Or to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, a story of the dog that didn’t bark, the shoes that didn’t drop.
So, for example, the invisible issue of the US shredding of the INF and the siting of short-range nuclear missiles in Poland and Romania by NATO – though constituting a clear and present danger to the peace of the world – didn’t get a look-in.Similarly the trade-wars currently rocking the world economy could not be properly dealt with because of the absence of China and other targets of US sanctions.
He castigated those who had “pushed Russia away,” those guilty of a “strategic mistake” of alienating Russia. Macron said the rise of China and Russia meant “we are living at the end of Western hegemony.”
Well, the answer is complicated.Western leaders surely know that the end of hegemony is already here – it may be said to have died at the gates of Damascus when the Syrian Arab Army and its Russian, and other, allies turned back the inexorable advance of the Western-backed Islamist fanatics and changed the course of the war.A series of failed “regime-change” operations from Yemen to Venezuela were further confirmation.
The prestige in foreign policy terms of Russia has scarcely ever been higher. Russia has been seen to stand by, to protect and to prevail with its friends while others bring nothing but disappointment, even betrayal.
And this anxiety, even fear, over US recklessness is growing rapidly in all European countries.Whatever Macron’s motivation, and however many other sins he has committed and continues to commit, let us not be churlish. After all, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who have no need of repentance.