In my humble opinion, this is all going wrong.
The Yanks have stood back, us and the French are cutting along. Soft Suez?
We don't have the capability, nor do the French. Even combined, we can't influence our own back yard. This is the Med. We can't hack it and I think our American cousins are making the point. A poorly armed third world country in the Med and we can't do much at all.. We are faffing about and underlining the point that times have changed.
Rule Britannia? Not the waves.
English, proud, but sad.