... financial standing. “Rather than part to the feast with a fool, better in difficulty with the wise” – Romanian folk saying.
Inconsistencies: Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi ? … manifest themselves as trust breakers. Illustratively: in the EU, France and Germany were imposing a 3% budget deficit maximum, while themselves were not capable of taming their own budgets. Similarly, today only naïve EU countries sanction Russia, the sanction-initiators themselves having found finance intermediaries ...
Throughout the years, France has maintained an interest in the South Caucasus, as is reflected by its membership in the OSCE Minsk group, alongside the US and Russia, aiming to help find a solution in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is thus important to analyze the reasons ...
... another debacle suffered by French diplomacy on the African continent, these sentiments seemed more like an attempt to save the blushes by presenting the erstwhile neocolonialism clothed in a more alluring mantle.
Useful recalcitrance
Alexei Chikhchev:
France and Africa: Another Fresh Start?
Setting the French leader’s speech in a broader context, it is appropriate to recall that reflecting on the desired structure of the international system is not something new either to the foreign policy of the ...
France was once home to a far-flung empire in Africa. After World War II, independence movements resulted in the empire’s breakup, followed by the establishment of new post-colonial states. Though France officially left the continent, it still maintained ...
... course of events will be for West Africa or the people of Niger itself. It is very likely that the radical change of power will not continue in Niger with the same success as in neighbouring Mali or Burkina Faso. However, it is already obvious that France’s system of post-colonial influence in this region is in a deep crisis, the consequences of which remain uncertain, including the general interaction of the West with the developing countries which are least protected from its claims.
France,...
... where he heralded a postcolonial “new era” in Franco-African relations. This statement was made on the eve of the French leader’s second tour to several local countries in recent months, with the intention to set the tone both for the trip and for France’s regional strategy for the coming years. In an attempt to mitigate the failure of anti-terrorist
Operation Barkhane
, the president introduced new policy outlines and the methods of its implementation. However, Macron’s reasoning, as well ...
... the case of “Russia is losing to NATO and produces its nuclear big stick,”
other nuclear powers
also envision, both
overtly and covertly
, such ways of using nuclear weapons. So far, it is certainly difficult to imagine a situation when, say, France gets involved in the hostilities around Ukraine and suffers horrendous losses, but life is full of surprises. At the same time, given the current available forces and the
“conventional deterrence” concept
in its various forms, first there ...
On May 5, 2022, Igor Ivanov, RIAC President, had a meeting with French Ambassador Pierre Levy and German Ambassador Geza Andreas von Geyr at the French Embassy in Russia
On May 5, 2022, Igor Ivanov, RIAC President, had a meeting with French Ambassador Pierre Levy and German Ambassador Geza Andreas von Geyr at the French Embassy in Russia.
The meeting addressed the prospects in relations between Russia and the European Union against the backdrop of the ongoing special military operation on the territory...
... table on resolving the Ukrainian crisis and a ceasefire
On March 31, 2022, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with Institut Montaigne held a round table on resolving the Ukrainian crisis and a ceasefire. Experts from Russia and France were invited to participate in the discussion.
RIAC members and scientists representing RAS IMEMO, RAS Institute of Europe, MGIMO University, Higher School of Economics, as well as French experts from Institut Montaigne and the European Council ...
... Ambassador to Russia, at his residence
On March 9, 2022, Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, had a meeting with Pierre Levy, French Ambassador to Russia, at his residence.
The conversation was structured around the state and prospects of Russia-France relations in the context of Russia’s military operation on the territory of Ukraine. Possible new EU sanctions against Russia, as well as the options for de-escalating the crisis, were discussed. The meeting was attended by French Embassy staff....