U.S. should pick up the tab on submarine deal between France and Australia

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President Lyndon B. Johnson was not one to mince words.

For example, when Charles de Gaulle was pulling France out of NATO in 1966 and expelling NATO troops from his country, LBJ instructed Secretary of State Dean Rusk to ask de Gaulle whether he wanted also to remove the graves of allied soldiers on the coast of France who died in the push against Nazi Germany. Rusk tried to explain to LBJ that such a question was impolitic. LBJ didn’t care and ordered Rusk to ask the question. Rusk asked the question and de Gaulle was reported to have stood and to have quietly left the room.

When President Emmanuel Macron of France recalled his ambassador to the United States last month, it highlighted the most drastic tension between the two countries since de Gaulle pulled France out of NATO. In the more recent fray, Macron claimed France had been “stabbed in the back” when Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia canceled a $60 billion agreement to purchase submarines from France — the cancellation of which was at the behest of U.S. President Joe Biden.

But Macron objected not only to Australia cancelling the contract. The French president resented as well the very concept of the newfound partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS), which was put together to counter Red China’s economic and military aggression.

France nurtures a very proud tradition. But the tradition is sensitive to anything perceived as a slight to its role in world affairs. The problem is that France is not exactly on board with AUKUS regarding China. France does not even deny that it’s exploiting to its own advantage the conflict between Red China and the United States.

Another problem was (and is) the submarines in question. The submarines aren’t nuclear, thereby rendering the submarines obsolete in the context of confronting a military power like Red China. Of course, this begs the question: Why did Australia enter into the purchase agreement with France in the first place?

Indeed, though France’s decision to recall its ambassadors to the United States and Australia was irresponsible (it’s still not clear why France didn’t also recall its ambassador to the United Kingdom), one can’t blame France for being perturbed when stuck with a $60 billion canceled contract.

Biden and Macron have since patched up their differences and the French ambassador is to return to the United States. Biden has vowed to put France on better notice next time such a major foreign policy decision is undertaken.

My idea is for the United States to assume the submarine purchase from France. The United States could then deploy the submarines to NATO forces. After all, France is concerned about Biden’s Asian pivot, which aims strategy more at Red China than Russia. Fortifying NATO with $60 billion worth of submarines would be a worthy gesture to France and the rest of Europe to demonstrate that the United States is not blind to serious mischief perpetrated by President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

France remains an important ally of the United States and essential to any hope for democracy to prevail over Red China’s eye on world domination and Russia’s oligarchy. But France has to realize that AUKUS is not an affront, no more than it’s an affront to the United States for not being asked to join the European Union.

Back to the United States procuring the canceled submarine contract between France and Australia, it would be a tough sell to the taxpayer. It would also be generous on the part of the United States. But the United States is the leader of the free world in both military and economic terms. And it’s the only country that can afford such generosity — a generosity crucial to winning the last Cold War and just as crucial to winning the present Cold War.

Taking the step of relieving France and Australia of a $60 billion submarine liability would go a long way in cementing a democratic alliance both Red China and Russia seek to destroy, an alliance fortunate to include France.

John O’Neill is an Allen Park freelance writer. He has a degree in history from Wayne State University.

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