PARIS (Reuters) - France’s defence minister has taken a double swipe at the United States, accusing her counterpart Donald Rumsfeld of American supremacism and U.S. industry of waging “economic war” on Europe.
“The American Defence Secretary (Donald Rumsfeld) believes the United States is the only military, economic and financial power in the world. We do not share this vision,” Alliot-Marie told Le Monde newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
France’s suggestion of superpower arrogance comes days after Rumsfeld revisited the scene of recent bickering over French opposition to the Iraq war by distinguishing between “old” and “new” Europe – language which infuriated Paris in January.
Back then, Rumsfeld had dismissed France and Germany as “old Europe” in contrast to a “new Europe” of mostly eastern European countries more supportive of Washington. He repeated the controversial barb in Germany on Wednesday.
Alliot-Marie said military and intelligence co-operation between Paris and Washington had been unaffected by the split over Iraq. The Pentagon, however, said last month France would not be invited to a major military exercise in Nevada next year.
In her interview, timed to coincide with the world’s largest air show, Alliot-Marie urged European firms to stand together to resist what she called an American “economic war”.
“American industrialists are pursuing a logic of economic war,” she said in the interview, which Le Monde daily said had been read and cleared by her office before publication.
Alliot-Marie said she was worried by what she sees as moves by U.S. investors to attempt to take control of firms involved in European defence and had ordered a study into the issue.
France calls America Supremacist
comment: America see the whole world like a cake and she wants the whole cake for herself. France being a capitalist nation just like america also wants peice of the cake as does germany and UK. The US abuses muslims and steals the resouces for pennies the French would do the same given the opportunity It is time the muslims unite destroy the current incompetent regimes in muslim lands who are fully supported by the western governments and they be replaced by a global islamic state this is the only soloution muslims should be looking for. this is the only way for muslims to progress and stop these western nations using and abusing other nations in particular the muslim nations.