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France vs. Turkey: A Showdown in the Mediterranean Is Brewing
With Washington absent and Berlin indifferent, it has fallen to Paris to deter and diffuse the situation.
French President Emmanuel Macron has thrusted France into a leadership role by deciding to buttress Greek and Cypriot interests in the Mediterranean.
- Henri J. Barkey
- The National Interest
Laying out his rationale in an August 29 speech, he depicted a Mediterranean beseeched by conflicts.
He included clashes from Syria to Libya, disputes over energy, the never-ending peace process, failed states like Lebanon and intense demographic pressures.
More worryingly for him, new developments are exacerbating the…