NATO is a Farce, Part 5: France and Estonia Form an “Axis of War”
How Europe’s new “power couple” are pushing Europe towards war with Russia
There is a seemingly unlikely — but also very troubling — development within the EU and NATO.
France and Estonia, specifically French President Emmanuel Macron and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, are joining forces to push a very militaristic agenda.
It’s like some classic rom-com with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, except with nuclear weapons.
The partnership seemed unlikely in early 2022, when Kallas criticised Macron for wanting to maintain contact with Russia and even speak with Vladimir Putin, no doubt considering him to be one of those “naive” Europeans who did not see the “evil Russia” that she knows:
…why talk to Mr. Putin just to talk? “I don’t see the point talking to him because nothing has come out of this,” she said. “The calls were happening even before the war, and then the worst happened, Bucha and Mariupol happened, so no results.”
Over the course of the past two years, however, the two leaders have become comrades in arms — especially as Macron has sought to send Western troops to fight in Ukraine, where the French Foreign Legion is already seeing action.
Macron’s newfound bellicosity has apparently warmed the heart of the Estonian Prime Minister. In June of this year, an aide told POLITICO: “There’s a good understanding between Macron and Kallas, she’s well-liked and they’ve got similar points of view”.
Those “similar points of view” include a heavy dose of Russophobia and a more hawkish stance on Ukraine from both ends of the bloc (Estonia in the East, France in the West), presumably to put pressure on Germany to back a more warlike posture for the Union overall.
Military cooperation
The Macron-Kallas affaire also has a deeply militaristic cachet. France has been rotating troops through Estonia since 2017 under NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence, but the two countries’ military ties actually go back longer, to 2011.
France now has a joint tactical sub-group based in Tapa in central Estonia, which operates alongside troops from the US and the UK — which leads the NATO battlegroup in the country.
A Russian invasion — not “if” but “when”
Macron has increased France’s military presence in Estonia several times over the past years, and they have even committed to training and exercising with the “Estonian Defense League” (EDL), whose first Commander was Kaja Kallas’s great grandfather. They are a group of hard-core anti-Russian paramilitaries who are convinced that a Russian invasion looms.
“Russia wants to increase its power”, EDL’s Lieutenant Kristjan Kaup told POLITICO. “In my opinion, there will be a next invasion. In our community, we don’t ask what if, we ask when.”
The EDL was liquidated by the Soviets when they conquered Estonia in 1940. But it is highly likely that many members became anti-Soviet partisans and, when the Germans invaded, joined the “Estonian Legion”, which were Nazi Waffen SS units fighting alongside the Germans at Stalingrad.
All the Baltic States faced harsh treatment from the Soviets post-war, as Stalin never forgave them for joining with the Nazis. Memories of that treatment animate every aspect of Baltic politics today, including the seemingly personal animus displayed by Kaja Kallas.
In a meeting in October 2023, Kaja Kallas sang the praises of the French contingent in her country, and their commitment to fighting Russia:
“France is a strong ally of Estonia. French defence forces in Estonia help to ensure our security. France understands very clearly the threat that Russia poses to Europe and the free world”.
A match made in Russophobic heaven
Macron, who is also aggressively anti-Russian, has publicly backed Kallas to take over as the EU’s head of Foreign Policy and Security, and the two have had several very high profile meetings to discuss the war in Ukraine and “a commitment to shape the future of Europe”.
At a bilateral meeting in Paris in May, Kallas told reporters:
“We share with France the understanding that our priority is to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. Together, we can help Ukraine win the war and force Russia to retreat to its borders. We have the resources, the economic power, and the expertise. The power of the free world is greater than Russia’s, and we must not be afraid of our own power.”
They share dismal poll numbers
Although Macron is often a major player on the international stage, he is rapidly becoming a failure at home. His party lost decisively in the recent European Elections, prompting Macron to call for a snap election of the national assembly. Worse yet, Macron’s personal popularity has dropped to only 36%, just days before the elections he himself called.
Kallas has even worse numbers. Her approval rating is now at a miserable 16% — the lowest rating ever recorded since the poll began. In December, 71% of Estonians polled wanted her to resign.
Her appointment to the European Commission will give them their wish.
The new “power couple” in Brussels
Despite their unpopularity at home, the dynamic duo of Macron and Kallas is set to have a definite — and dangerous — effect on EU and NATO policy going forward. Kallas, in her position as head of foreign policy and security for the European Union, will no doubt continue to set a very combative tone.
However, now she will be making pronouncements and setting strategy not as the head of a tiny state with a 4000 man army but rather as the top foreign policy official for the 450 MILLION people in the European Union.
For his part, Macron, as the President of France, commands the second largest military in the EU (eclipsed only by Italy), and he has shown time and again that he is not afraid to use it. His support and backing of Kallas will lend additional authority to her statements — no matter how insanely warmongering they may be.
Even more frightening: Macron and Kallas’s militarism will be amplified by the increasingly autocratic nature of the European Union itself.
UP NEXT: NATO is a Farce, Part 6: Europe’s New Militarism
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It’s ridiculous that entire nations and alliances are run not on the basis of knowledge and reason but rather just on the back of rabid, irrational ideologues like these two and Nuland, and on corrupt tools like Von de Leyen and Stoltenberg.
These people dangerous and should not be anywhere near power at all.
I think those low domestic popularity ratings for both Certified Vampires of the Empire are what's really important. The Estonian people apparently have enough sense to know that a war with Russia would be national suicide.
As for the French, the only reason they're not building guillotines yet is because Macron called a snap election.