Europe responds with alarm to US defence secretary's resignation

The sense of a transatlantic crisis spread across the European foreign policy establishment. The co-chair of the European council on foreign relations Carl Bildt  tweeted: "A morning of alarm in Europe. Sec Def Mattis is the remaining strong bond across the Atlantic in the Trump administration. All the others are fragile at best or broken at worst."

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The sense of anger, edging on defiance, at Trump's decision was clearest in Paris. The French defence minister, Florence Parly, said on RTL radio: "We do not share the analyses that the territorial caliphate has been annihilated. It's an extremely grave decision, and we think the job must be finished. While the territory controlled by the caliphate is no longer what it was in 2014 ... if it has been reduced to near nothing, there remains, however, a pocket where jihadists have bunkered down," she said.

2 - Mais Daech n'est pas rayé de la carte, ni ses racines d'ailleurs, il faut vaincre militairement de manière définitive les dernières poches de cette organisation terroriste.

— Florence Parly (@florence_parly) December 20, 2018

Macron has invited two leaders of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to Paris to discuss how to protect the Kurds from what may now be an attack either by Isis, Turkish forces or Syrian government forces.

○ Carl Bildt: Neocon lobbyist? by NordicStorm @EuroTrib on Feb. 21, 2007

ECFR Council members: Norbert Roettgen, Timothy Garton Ash, Carl Bildt, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Mabel van Oranje, Coen van Oostrom, Javier Solana, Mark Leonard

'Sapere aude'