For both bigger European continental powers, France and Germany, the US-UK-Australian pact is raising new geopolitical questions: Are the US and the UK moving beyond the traditional transatlantic framework? If that's the case, where will Paris and Berlin position themselves?
Are they ready to join this move towards the Indo-Pacific, and to confront China? What's the future of the "war on terror" in the Greater Middle East, and who will defend the "eastern flank" against Russian aggression?
It is far from clear that France and Germany are going to be on the same page in this new, emerging geopolitical environment. Germany will be concerned about the East, France will try to continue to play a role in the South. Both need strong partners.
For Germany, the US and the UK are more like-minded when it comes to stability in Central and Eastern Europe. But in order to keep them engaged, Germany will have to take on a bigger part of the burden.
France will try to keep the US engaged in Sub-Saharan Africa, and it will try to bring more European partners in. But after the failure in Afghanistan, and with all the problems in Mali, the appetite for other to engage in the region military seems to be shrinking.
And France will stay engaged in the Indo-Pacific. But to what extent will it partner with the new US-UK-Australian pact, and with the US-led quad? And to what extent will France be ready to challenge China in the Indo-Pacific?
What is emerging inside the West is a competition between the three main centers of action in the new global power struggle: Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (North and Sub-Saharian), Indo-Pacific.
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