Macron is a real piece of work, n'est-ce pas? (Is it really a French thing to marry your schoolteacher?) But apparently his charisma is such that, they say, nobody who ever met him would ever vote against him. And such self-confidence! OK: but who'd trust him a single centimetre?
In fact, just the kind of person the Chinese can play like a tin whistle, the tune being that old favourite, Divide and Rule. Flushed with his pre-invasion, errr, success across that long table with Putin, off he goes to Beijing to persuade Xi of, well, something or other that will surely bring conflict in Ukraine to an end. Well, won't it? But not content with this naïve presumption, he also drags along Ursula von der Leyen, only for her to be royally snubbed by the Chinese, fobbed off with having to carry her own bags through passport control while the Little Emperor is whisked off on a red carpet. Two years ago I'd have found this very funny but since early last year, much to my surprise, von der Leyen seems to have grown in stature considerably.
Well: such is the nature of his diplomatic prowess that Macron is immediately suspected by everyone of plotting to sell Taiwan down the river. And can anyone see the fragrant Ursula rushing to take his next call? But it turns out that he's just brainstorming a bit, seeing what's on, floating ideas, trying a few things; c'est juste sa manière, tu ne sais pas? - and of course he's misunderstood. Of course. Here's how the ultra-articulate French spin-doctoring machine tries to walk it all back.
But I rather doubt anyone is convinced.
ND
5 comments:
Interesting outfit 'Texas National Security Review', worrying about Macron having cosy chats with China.
Obviously Mr Macron would like to keep a few nice earners going with the Red Chinese and the US in its turn would like to keep all the goody useful top end tech for itself - obvs.
Back in the day our jolly Kentish ironmasters made cannon for England and France and Spain - whoever had the gold - plus ca change.
Meanwhile our Mr Tugenhadt is keen we keep the wicked old Chinese away from Newport Wafer Fab. Because they have SiC technology that is advanced tech. So advanced a tech you can buy it on eBay. SiC power diodes are the bottom end of that tech and far far from a SiC computer chip. Which no one needs - easier to cool an ordinary silicon chip inside your average hypersonic missile.
Not only the BoE doing its best to make us poorer. We need more two faced deceptive toerags like Macron, surely Westminster can find a few. Diplomat = honest man sent to lie abroad for his country.
Slightly OT, but I was doing a quick bit of 'research' (i.e. browsing) on the feasibility* of the 'ha-ha! Russia is reduced to dismantling washing machines for chips!' tales, and discovered that by strange chance Blackberry Pi's have been almost unobtainable since March last year - despite the fact that the original production plant is Sony in Pencoed, Glamorgan. Wiki tells me they are also made in China and somewhere I forget.
I think the delivery date on a Pi4 with 8Gb was January 2024!
Most odd ;-)
* the Dutch head of ASML (top lithographic machines) said that 'some industries' were doing this, I think at the height of covid.
ND - who voted for UvdL exactly? At least Macron won an election. And he's the only politician who seems to have noticed that the vaunted "independent European foreign policy" of yesteryear has vanished like the morning mist. US policy is running the show, with just possibly the Poles trying to out-Yank the Yanks.
Churchill was so right about Polish governments:
"The heroic characteristics of the Polish race must not blind us to their errors, which over centuries have led them through measureless suffering…it is a mystery and tragedy of European history that a people capable of every heroic virtue, gifted, valiant, charming, as individuals, should repeatedly show such inveterate faults in almost every aspect of their governmental life.”
Without Russian control 1945-1990 Warsaw would be like London and Krakow like Birmingham, with Poles a minority, either too poor to get out to the country or wealthy enough to not have to.
My village has plenty of ex-Londoners who strangely didn't want to raise their kids there. Even 35 years ago when I had a bedsit there I would compare a five mile walk from say Norbury to Clapham at night with 5 miles around my countryside, where threat assessment just wasn't necessary.
And in London you need a LOT of wealth. Visiting my son in Highbury, terraced streets all worth a million plus, we're walking to the pub, a guy chasing two others with a chunk of wood, "Come back and fight! Pussy! You pussy!".
"Welcome to North London, Dad"
"Like South London 30 years back, son"
@Anon 11.53
Do you know the way to Clapham?
No, I'm only an innocent young boy.
Boom boom.
Remember those with their innocent, pleading eyes peering over masks "Stay at home, keep safe, wear a mask, socially distance... SAVE THE NHS" the ones we dutifully obeyed and closed down much of UK business for two years for and are now paying for dearly in its contribution to wild inflation ?
Well guess what they've just done.
They've just shut down the NHS. They've SHUT-IT-DOWN in a way that COVID never did. Pulled the plug.
They've done it for political reasons and for money.
Yet it was heresy to say we should keep our country going for political reasons and for money.
Sorry to go off topic.
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