Washington’s warning last week about the spread of far-left violence in France did not go down well in Paris. In an interview on Sunday, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accused America of wading into a matter that “concerns only our national community”.

This doesn’t surprise conservative commentators in France who have coined the phrase “Red Privilege”

This doesn’t surprise conservative commentators in France who have coined the phrase “Red Privilege”

The diplomatic spat began at the end of last week when Sarah Rogers, the US State Department under-secretary for public diplomacy, posted on X. Referring to the murder of a young nationalist student, Quentin Deranque, allegedly kicked to death by members of a far-left organization called the Young Guard, Rogers said his death demonstrated why in America “we treat political violence – terrorism – so harshly.” She continued: “Once you decide to kill people for their opinions instead of persuade them, you’ve opted out of civilization. We will continue to watch this case.”

To underline their anger, Paris summoned US ambassador Charles Kushner for a meeting on Monday evening. But Kusher didn’t show because of “personal commitments.” He sent a lacky in his place. A furious French foreign ministry has said that Kushner will no longer have direct access to government ministers, although he will be allowed to perform some diplomatic duties.

The State........

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