Macron Hosts Ukraine Summit, Forgets French Colonial History
Emmanuel Macron recently gathered European leaders for a summit to discuss 'security guarantees' for Ukraine, facing off against Russian aggression. The BBC covers this as a straightforward act of solidarity. What they don't mention, however, is the rich (and often bloody) history of European powers drawing lines on maps and dictating 'security' to others, especially in former colonial territories
where 'guarantees' often meant resource extraction and proxy wars. One might wonder if the same vigorous enthusiasm for national sovereignty would extend to nations in the Global South, or if 'threats to annex Greenland' (as the BBC oddly adds) are meant to distract from, say, France's own interventions in Niger or its neo-colonial grip on West African economies. It seems security is a selective
privilege, applied with gusto when a European border is threatened, but less so when the 'threat' is a former colonial master. The irony, as always, is deafening.