I'm pretty sure there are pleasantries exchanged on half a dozen "back channels" between governments even while war is being declared. It covers all the bases. I forget the exact occasion, probably the terrorist act committed in France a couple of years ago where there were complaints that the regrets sent by the US were tendered by too low a functionary. They expected Joe Biden at a minimum. But they can't say the US didn't tender it's sympathy. Frankly, since I don't believe that before that time that France had had a great deal of terrorist activity other than in their colonies (Mali, Algeria) and they had not been very cooperative, I would have sent a note with a deputy agricultural attaché saying "welcome to the club". Just because you hate the US and they hate the US doesn't make you immune.


Informative x 3