Ulrike Franke
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rikefranke.bsky.social
Ulrike Franke
@rikefranke.bsky.social
45K followers 2.2K following 5.3K posts
Senior Fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations. #Drone politics PhD @ox.ac.uk. Previously at, and now teaching @SciencesPo.bsky.social. Writes about all things #Germany #Defence #miltech. Podcast host at @SicherheitsPod.de & LeCollimateur
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rikefranke.bsky.social
Thanks for correcting the typo 😅
December 5, 2025 at 2:45 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
TF1 has some more info
www.tf1info.fr/justice-fait...
Finistère : 5 drones détectés au-dessus de la base nucléaire de l'Île Longue, la Marine tire | TF1 INFO
[VIDÉO] Des drones ont survolé la base sous-marine de l'Île Longue ce jeudi 4 décembre dans la soirée, selon la gendarmerie. Cette base abrite les sous-marins nucléaires lanceurs d'engins (SNLE) de la...
www.tf1info.fr
December 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
last *night*/yesterday evening.
December 5, 2025 at 12:23 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/rike...
rikefranke.bsky.social Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 4h
There is one striking incoherence in the text: the document is all about America first.

But the very same document lists America’s “network of alliances” & “unmatched softpower” as assets, and speaks about “collective defence”.
If the US does what it describes in the doc, it will lose all that.
III. What Are America's Available Means to Get What We Want? America retains the world's most enviable position, with world-leading assets, resources, and advantages, including: … • A broad network of alliances, with treaty allies and partners in the world's most strategically important regions; • Unmatched "soft power" and cultural influence;
December 5, 2025 at 11:41 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
I very clearly say my point is about form not content. And yet

bsky.app/profile/rike...
rikefranke.bsky.social Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 5h
Just compare the table of content from the 2025 to the 2022 NSS.
Prioritisation and easy language.
Honestly, our strategies could use more of that.

(This is a point about form, not content.)
December 5, 2025 at 11:36 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
And if you are so inclined, you can compare and contrast to the last NSS from 2022. Different times.

bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/u...
bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov
December 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Link to the full strategy again:

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov
December 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Just realised I made exactly this point not too long ago in a Collimateur debate: if the US wants to become more like other countries, it will lose some of the exceptional advantages that come from being exceptional. I don’t think the people in power are really taking that into consideration. 👇
alexjubelin.bsky.social Alexandre Jubelin @alexjubelin.bsky.social · Oct 21
Car en effet, comme le pointe @rikefranke.bsky.social, quand on décide de cesser d'être la puissance dominante de la planète pour arrêter de se prendre la tête et faire des économies, on sait certainement ce qu'on y gagne — mais visiblement moins ce qu'on y perd.

(en tout cas pour eux)
December 5, 2025 at 11:22 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
There is a link at the beginning of the thread
December 5, 2025 at 11:18 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
The doc is all about closing the US, yet it says that “openness” is what differentiates it internationally.
It wants to rebalance markets, criticises globalisation, yet says that “free market capitalism” will “continue to make us the global partner of first choice.”
What differentiates America from the rest of the world our openness, transparency, trustworthiness, commitment to freedom and innovation, and free market capitalism-will continue to make us the global partner of first choice.
December 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
There is one striking incoherence in the text: the document is all about America first.

But the very same document lists America’s “network of alliances” & “unmatched softpower” as assets, and speaks about “collective defence”.
If the US does what it describes in the doc, it will lose all that.
III. What Are America's Available Means to Get What We Want? America retains the world's most enviable position, with world-leading assets, resources, and advantages, including: … • A broad network of alliances, with treaty allies and partners in the world's most strategically important regions; • Unmatched "soft power" and cultural influence;
December 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Activist in Europe. Elsewhere not so much.
December 5, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Ulrike Franke
rikefranke.bsky.social
Let’s look at those priorities:

. “the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests”
. Focus on Western Hemisphere
. nations should prioritize their interests
. “days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over”
After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests. Our elites badly miscalculated America's willingness to shoulder forever global burdens to which the American people saw no connection to the national interest. They overestimated America's ability to fund, simultaneously, a massive welfare-regulatory-administrative state alongside a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex. They placed hugely misguided and destructive bets on globalism and so-called "free trade" that hollowed out the very middle class and industrial base on which American economic and military preeminence depend. They allowed allies and partners to offload the cost of their defense onto the American people, and sometimes to suck us into conflicts and controversies central to their interests but peripheral or irrelevant to our own. • We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and disco...age mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine; Primacy of Nations - The world's fundamental political unit is and will remain the nation-state. It is natural and j that all nations put their interests first and guard their sovereignty. The world works best when nations prioritize their interests. The United States will put our own interests first and, in our relations with er nations, encourage them to prioritize their own interests as well. We stand for the sovereign rights of nations, against the sovereignty-sapping incursions of the most intrusive transnational organizations, and for reforming those institutions so that they assist rather than hinder individual sovereignty and further American interests. 9 The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Ulrike Franke
rikefranke.bsky.social
I’ll go through it in order, but what all Europeans need to read are pages 25-27 on “Promoting European Greatness”.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
What struck me most on Europe wasn’t the focus on value, freedom of speech etc - again, very similar to Vance’s Munich speech - but how activist it is. This is about directly trying to influence what is going on in Europe:
American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations' individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism. Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe. America is, understandably, sentimentally attached to the European continent— and, of course, to Britain and Ireland. The character of these countries is also strategically important because we count upon creative, capable, confident, democratic allies to establish conditions of stability and security. We want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.
December 5, 2025 at 10:17 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Pages 25 to 27 are most relevant here and should be read in their entirety
December 5, 2025 at 10:01 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
What about Europe? It is mentioned quite a bit, with one primary focus: European identity and the alleged elites and minority governments that restrict core liberties and democratic processes. This is extremely close to JD Vance’s Munich speech.
We want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe's civilizational self-confidence and Western identity: Regarding countries that share, or say they share, these principles, the United States will advocate strongly that they be upheld in letter and spirit. We will oppose elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world, especially among our allies. The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition.
December 5, 2025 at 9:59 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
And domestically
December 5, 2025 at 9:54 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Let’s look at those priorities:

. “the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests”
. Focus on Western Hemisphere
. nations should prioritize their interests
. “days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over”
After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests. Our elites badly miscalculated America's willingness to shoulder forever global burdens to which the American people saw no connection to the national interest. They overestimated America's ability to fund, simultaneously, a massive welfare-regulatory-administrative state alongside a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex. They placed hugely misguided and destructive bets on globalism and so-called "free trade" that hollowed out the very middle class and industrial base on which American economic and military preeminence depend. They allowed allies and partners to offload the cost of their defense onto the American people, and sometimes to suck us into conflicts and controversies central to their interests but peripheral or irrelevant to our own. • We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and disco...age mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine; Primacy of Nations - The world's fundamental political unit is and will remain the nation-state. It is natural and j that all nations put their interests first and guard their sovereignty. The world works best when nations prioritize their interests. The United States will put our own interests first and, in our relations with er nations, encourage them to prioritize their own interests as well. We stand for the sovereign rights of nations, against the sovereignty-sapping incursions of the most intrusive transnational organizations, and for reforming those institutions so that they assist rather than hinder individual sovereignty and further American interests. 9 The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Just compare the table of content from the 2025 to the 2022 NSS.
Prioritisation and easy language.
Honestly, our strategies could use more of that.

(This is a point about form, not content.)
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
I’m also gonna say something that will be controversial here: This is actually a very accessible and easy to read document. Is it good prose? No, but it also doesn’t do jargon. It might be written by AI, as some have suggested, but for a normal person, this is much clearer than past strategies.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM