Macron: US Is ‘Turning Its Back on Allies’

By Staff, Agencies

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the US is increasingly distancing itself from some of its allies and retreating from international rules.

The comments come a week after Washington conducted a military raid on Venezuela and threatened once again to annex Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland.

Earlier this month, American commandos carried out airstrikes in Caracas and other regions of Venezuela, abducting President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. US President Donald Trump told journalists on Friday that a military option was on the table regarding Greenland, which he claimed would be taken over by China or Russia if Washington did not act.

“We are evolving in a world of great powers, with a real temptation to divide up the world among them,” Macron said in his annual speech to French ambassadors.

“The US has an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and freeing itself from international rules that it was still promoting not so long ago – whether in the field of trade or certain elements of security,” the French leader added.

Macron also said that France and the EU are “facing neo-colonial aggression” while being “subjected to anti-colonial rhetoric that no longer corresponds to reality.”

Trump has sought ownership of Greenland since his first term, calling the island vital to Arctic security. The claims have become a source of tension between Washington and European NATO members.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that a US annexation of Greenland would signal the end of NATO. Leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK later stated that the island “belongs to its people.”

On Friday, Trump said he would like to go the “easy way” regarding Greenland and did not rule out paying Greenlanders, but stressed that Washington would “do it the hard way” if necessary.