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Circa 1959, The Kingston Trio had a hit song called “Raspberries, Strawberries.” It started with the line, “A young man goes to Paris, as every young man should,” and later contains the line, “An old man returns to Paris, as every old man must.”
An article in The New York Times might have included those lines as it fawned over Antony Blinken, who, the NYT article informs us, had “a life-changing experience” when he lived in Paris from age 9 to 18, considers it a “sacred home,” and who returned to Paris for his first visit as U.S. Secretary of State and met with President Emmanuel Macron on 25 June.
The 26 June NYT article tells of Sec. Blinken’s evident emotion when speaking of the bond between America and its oldest ally; gushing over how America and France have worked together “to actually give meaning to liberty, equality, fraternity. They’ve tried to give meaning to freedom of speech. They’ve tried to give meaning to human rights. They’ve tried to give meaning to democracy.”
Either suffering from dementia, totally ignorant of World Wars I, II and Germany’s launching “Operation Barbarossa” 80 years ago that killed over 30 million eastern Europeans, the Holocaust, etc. … or just full of shit, the day before his meeting with Macron, Blinken told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the U.S. has “no better friend in the world than Germany.” In Paris, he would say the same thing about France.
“We Will Stand Up”
The meeting between Blinken and Macron was largely about China, and Blinken stated that he and the French president were “on the same page” in terms of not wanting to “contain China” or to “hold China back,” but to nevertheless present a united front determined to resist a Chinese-led world order. When it comes to defending a free and open international order, “We will stand up,” Blinken declared. The alternative, he said, would be either a world of chaos, or of Chinese domination.
Trump Bad, Biden Good
The NYT article also makes sure to paint the Biden administration’s foreign policy as a distinct improvement over that of President Donald Trump, stating that Trump “disparaged traditional alliances, started trade wars and resisted confronting Russian aggression,” and claiming that U.S. allies are “relieved” to have Joe Biden now directing U.S. foreign policy “back in more familiar directions.” However, they claim “their experience with Mr. Trump has left them warier than ever of following Washington’s lead.”
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal article of 2 February 2021, “MORE CENSORSHIP,” tells how Macron went from currying favor with Trump to, once Trump was no longer in office, parroting Democrat talking points about how Trump was “unscrupulous,” had used social media platforms to spread hate, and deserved to be censored.
TREND FORECAST: As we have forecast, the 20th century was the American century, the 21st will be China’s. And as we have detailed, China has, and will, continue to aggressively assert its influence both economically and militarily across the globe…particularly in rare earth mineral, commodity-rich Africa.
And while Macron played the act that he supported the U.S., he has taken positions more conciliatory than the U.S. toward China, and is not a fan of NATO confronting China. Also, Macron has insisted that Europe participate in arms control talks between the U.S. and Russia. He has spoken of the importance of Europe’s strategic autonomy, so the article properly characterizes his appearing to stand in solidarity with the U.S. as “surprising.”