New from me: White House and State Department said they understand the French position and place highest value on US France relationship, will try to resolve differences in the coming days, after France recalls ambassador diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…
“We should have talked to the French earlier,” one U.S. official said. “The Europe crowd got involved very late…and it shows.”
diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…
“It indicates a clear sense on the part of the people who put this together that they had somehow lost sight of the President’s clear interest in rebuilding the alliance relationships & doing it in a very strong way,” ex US envoy to India Tom Pickering diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…
Before tonight’s more conciliatory statements, the Biden admin has gone into something of a defensive crouch in failing to explain what happened in its policy process that opened a breach in 1 alliance while pursuing partnership to address a rising China. diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…
I wonder too if US haste, seeming lack of internal and allied consultation, was related to demonstrating we really mean to pivot to Asia after Afghanistan pullout. diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…
I don’t know exactly how this decision worked, but there seems to be something off with the inter agency process, that key equities did not get adequately worked through in advance. diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…

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More from @lrozen

18 Sep
🧵this quote needs to be unpacked.
“It says a lot about how Washington discerns its interests in the Pacific..that there was no hand-wringing about angering the French.”
no handwringing by blinken? really?
maybe no handwringing by k. campbell.
seems some handwringing now
different policy experts have different foci. what seems broken about the inter agency process here is the people in the Biden administration who know and care about the transatlantic alliance did not get brought into it until too late diplomatic.substack.com/p/france-recal…
Also, does this line pass the laugh test? Come on.

“They told us they would take care of dealing with the French,” one senior U.S. official said.
Read 4 tweets
17 Sep
The French embassy confirms that France has recalled its ambassador to the US, over being left in the dark on the US/UK/Australia deal.
French foreign minister statement diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-fil…
Puts something of a damper on Biden admin going into UNGA week next week, although a fairly scaled back set of UNGA in-person encounters this year
Read 7 tweets
16 Sep
Blinken at US/Australia 2+2 addressing French fury: There is no regional divide separating interests of our Atlantic and Pacific partners...We welcome European countries playing an important role in Indo pacific...France in part. is a vital partner on this & so many other issues
Australian Defense Minister says they signed a classified statement of intent on strategic capabilities,
Blinken seems to confirm France was given very little heads up: In touch w French counterparts in past 24-48 hours, to discuss (Australia initiative).
Will leave to Australian colleagues to discuss why the Australians sought this technology
Read 5 tweets
16 Sep
🧵French FM & DM on being excluded on US/UK/Australia deal and having sub deal replaced: “The American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges Image
“in the Indo-Pacific region, whether in terms of our values or in terms of respect for multilateralism based on the rule of law, shows a lack of coherence that France can only note and regret.” Image
“As the only European nation present in the Indo-Pacific with nearly 2MN citizens & more than 7,000 military personnel, France is a reliable partner that will continue to fulfill its commitments, as it has always done….
Read 8 tweets
13 Sep
Pennsylvania Republican Scott Perry is asking Blinken about documents about Hunter Biden at a House foreign affairs committee hearing about Afghanistan. Blinken seems unaware what he's talking about. Then Perry asks about Senate testimony last year when Blinken was not in office
Before he ran out of time, Perry asked Blinken if his testimony had changed since he testified to the Senate last year. Blinken wasn't in office last year. Any idea what Perry was talking about, or who he's confusing Blinken with?
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Flor.) seems to be pursuing a right wing theme alleging that the Biden admin manipulated the intelligence on Afghanistan, and that is why it all went wrong. Then says he doesn't want to hear from Blinken. (Why would they have manipulated intel to look inept?)
Read 6 tweets
13 Sep
Just in: Senate Foreign Relations Comm. Chair Bob Menendez going to floor at 5:20pm today to request unanimous consent for 30 national security appointments critically needed for Afghanistan & Haiti post-earthquake relief efforts. Confirmation was previously blocked by Senate GOP
Recently wrote how broken the confirmation process is and how it hobbles efforts on Afghanistan diplomatic.substack.com/p/afghan-crisi…
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) raises the issue of how many senior State Dept posts do not have their Senate confirmed people, mostly because of a block by Sen. Ted Cruz.
Read 6 tweets

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