He couldn’t help it. At the opening of the International Forum for Peace, in Rome, Sunday, October 23, Emmanuel Macron had this unfortunate sentence: “Peace is possible” when the Ukrainians “decide it”. In kyiv, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, must have appreciated. Because the formula gives the impression that the Westerners have no problem negotiating with the Russians, but that the Ukrainians are blocking the discussions. Did Macron miss an opportunity to shut up?
If, again, it was the first time… On October 12 on France 2, he affirmed that in the event of a nuclear strike by Putin in Ukraine or “in the region”, France’s response would be “not nuclear “, because his “fundamental interests” would not be threatened. Nice blunder: the very principle of nuclear deterrence consists precisely in maintaining the vagueness on its level of response.
Diplomacy, the art of making cracked panes last
To say that our interests would not be threatened if a bomb exploded in Romania, where French troops are stationed, is, moreover, rather strange. Especially from a man who, in 2020, claimed that “the vital interests of France now have a European dimension”…
“Diplomacy is the art of making cracked panes last forever!” said General de Gaulle. Not sure that this recent flood of presidential statements has made it possible to cement the fractures of the world. Of course, French, it is said, remains the language of diplomacy. A particular language, which, since Talleyrand, feeds on constructive ambiguities. But where are these pitfalls and these subtle coded messages when Emmanuel Macron – again him – calls not to “humiliate Russia”, last June, when the war will end? A theme he took up in his speech last Sunday: “Russian power fed on the resentment and humiliation born during the dislocation of the Soviet empire”. A narrative developed by Vladimir Putin, and very far from reality.
We will be answered: the president speaks loud and clear. Since he largely won the speech marathon – aka the great national debate – which had totaled ninety-two hours of discussion in 2019, all our fellow citizens know his passion for the verb. But this is not always combined with the grammar of international relations.