I have no idea where Mbene is from. It sounded African enough. It is not like France never fought for Eastern Europe (ww1 they got drawn in because their allian

I have no idea where Mbene is from. It sounded African enough. It is not like France never fought for Eastern Europe (ww1 they got drawn in because their alliance with Russia, ww2 because of alliance to Poland). Other than explanations based fantasies about empire based on a neo romantic conception of France as this old world place lost somewhere five hundred years ago, deployments to places like Mali are of interest for the protection of France and the rest of Europe against unchecked propagation of Islamic extremism. Which is why other European allies have joined that operation. In that sense, it is similar because in both cases the reason for intervention is the strategic interest of France. It's unsurprising that France still has bilateral military cooperation with Britain. But Britain's historical track record on the EU level military cooperation issue is that they do not want anything to do with it.