France calls new U.S. security doctrine ‘brutal clarification’

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PARIS, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Europe must accelerate its rearmament in response to a stark shift in U.S. military doctrine, a French government official said on Tuesday, calling Washington’s new security strategy “an extremely brutal clarification” of its ideological posture.

The U.S. National Security Strategy, made public last week, caused shock across Europe, with a broadside that said the continent was facing “civilisation erasure” and that U.S. policy should include “cultivating resistance” within the European Union.

“The new American security strategy is an extremely brutal clarification of the United States’ ideological posture,” Junior Army Minister Alice Rufo told lawmakers at the National Assembly’s weekly question-and-answer session.

“We live in a world of carnivores, Europe is no island, and Europe will be respected only if it knows how to make itself respected,” she said.

The remarks from Rufo, who has previously served as President Emmanuel Macron’s deputy national security adviser, are the strongest public comments to date from French officials following the release of the U.S. National Security Strategy.

Rufo, who met Pentagon and other U.S. security officials over the weekend in Washington, said she knew the document was causing internal “debates” within the U.S. administration, especially as to how Russia is described.

(Reporting by Michel RoseEditing by Gareth Jones)