” Any further attack on the territorial integrity of Ukraine will have massive consequences. Couldn’t be clearer, said the French Foreign Minister to the Sunday newspaper. My German colleague said “not one more step”, I make this expression my own “, completes Jean-Yves Le Drian who will travel to Ukraine on February 7 and 8, accompanied by his German ecologist colleague, Annalena Baerbock.
Martial warning or simple chin blow? Reading the weekly Point, that is the question. Because ” the first international crisis of 2022” is consecutive to “ultimatum” launched by Russia on December 17, when Moscow in fact demanded “a return of Ukraine to Russian rule » and the reconstitution of a « strategic glacis on the western marches of Russia “, sums up this magazine. But in this real showdown, the United States alone leads the negotiation “, is heartbroken Point.
As for the Europeans, they are infantilized, reduced to the role of spectators », and they validate the Russian thesis according to which the European Union « does not count “, valued Point.
Le Drian accuses Wagner
Jean-Yves Le Drian who, moreover, attacks once again this morning the new authorities of Mali and the Russian group Wagner. “ In fact “, the fight against terrorism appears in the eyes of the new Malian leaders ” as secondary “, says the French Minister of Foreign Affairs in The Sunday Journal.
According to Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Wagner society “ uses the weakness of certain states to establish itself (…) and beyond to strengthen the influence of Russia in Africa “. The minister affirms that in Mali, Wagner’s men-at-arms “ are already using the country’s resources in exchange for the protection of the junta. They despoil Mali “says Jean-Yves Le Drian at JDD.
France at the challenge on African soil
Ukraine, “Barkhane”… so many subjects which are the poor relations of the electoral campaign. This week, precisely, the magazine Marianne opens the dossier of France’s African policy.
According to this weekly, Emmanuel Macron’s mandate ends ” in confusion, disappointment and the beginnings of an inglorious – but not without consequence – exit from the long, too long, military expedition to Mali “.
As reminded Marianne “ the Élysée had set two red lines not to be crossed: “an effective partnership with (…) Wagner and a postponement of the elections scheduled for mid-February 2022. It has now been almost a month since Wagner’s mercenaries put the feet in the country, a few dozen at the beginning, several hundred now, already involved alongside the Malian armed forces in a clash with a group of jihadists, assures Marianne. As for the elections… “, sighs this magazine, pointing out that, “ since the end of the experiments of “African socialism” (…) rarely has a country of its former backyard challenged the former colonial power to such an extent “.
So ? strength is for Marianne to notice that ” the clocks of some of the African elites (…) like civil societies are no longer set to those of Paris (…) There remained this famous unique military network (…) on African soil. However, a growing number of Africans no longer support this claim to maintain an “imperial” military presence, even for a supposedly good cause. Among other things because (…) Paris has supported and still supports illegitimate and frankly detestable, even appalling regimes “, valued Marianne. To conclude, this weekly summons the Burkinabè historian Joseph Ki-Zerbo, who wrote: “ The North must have enough common sense and modesty to understand that it can learn something from the countries of the South “.