Report | The arms trade is the hidden arena of the US-France conflict.
The arms deals reached in the United States and France in recent months have highlighted the two countries’ competition in the world arms trade.
The United Arab Emirates has recently threatened to cancel a major $ 23 billion deal to buy F-35 fighter jets from the United States. The UAE threat comes after the Americans blocked the implementation of the agreement within the deadline, and the UAE intends to find another replacement for this fighter soon.
According to Al Jazeera, US-French relations have recently been strained by the Oaks agreement and Australia’s decision to cancel a submarine purchase deal from France.
Did Paris make up for the flood three months ago in the United States?
But the question now is whether Paris was able to make up for the slap in the face three months before Washington with two slaps in order to maintain its reputation as a maker and exporter of world-class weapons and take revenge on its partners.
The question came after the UAE threatened Washington with scrapping a deal to buy F-35 fighter jets, a threat that came just days after Abu Dhabi finalized a $ 17 billion deal to buy 80 Rafale fighter jets with France.
France stays away from the new US military alliance in the Indian Ocean.
Paris’s expulsion from the Australian nuclear submarine deal deprived the treasury of millions of dollars, and France stayed away from the new military alliance that the United States intends to build in the Indian Ocean.
Hassani Obaidi, director of the Center for Arab Studies and Research in Geneva, says France does not have the means to take revenge on the United States, and that it does not want the country to take revenge on the United States at all, but through agreements with Greece and the UAE. , Sought to restore the credibility of its advanced military industry, which had been severely shaken after the failure of the Australian Submarine Treaty.
Asked if it was possible that France’s historic agreement with the UAE was reached under US auspices and with a secret reference to the country, the expert said: “This is absolutely true and there is information that indicates an understanding between Washington and Paris was reached during a meeting between Biden and Macron, during which France was to be a major supplier of military equipment to those countries, including Greece, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and Paris is well aware that Washington is considering supplying F-35 fighter jets. “It has countries.”
Ibrahim Mansour, an expert on strategic studies and international relations in Paris, also believes that France’s recent agreement with the UAE is a lucrative deal for French arms.
He said that in relations such as the US-France relationship, one can not talk about revenge or slapping. France could not have reached an agreement to sell the fighter to the UAE without Washington ignoring it, because if the United States wanted, it could have blocked the agreement and voluntarily turned a blind eye to it.
Mansour added that Greece’s move to sign a warship agreement with France was a direct message to Washington, which left the country alone during the crisis with Turkey, while France accompanied Athens during that period.
Leverage pressure on Washington
Contrary to the agreement between French warships and Greece, the US-UAE agreement on F-35 fighter jets has become a point of contention due to a change in US government.
