French fury over the American-Australian sub deal

that Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, on September 16th described the deal as a “stab in the back”, the anger in Paris was plain. The next day, the French recalled their ambassador to Washington, DC (and that to Australia), for the first time since the 1790s. The announcement by America, Australia and Britain of a (), which torpedoed Australia’s A$90bn ($67bn) submarine contract with France in favour of a promise to buy instead, has left the French dumbfounded, humiliated and irate. On French television on September 18th, Mr Le Drian accused the trio of “lying, duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt”.The reaction in France is only partly about the tearing up of a big defence contract, although such decisions are always tough to accept. France has a big enough defence industry to be able to absorb the loss; compensation for breach of contract will be sought. What has enraged the French, rather, is what one source calls the “extreme duplicity and betrayal of good faith” on the part of countries it considers to be close allies.