantees for Europe or the ongoing
defense assistance that the US is providing to Ukraine.
Seems like Macron wants to have his cake and eat it too- he wants less US involvement in
Europe while wanting continued assurance that the US will come to Europe's conventional
and nuclear defense in case of war.
But truth be told, it would be good for Europe to finally become independent and capable
of taking on second-rate aggressors like Russia on its own.
This would save US taxpayers billions- but it's those same billions that Europeans are
loathe to invest into their own defense.
Historically, defense spending has not just been a low priority for Europeans, but politicians
who advocated for it have done poorly at the ballot box.
Living under America's defense umbrella has lulled Europe into a deep sense of complacency,
and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has done much to wake them from their peace coma.
However, the problem with Macron's words isn't that it encourages European autonomy- a good
thing- but that it actively undermines the entire western-led world order and advocates
for the return of authoritarianism on the world stage.
In the wake of the second world war, both the US and Europe have actively worked to
create a liberal world order and end the competition between liberal democracies and authoritarian
states.
Macron's vision for Europe doesn't just threaten to undermine all that hard work, but put the
world once more on the path of great power competition and inevitable war.
China is not just a US concern, or a regional one for Asia, as Macron claims.
China, and its expansionist ambitions, are a global concern.
The nation sees the current liberal world order as a threat to its own existence- or
at least the continued existence of the Chinese Communist Party, who ensures its own citizens
get no silly ideas on democracy and self-determination by completely curtailing their own access
to the internet and allowing only state-sponsored media.
In order for the Chinese Communist Party to survive, it must spread its brand of authoritarianism
around the world, changing global views on democracy and liberalism and creating a world
stage that's accepting of autocratic governments.
It's already done this in its own backyard, subsidizing the export of mass surveillance
technology to like-minded authoritarian states in Asia.
But China's ambitions to invade Taiwan aren't just an ideological threat, but a very real
economic one for the entire world.
Currently, Taiwan manufactures over half of the world's semiconductor supply, and over
90% of the supply of the most technologically advanced microchips in use inside the latest
weapons and most cutting edge commercial products.
Without these chips, global economies would come to a screeching halt, and no nation could
field a modern defense potential without them.
Already during Covid lockdowns the world got a taste of what a catastrophe a microchip
shortage would be, as prices on consumer electronics and even vehicles skyrocketed.
Some items became completely unavailable, and supply chains around the world were disrupted
as plants everywhere sat around waiting for their vital microchips which make their finished
products work.
Taiwan is not going to accept Chinese authoritarianism for themselves, and polls show an overwhelming
majority of citizens support resisting a Chinese invasion.
This means China must take Taiwan by force, and a war in the Taiwan strait won't just
disrupt global supply chains, it'll shut them down for as much as years as Taiwan's industrial
potential is rebuilt post-war.
The question however is who will be in charge of Taiwan's microchip production after a war-
Taiwan, or the Chinese Communist Party?
While doing all he could to cheerlead for China, Macron seemed to conveniently leave
out the effects of Taiwan's sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and how
a subsequent microchip shortage has forced Russia to cannibalize consumer electronics
for chips to put into its missiles and other weapons.
It's believed that Russia's ability to manufacture precision weapons has been slashed by about
66%, and the capabilities of those weapons will be greatly diminished as it's forced
to rely on lower quality Chinese chips.
For the moment, Russia can forget about creating any future fleets of T-14s or Su-57s.
This is the exact same situation anyone opposing China will find themselves in if China seizes
Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing capability, or rebuilds it after a successful invasion.
And this is the reason that Macron is a fool to believe that Europe's interests either
aren't aligned with the US's, or don't include Asia.
Macron's wish for European autonomy from the US and a quote- “third path”- for Europe
would ironically turn Europe from an imagined vassal of the United States- in his own mind-
into a very real vassal of China as China threatens to shut down Europe's economy by
denying microchips and other electronics needed by any modern economy.
And most Europeans are aware that Taiwan matters not just for ideological reasons, but for
very practical national defense ones as well.
Macron's infamous speech- which China immediately punctuated by launching a three day military
exercise simulating a fight over and around Taiwan- has been decried by many Europeans.
European People's Party chief Manfred Weber called Macron's statements on China a “disaster”.
A statement signed by lawmakers from across the EU, including 15 MPs- one from Macron's
own political party- read, “It should be emphasized that the president's words are
severely out of step with the feeling across Europe's legislatures and beyond.”
What could have motivated Macron to push for Europe to jeopardize both its own security
and turn its back on its oldest ally, as well as undermine its commitment to a democratic
global order?
Some will claim it was his desire to try to woo China into pressuring Russia to end its
war in Ukraine.
However, the fact that Macron arrived in Beijing flanked by over 30 French business leaders
speaks strongly about Macron's real goal: enriching France.
For its part, China not only embarrassed Macron by immediately launching a three day exercise
simulating a conflict with Taiwan hours after his interview, but now has thrown even more
pie in his face as Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, publicly stated that the former
Soviet states do not have sovereign status as independent nations.
The statement led to immediate outrage across Europe- most notably in exactly the former
Soviet states he was speaking of, all of whom immediately summoned their own Chinese ambassadors.
The massive backlash against the ambassador's remarks prompted China to backtrack and state
that it respected the independence of these nations.
However, the writing is on the wall.
China's vision for the future of the world is clear, and the only question is will France
continue to undermine both European and global security, ensuring it becomes NATO's worst
member, for its own interests, or will it change course and help prevent a second disastrous
invasion by an authoritarian state- but this time, one with global repercussions.
Now, since you don't live in China and have uncensored internet, check out France's World
War III plan, or click this other video instead!