In the News: a phone call to ease tensions between France and the United States
Audio 05:23
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for thirty minutes in the context of the current diplomatic crisis on September 22, 2021. © AP / Susan Walsh
By: Mehdi Meddeb
9 mins
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“
An offer of peace.
"Joe Biden"
offered an olive branch
"to Emmanuel Macron.
The Financial Times
relates the phone call: thirty minutes in a "
friendly
"
tone
, according to the White House press secretary quoted by
The Wall Street Journal
. "
This is the first time the two have spoken since the start of this major diplomatic crisis
," adds an online CNN article. Biden appeared to recognize "
missteps
" in the conduct of the submarine talks. "
A rare admission
" for the American media.
But "
the United States did not apologize,
" says
The New York Times
.
The two countries "
agreed in a joint statement that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest
".
"
A bland diplomatic language
" for the American newspaper after a phone call requested by Biden.
For a Macron in full presidential pre-campaign, "
any suggestion of supplication would have been unacceptable
", notes
The New York Times
.
What to expect from these new contacts between France and the United States
?
The subtext of this joint statement is being scrutinized by the foreign press. The reference to a "
stronger European military defense complementary to NATO
", "
a key priority
" for Macron, underlines
Politico
.
The Financial Times
assures us that a French official said that the United States "was
trying to repair the relationship in a 'transactional' way
". Ringing and stumbling? In any case, Naval Group, the cheated signatory of the submarine agreement, has "
already sent the invoice
", we learn in
The Washington Post
.
The French still sulks the Australian.
"
It will take time,
" as Prime Minister Morrison conceded this Wednesday morning to
The
Guardian
.
The British newspaper adds that if the French ambassador is due to return to Washington next week, "
nothing is less certain for the one posted to Canberra
".
This diplomatic crisis, "the
last challenge to the American administration to maintain the unity of its allies
", as judge
The Wall Street Journal
.
Some allies are instead trying to stoke the embers
"
Boris Johnson fuels the flames of the crisis even more
", for
El Mundo
. On the sidelines of his visit to the United States, the Prime Minister asks France to be reassured, in a mixture of "Franglais" to SkyNews, mocked around the world. "
Take a grip ... Pull yourself together ... Give me a station wagon,
" he said. For Bloomberg, "
BoJo mocks French outrage
". "
A statement that Macron did not seem to find very funny,
" comments
The New York Times
.
A British Prime Minister who "
deepens the break with France
", according to the
Guardian
, which recalls that BoJo spoke shortly before the phone call from Biden and "was
preparing to appease the fury of Paris
". France and the United Kingdom have been competing for friendliness lately; London fifth wheel of the carriage for Le Drian; an American vassal for Clément Beaune. Words that risk having a lasting impact. "
Some British officials
, ensures the
Financial Times
,
expect a" hardening of positions "from France on" sensitive issues "of Brexit trade relations
", or on the issue of migrants.
A Boris Johnson who did everything to attract the enlightenment of the foreign press
"
My friends, humanity's adolescence is drawing to a close
."
Late last night at the UN platform, the
Guardian
gave the long, verbatim account of BoJo's post-teenage speech, which is hosting COP 26 in Glasgow in just over a month.
He compares "
humanity to an impetuous 16-year-old teenager
," says the British newspaper.
A BoJo who has disserted on the Greek word
deino
, succeeded in quoting in this same speech Sophocles and Kermit the frog of the
Muppets
: “
It is easy to be green.
Hats off to the artist! But by the way, "
when did he switch to BoJo green
?"
Asks
Politico
. The irony is that he was teeming with climate skepticism. "
He has spent the last decades doubting the need to do anything to fight against climate change
", adds, cruel, the American site.
"
He must explain his climate conversion
", headlines
The Times
.
David Ahoronovitch takes him at his word.
And unearths his past statements and writings.
"
Not so long ago, he took up the climate-denial writings of a Piers Corbyn - now anti-vaccine activist
," the English newspaper tells us.
And who doubted the impact of greenhouse gases on the climate.
"
A Boris Johnson show at the United Nations
", yet very serious Bloomberg still quipped.
A trip, however, which will not be able to eclipse "
other setbacks, in particular President Biden minimizing the prospect of a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States
", concludes, clear and factual,
The Washington Post
.
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