French whining about the US-Australia-Britain submarine deal feels like the ghost of Charles DeGaulle. DeGaulle was - I guess - a French hero during WWII, he was certainly a symbol of French resistance. He rose to power by constantly sticking a thumb in the eyes of Britain and the US, the two countries that liberated his own country and carried Free French troops back to France. He famously kept Britain out the European Common Market - ironically - because he thought Britain was a stalking horse for US hegemony.
The US-UK-AUK deal has been accompanied by caterwauling from France, but it's really a process of French incompetence. Australia wanted to buy diesel submarines from France, but the French have not been able to make the sale. The French-Australian deal if five years old and Australia has exactly zero submarines to show for it. The British and Americans have agreed to sell Australia nuclear powered - not nuclear armed - submarines. These are, obviously, better submarines and it's part of the pivot to Asia by the US.
If France really wanted to avoid being sniped by the US/UK, they probably should have finished building the subs they promised. As Andrew Gilland famously said, "A hit dog will holler." That's what France is doing now.
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