Commentary
For all its domestic chaos in the lead-up to the June parliamentary elections, France has reemerged as the great power of continental Europe.
The 2022 Russia-Ukraine military conflict and the prospect of further Russian military action in Moldova’s autonomous (and pro-Russian) Transdniestria region bordering Ukraine may have stirred a shared panic and fear in the EU and NATO states. But at the same time, it highlights the inherent weakness of both the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance.
The Ukraine conflict, far from reviving traditional Western European economic and industrial strengths, has exposed the EU member states’ economic, military, and industrial shortcomings while giving other regional states—such as Turkey—the opportunity to pursue strategic initiatives against the interests of NATO and the EU.
…