Reader TTS

Rarely has life imitated art more vividly than in the case of the AUKUS agreement to share nuclear technology between Australia, the UK and the US. A defence source told the _Daily Telegraph

_that AUKUS was so shrouded in secrecy that just ten people in Whitehall knew about it. In scenes reminiscent of a Le Carré spy thriller, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, met

his counterpart from Canberra, Vice-Admiral Michael Noonan, in a London location to begin the process that will enable the English-speaking peoples to stand firm against Chinese expansion in

the Pacific. The Anglo-American deal to equip Australia with nuclear submarines leaves Beijing looking friendless and isolated, as Jay Elwes argued last week. It seems, however, that

Britain is better at keeping secrets from our allies than our enemies. The reaction to this master-stroke of diplomacy from France has been vituperative. The reasons are partly commercial,

partly military and wholly political. AUKUS means that a £47 billion deal for France to supply the Australian navy with conventional diesel submarines is now off. Quite apart from the loss

of revenue and jobs, the cancellation will make it harder for the French to sustain their own arms industry. Unlike the British, whose nuclear weapons are integrated with the Americans, the

French are proudly independent. The corollary is that they are not fully trusted in the Pentagon — hence the secrecy that surrounded AUKUS. Above all, however, it is the loss of prestige in

an election year that has infuriated President Macron and his colleagues. Accusing the US and Australia of “duplicity”, he has withdrawn his ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. Not

even General de Gaulle, who pulled France out of Nato’s joint military command, ever treated his allies like Macron. As for the British: we are dismissed as “ vassals ” of the US by the

French Europe minister, unworthy even of a diplomatic snub. This week’s long-planned high-level meeting between British and French ministers and officials, intended to pave the way for a

future post-Brexit defence and security pact between the UK and the EU, has now been called off. En route to the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday, Boris Johnson sought to play down

the froideur between Paris and London. But an already fragile relationship is now in deep freeze. Our historian in Downing Street invokes the _Entente Cordiale _of the last century, but the

truth is that he is cordially disliked in Paris. The Macron administration prefers the older cliché of “perfidious Albion”, which derives from the 1790s, when the British organised alliances

to prevent the French Revolution from spreading across Europe. We can expect renewed talk of a European “rapid reaction force” and anxiety about the sidelining of Nato. Despite the row over

AUKUS, the Anglosphere and the EU still need one another. They may be drifting apart — but a divided West will fall. The threats from Russia and China won’t go away; indeed, for the

foreseeable future they are more likely to grow. Western civilisation depends on strong resistance to the irredentist ideologies of both these powers. The history of the last century

suggests that failure to stop nationalist aggression in its tracks encourages ambitions of global hegemony. Under Xi Jinping, China has already created a totalitarian surveillance state,

which is openly menacing its neighbours and provoking the United States. Meanwhile Putin’s Russia appears to be casting aside the trappings of democracy to succumb to new forms of

authoritarianism that may soon be indistinguishable from the totalitarian Soviet model. Last weekend’s Russian parliamentary elections were so blatantly rigged and “opposition” parties so

tightly controlled that Putin’s United Russia party no longer bothers to disguise its violations. With almost complete lack of accountability comes the militarisation of society. China and

Russia are driving a global arms race that the West cannot ignore. How are we to avoid the danger that, despite being faced with 21st-century digital despotisms, the divided champions of

democracy will fall, one by one? President Biden cannot afford to waste any more time. He should utilise the opportunities offered by this week’s UN General Assembly and November’s climate

summit in Glasgow to hold side meetings with his allies. The distrust and discord are real, but the dangers of division are real too. This is a moment of peril, when the West needs

leadership as it has seldom needed it before. If Joe Biden will not or cannot provide it, he should step aside in favour of someone who can. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only

publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout

the pandemic. So please, make a donation._