MTL - Big Time 1958-Chapter 937 Mitterrand

   "In international exchanges, there are gains and losses, and the Soviet Union also needs to face up to France's interests." President Mitterrand is not ready to back down. This is not a traditional friendship, and it is not necessary to talk about the issue of the Federal Republic of Germany. France also has its own needs. No one is an internationalist. Does France maintain its military presence in Africa for the benefit of black people?

  The Soviet Union needed France's guarantee that Portugal would not be subverted, and the French guarantee could not be given in vain. Not only must we curb our own subversive power, but we must also withstand the pressure of the United States. Sacrifice is made, nothing is gained, there is no such thing.

   Shelov and Sherbitsky looked at each other, nodded, and it would not hurt to listen to the French.

   "As a balance to Portugal's Soviet power, France will send a part of its military forces into Portugal." French President Mitterrand put forward his opinion, and immediately replied, "It is limited to the right of the French navy to call at Portuguese ports."

   Mitterrand knew that the penetration of land power would definitely be opposed by the Soviet Union, so he took a step back and hoped to get the same port call rights as the Soviet Red Navy, and the ball was kicked to the Soviet side again. The docking right of naval warships seems to be nothing, and the symbolic meaning is greater, but this matter can be big or small. If France is hiding evil intentions, will it take advantage of this in the future.

"Should France give some exchange? You also know that this right has already demonstrated the great trust of the Soviet Union." Sierbitsky said calmly, "Paris coordinated the embargo against the Soviet Union, To be honest, we don't care. But there is still some influence on Eastern European countries. France wants to share the international network, doesn't it want to take any sincerity, just let the Soviet Union recognize it?"

   The bargaining continues. From historical feelings, geography, and politics, the Soviet Union and France are natural allies. If France became a real Soviet country after the war, the Cold War would never have started, or it would have ended now. Cooperation and confrontation between France and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This factor has already begun in World War II. General de Gaulle went into exile in Britain and formed the "Free France" movement, but its status was not recognized until the later period of the war. After the start of the Soviet-German war, Free France immediately established contact with the Soviet Union, and also sent its own troops to aid the Soviet Union, the famous "Normandy" fighter regiment, which was almost the only Allied combat force to support the Soviet Union.

  France has a good attitude with the Soviet Union. It can be said that France has the best relationship with the Soviet Union among Western countries. The two sides have always maintained good economic and trade relations, and political relations are also quite good. Although France joined NATO, it withdrew from the NATO military organization, and apparently did not want to meet the Soviet Union. France is also the only country that has signed economic and trade cooperation with the Soviet Union, and even the Soviet Union's televisions use the French Sekon system.

   "France is the only major Western European country with unimpeded trade in Eastern Europe. We also know that the Federal Republic of Germany does not have such a position. Isn't the return given by the Soviet Union to France enough?" Shelov constantly emphasized the traditional friendship between the Soviet Union and France. The first priority of France's diplomacy is of course Western European countries, because France wants to be the boss.

  The second most important thing is the Soviet Union. France needs the Soviet Union to suppress its old enemy Germany to prevent Germany from rising again. The United States can only rank third in France's diplomatic priorities. Because the United States adopts a supportive policy towards the Federal Republic of Germany, France has used the Soviet Union as a diplomatic priority to suppress the Federal Republic of Germany, causing Germany to be divided for a long time.

   Shelov also knew that when the Soviet Union began to collapse under the leadership of the peerless genius Ge Map, including the enemies of the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China all gave assistance. Among them, France had the strongest desire to support the Soviet Union by bloodletting because the two Germanys were about to merge. The present President Mitterrand visited the Soviet Union and was willing to provide funds for the Western cluster to continue to preserve the GDR.

"Of course France is willing to help Eastern Europe. We are all European countries. As for the Paris coordinating organization, we have many ways to get around it. This has never been a problem." Mitterrand could not abolish this organization. However, it is not too difficult for an important member to break the rules.

  There are still many things that the Soviet Union can talk about with France, such as energy issues. The energy strategy of later generations is not new at all. The energy strategy of the Soviet era is an important weight for the Soviet Union to win over Western Europe. Europe has a great dependence on the Soviet Union for energy. Since entering the industrial age, most European countries have been major energy consumers in the world, but their energy self-sufficiency rate is not high.

  In the case of its own energy shortage, Western Europe has to focus on the global energy market. Based on historical, political and economic complementarity considerations, energy trade with the Soviet Union is the priority development direction of Western European countries. As for the CEE countries, due to the confrontation between the East and the West during the Cold War, the CEE countries in East Europe could only rely on the supply of oil and natural gas from the Soviet Union to meet their domestic energy consumption needs. Also out of the needs of the Cold War, the Soviet Union achieved the goal of controlling the CEE countries by lowering the price of oil in the world oil market.

Knowing the fragility of Western Europe in terms of energy, the Soviet Union's global offensive was to attack with all its strength in areas where oil and mineral resources were concentrated. The state of confrontation with the United States alone. Only one Saudi Arabia is currently a stumbling block, and the Soviet Union's long-term plans are nearing completion.

   Basically, France and the Soviet Union still have a lot of cooperation, especially in energy. After the formal talks, French President Mitterrand and senior officials of the French Communist Party and Socialist Party set up a dinner to entertain the Soviet delegation.

  Some things can only be communicated in private, not to mention that it is only in its infancy. For example, the nuclear weapons of the Soviet Union and France are not aimed at each other. Is it a whim or is it really ready to discuss. Communication through secret channels is not always assured by high-level communication between the two countries.

France's medium-range missiles against the Soviet Union are like thorns in the back, and I hope that the INF Treaty will be signed soon. As for the Soviet Union's strategic nuclear weapons, they are aimed at the United States anyway. France has its own nuclear strike force, which is enough to protect itself. Threats, it's about the French statement, it's better to be threatened.

   Shelov didn’t say it to death, but said that Reagan was hostile to the Soviet Union at present, the INF treaty was not easy to reach, and the number of missiles in the Soviet Union was twice that of the United States, which seemed to be at a disadvantage and should be compensated.

   In the face of the medium-range missiles that blocked the Soviet tank army, Serov was more eager to abolish it than anyone else, but he couldn’t show it. He could tell the French that the Soviet Union had this desire, but the Soviet Union was too disadvantaged and so on.

"Once the medium-range missiles are removed, real peace can come to Europe." French President Mitterrand seems to be very empathetic. In fact, he is thinking about how to benefit France. The INF Treaty is very beneficial to France. If it is successfully abolished , as long as France and the Soviet Union declare that they will not point nuclear weapons at each other, France will completely lift the security shackles.

   This will be a victory for France in international politics, and Mitterrand’s personal victory at home. Mitterrand did not want to be a politician, he wanted to be a politician, but the standards of the latter were often very high. Shaping France's security environment may allow Mitterrand to achieve his goal and leave his name in French history.

  Whether the interests of the United States are damaged, that is what Reagan cared about, and Mitterrand, as the president of France, only cares about French affairs. In fact, he already knew some of the Soviet Union's bottom lines, such as not talking about misalignment with each other until the medium-range missiles are destroyed. This is better. France is also a member of the Western world. It is too open to flirt with the Soviet Union. It is indeed unreasonable.

  France's basic strategic interests, the first is to prevent the British from messing up the Western European forces organized by France, and the second is to suppress the Federal Republic of Germany, which requires the help of the Soviet Union, not the United States. So France and the Soviet Union spent far more time in harmony than they did with the United States.

   The next day, French President Mitterrand announced that after France exerted its unique influence, he persuaded the Soviet Union to seriously consider the current situation in Europe and the world, and successfully made the Soviet Union give up the attempt to let Portugal enter the Warsaw Pact.

   In exchange, France will guarantee to protect Portugal’s stable social environment. With Portugal’s approval, the French Navy will regularly maintain the security of Portuguese waters, and France will make some technical investments in Eastern European countries.

   "In the most desperate times, don't forget that the French can still help us." This seems to have been said by a certain imperial and Russian nobleman during the First World War. The general secretary had to admit that it was very reasonable.

  With the statement of France, this Portuguese protest is the real past. The Soviet Union gathered the entire socialist camp and at the same time let Portugal transfer some industries. But it was France, also a NATO country, that finally completed the lore. France's assurances completely failed the protest wave instigated by Reagan.

  Because France has a very large influence on Portugal, because France is the strongest country in the Latin cultural circle, and has a good second-place effect on Italy, Spain, and Portugal. On the contrary, Denmark, Sweden, these countries are all under the influence of Germany.

  France's help to the Soviet Union this time was decisive, and it directly thwarted Reagan's ability to do things. Without the cooperation of France, the United States would not have succeeded in Portugal again. The combined force of France and the Soviet Union cannot be resisted by the United States alone.

   "Do the French know who the enemy is?" After hearing the assurances from France, Reagan knew that the tug-of-war with the United States had failed again. The decisive factor was that France was on the side of the Soviet Union. He didn't know that Mitterrand was still going to pit the United States once.

   "I didn't expect that I would go back to China to fight the fire!" General Secretary Shelov, a senior firefighter, returned to China to mediate conflicts non-stop.