French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out on the political style and substance of US President Donald Trump, appearing to give him a lesson on how to conduct serious statesmanship.
In pointed remarks on his arrival for a state visit in South Korea, Emmanuel said: “This is not a show. We are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women.
“When you want to be serious you don’t say every day the opposite of what you said the day before. And maybe you shouldn’t be speaking every day. You should just let things quieten down.”
Macron said the war in Iran required a “serious” approach that was consistent and did not change from day to day, an apparent reference to Trump’s penchant for seemingly contradictory remarks about the conflict.
In a prime-time address on Wednesday, Trump spoke about the US being on track to complete all of its military objectives against Iran soon, and thus ending the war, yet also saying that the US would “hit them [Iran] extremely hard over next two to three weeks … [to] bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong”. This latter remark, seeming to confirm fears that the war was, in fact, far from about to end soon, prompted a surge in oil prices, with Brent jumping 5% to $106 a barrel.
Macron also spoke openly about the suggestion that Trump was reconsidering America’s membership of NATO.
“Alliances like NATO are valuable because of what is unspoken – meaning the trust behind them,” Macron said, pointing out that casting doubt about one’s commitment to the organisation emptied it of its substance. On this question, he said, “I feel like there is too much chatter, it’s all over the place.”
Pointedly, on the question of the joint US/Israeli strike on Iran on 28 February, Macron said he was unwilling to comment on an operation that the US and Israel had “decided on by themselves”.
“They then lament that they are alone in an operation they decided on alone. It’s not our operation.”
In what observers may well come to regard as reflecting the French President’s better grasp of the larger strategic picture, Macron said of the worries, and claims, about nuclear capabilities that while Trump had said last June that US strikes had “obliterated” Iranian nuclear facilities, he had also said after helping launch the February strikes against Iran that this was the “last best chance to strike at Iran’s nuclear weapons programme”.
Macron observed drily: “I remind you that six months ago we were told that everything had been destroyed and all had been sorted out.”
Yet, he added: “You still have today and you’ll still have in the future people who have the know-how, hidden laboratories, etcetera. So it’s not targeted military action even lasting a few weeks which can sort out the nuclear problem for good.”
On the question of securing the free flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Macron said it was “unrealistic” to reopen the strait by force. This objective could only be achieved “in coordination with Iran” after a ceasefire.
Sources: The Guardian, BBC, Reuters
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/faces-of-the-world/51419852660]