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US Fuelling Breakdown of France, Germany, While Capitalizing on 'Weak Europe'

© AFP 2023 / LEWIS JOLYGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and French President Emmanuel Macron (L).
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and French President Emmanuel Macron (L). - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.05.2023
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The actions of the United States have fuelled division between France and Germany, both of which are in the throes of domestic turmoil, with their leaders no longer representing the will of their own population, Elijah Magnier, a veteran war correspondent, underscored.
Washington is purposefully re-carving the power dynamics on the European continent, capitalizing on a “weak France”, and “weak Germany,” Elijah Magnier told Sputnik.
The US is taking advantage of an overall "weakened" continent, the veteran war correspondent said. All this is taking place against the backdrop of the ongoing US-led proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, the fallout from which has helped the administration in Washington to further exploit the inner turmoil eating away at France and Germany, he stated.

“The US is luring over European industry with cheaper energy, lower taxes… creating a division between France and Germany… And on top of that, the Americans are shifting the center of Europe from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, because Western Europe is too much of a headache," Elijah Magnier stated.

While in France “today you have Macron, tomorrow you will have Marine Le Pen,” in Germany, "Scholz is standing in support of the US interests, no longer supporting the German population and their needs,” underscored the veteran war correspondent.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz are “no longer leaders even in their own countries,” he pointed out. While there has always been rivalry between France and Germany, Magnier reflected since the Ukraine crisis escalated in early 2022, the self-harming Western sanctions have exacerbated the energy crisis, so the two European countries could not put up “a united front” against the US.
France has been in the grips of its domestic woes, facing sweeping protests over Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pension reform raising the retirement age. In Germany, the three-party governing coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), environmentalist Greens and Free Democratic Party (FDP) has been wrangling over a slew of issues. Then the two countries began bickering over energy and defense matters. Accordingly, France and Germany failed to put up a united front and prevent the US from adopting the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
France's President Emmanuel Macron addresses the APEC CEO Summit during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok on November 18, 2022. - Sputnik International, 1920, 19.01.2023
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Macron: US Inflation Reduction Act Threatens EU With Deindustrialization
Signed into law by US President Joe Biden in August 2022, the IRA offers tax credits for electric cars made in North America and prioritizes US battery supply chains, promises large subsidies, incentivizing European producers to transfer their businesses to the United States.
All this was pushed through in defiance of complaints by EU member states that the IRA could create new trade barriers for European goods. Now, Germany has slid into a technical recession this winter, as per the ING Group's analysis, with the European industrial powerhouse facing losses of competitiveness and deindustrialization.
And still, Washington is pressing Berlin to dole out more on NATO's proxy war in Ukraine, despite press reports that the German military is facing financial shortages and urgently needs modernization.
Residents of Berlin spend their time in front of the Bundestag building on the day of the parliamentary election, 26 September 2021 - Sputnik International, 1920, 26.02.2023
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Frenemy? How US Deprives Germany of Strategic Autonomy and Status as Industrial Powerhouse
Another glaring sign of “weakness” was Germany “accepting for the US to sabotage the mainstream gas pipeline between Russia and Europe,” Elijah Magnier said. Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh had detailed in February how the Biden administration put in place a plot to destroy Russia's Nord Stream pipeline network. The blasts occurred on September 26 at three of the four strings of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines, which were built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. According to Hersh, the plan was carried out by US operatives in coordination and collaboration with the Norwegian Secret Service and Navy. Thus, the report indicated that Germany's NATO allies attacked the nation's critical infrastructure, which is yet another bitter pill that Berlin has been forced to swallow.

“All that is happening shows how weak the European Union is, how weak France has become, and how weak Germany has become,Magnier said

For more in-depth analysis of current affairs, check out our Sputnik radio show Fault Lines.
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