AUKUS: Maintaining West's unity will 'require a lot of effort', German official says, as France rages over nuclear submarine deal

Maintaining unity between Western allies will "require a lot of effort" in light of an unfolding rift between France and members of a new security partnership, Germany's ambassador to the UK has said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has so far not commented directly, but on Friday a top French diplomat spoke anonymously of a "crisis" in relations with the US.

He said that for Paris "this is a strategic question concerning the very nature of the relationship between Europe and the United States about the Indo-Pacific strategy".

He added that Australia never mentioned to France its wish to shift to nuclear-powered submarines, including during a meeting between Mr Macron and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The French diplomat said that Mr Macron received a letter from Mr Morrison on Wednesday morning announcing the decision to cancel the submarine deal.

After the deal was announced, Mr Le Drian told franceinfo radio it was a "brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision" reminiscent of the sort of actions Donald Trump would take.

He said: "I am angry and bitter. This isn't done between allies. It's a stab in the back. We created a relationship of trust with Australia, and that trust has been broken."

Also from the article: "A French foreign ministry statement did not mention the UK, but a diplomatic source said France believed Britain's joining of the deal was opportunistic."

I'm not convinced. I've noticed how carefully the French government (and global media types) have avoided commenting on the UK's involvement in this. Heck, it's right there in the name of this deal, AUKUS. Even this article's mention of UK involvement needs to be carefully parsed. "Opportunistic" makes it sound like it was done on a whim, capriciously following the lead of the United States. Although it could also be seen as opportunistic for a post-BREXIT UK to re-assert its Commonwealth connection with Australia and pull the rug out from beneath Macron.

The early articles about this deal mentioned the Brits in a more "central" manner, but since then everything has skewed towards blaming the U.S. and the Aussies. I'm sure the Biden Central Committee puppeteers were happy to play along, since the "Blame the U.S." script is already their daily mantra and roughly adheres to their policy of weakening ties between America and its oldest allies.

Always watch for what they're *not* saying and note when the article is obviously baiting and distracting you - as with the gratuitous swipe at Trump.

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