Emmanuel Macron caused a stir on the evening of February 26 by not excluding the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine. A taboo has fallen, even if nothing indicates the proximity of such an outcome
And suddenly, the seismograph of European diplomacy panicked, pointing to a tremor of great magnitude across the continent. On the occasion of a summit of Ukraine’s allies, hastily assembled in Paris on the evening of February 26, Emmanuel Macron broke a taboo. “There is no consensus today to send ground troops in an official, accepted and endorsed manner. But in dynamics, nothing should be excluded. We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot win this war,” the head of state explained in front of his European counterparts and American and Canadian envoys.
We remain at the verb stage. This is what political scientist Bertrand Badie underlines, author last year of the work “For a subjective approach to international relations” (ed. Odile Jacob) and authority on the subject. “There is nothing in Emmanuel Macron’s declaration that corresponds to the implementation of a new strategy. We can see the deconstruction of a form of self-censorship,” he judges. He recalls that the “red line” that Westerners had imposed on themselves has already been crossed. Great Britain and France provide the attacked with long-range missiles (Storm Shadow and Scalp). Denmark is preparing to deliver F-16 fighter jets, an unlikely hypothesis during the Russian invasion two years ago. “We cannot exclude anything,” Gabriel Attal mimetically confirmed this February 27 in the morning. Not even the possibility of French soldiers being sent to Ukraine by a President who, less than two years ago, did not want to “humiliate Russia”.
This article is originally published on sudouest.f
