[War] US/France: Small countries causing big problems

[John Penta]

"Small countries causing big problems"
7 August 2014
Pres. John Williams
Pres. Pierre Legrand
USA/France
------
Pierre strode through the hallways between the dining room, where he
had just enjoyed lunch with his wife, and the room which had been set
aside for communications.  It had been arranged that he would be
talking to President Williams.  His lunch had run long, so he couldn't
dally along as much as would be his wont, but neither did he rush,
arriving just as an aide had initialized the secure video conference
system.

John, meanwhile, had just finished his morning briefings, and the
conversation with Pierre would be a welcome procrastination from the
paperwork that was sitting on his desk. As the logo of the system
faded to show his counterpart's face, he smiled. "Good afternoon," he
greeted. "Your day is going well?"

"It is indeed, Mr. President," Pierre said with a smile to the younger
man.  "I hope things on your side of the Atlantic are going smoothly
this morning."

"They are, thanks. If we could coax Romania to end its temper tantrum,
they'd be going even better." It was a temper tantrum, Williams noted
inwardly, worthy of a 2 year old. For what was politics but the
allocation of power? It'd be nice if it were fair, but it wasn't.
Danesti was being foolish.

"True, but I am inclined to be patient with respect to Romania,"
Pierre said thoughtfully.  "I do not want to discourage them from
returning to the fold, or perhaps more accurately I do not wish to
encourage them in this endeavor.  It sets a bad precedent for the
European Union, and I hope by using a soft touch they will return to
the fold more quickly than they would otherwise.  More, I still view
them as a friendly nation, and have no wish to antagonize either the
Romanian government or people.  And after all, the international
system is the way it is for a reason, and I think they will rediscover
these reasons."

"We both hope," Williams replied. "Any consequences you've heard
coming down the pipe from French companies?"

"Well, mostly I've been fielding complaints from the political side
from people who are, shall we say, most dedicated to the experiement
that is the European Union," Pierre said, rubbing his temples while
recollecting one delegation from Parliament with whom he had more or
less argued for the better part of two hours.  "Economically, the
biggest complaints have been from those who were holding Romanian debt
at the time of the announcement.  Trade has been something of a mess,
what with all the uncertainty and the difficulties with currency
exchange, but Romania isn't exactly a major trading partner from our
point of view, so the damage on our side has been slight.  Of course,
things are probably different according to the Romanians."

"Similar here - the markets went nuts; it now sort of defines
'emerging market risk'. State's issuing a travel warning that,
essentially, we can't help people who get screwed over, and I heard
from Gateway and Dell that they're shuttering their call centers."
Williams paused. "Something I would blame nobody for. A business
relationship where one side holds the governmental whip is no
relationship worth bothering about."

"The affair has been something of a mess," Pierre said.  "I have
several members of my diplomatic staff 'vacationing' in Romania at the
moment, not leastwise to try to provide some kind of assistance to
French citizens who need it.  But, in any case, there is not much that
can be done.  And what there is to be done I would not do."

"Same here - we just told Embassy Bucharest's whole team to go home,
then come back a bit later as 'tourists'. It's absurd. But what do we
do? We can't exactly leave Americans still there with no consular
services."

"It is a difficult position," Pierre agreed.  "But all we can really
do for now is wait, watch, and try to nudge the Romanian government oh
so gently back into the fold, if they seem receptive." Pierre shrugged
in a most Gallic manner.

"On that note - they contributed $2 Billion to ANDA, for the civil
reactors project we'd announced. Should they keep it?"

"I would prefer to return the funds to the Romanians," Pierre said.
"I think it would be a strong gesture of goodwill, and perhaps
strengthen the hand of those in Romania who wish to reenter the
international arena."

"I'd pondered being temperamental and saying we'd keep it - but you're
right, we should return it." John replied.

"Yes," Pierre agreed.  "Part of the Romanian President's argument was
that international politics is a rough and nasty business.  It would
be nice to show that that's not always the case."

"It *is*, though; But I suppose there's such a thing as being too
blunt about it." Williams noted.

"True enough," Pierre admitted.  "But not always, and not necessarily
between any two given countries.  Romania at least was an allied state
and, in the case of France, a fellow member of the European Union.
That counts for something, though sometimes it is easily overlooked."

"Some ally. You get the same After-Action Reports I did - the
Romanians were undisciplined. They even raided a zoo and ate the
animals, for God's sake."

"Ah, but at least they were there," Pierre said, not entirely
enthusiastic in discussing the relative merits of various
contributions to the war in Azerbaijan.

"Fair point. You've fixed the Rafales, I've heard?"

"It's an ongoing process," Pierre said.  "But they are coming back
online and should be fully operational fairly quickly now."

"Good to hear. We missed you."

"Yes, well, things have quieted down now, fortunately," Pierre said.

"For now." Williams paused. "Speaking of things that arenquiet, I have
a budget meeting in 15 that I should probably prep for."

"I understand," Pierre said.  "I suppose there are things I should be
doing.  But, you see, I prefer to delegate to a large degree, so I
imagine that my day is somewhat more leisurely than yours."

"I should, shouldn't I?" Williams grinned. "Better than the ceremonial
crap I *could* be doing." Pause. "Good day, sir."

"Good day."
---
Actions:
1. ANDA will return Romania's money.
2. Discuss the situation in Romania.
3. Agree to gently try to coax them back into the world.