France’s Macron
Positions Himself as Globalist ‘Anti-Trump’ at UN Meeting
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.20 Sep 2017
French President Emmanuel Macron presented himself
as the globalist “anti-Trump” in his speech at the United
Nations on Tuesday, speaking in
direct opposition to the U.S. president’s pro-sovereignty theme.
Point by point, the French president advanced
positions contrary to those of Mr. Trump, countering Trump’s “America first”
nationalism with the slogan “independence today lies in interdependence.”
According to members of his entourage,
Mr. Macron modified his address at the last moment to respond directly to Mr.
Trump’s words.
During the course of his speech,
Trump mentioned sovereignty 21 times, while Macron employed the word only
twice, peppering his address instead with talking points like multilateralism,
climate change, and immigration.
“Our success depends on a coalition of strong and
independent nations that embrace their sovereignty to promote security,
prosperity, and peace for themselves and for the world,” Trump said in his
address.
“We are irremediably linked to one another in a community
of destinies for today and tomorrow,” Macron countered. “The world balance has
profoundly changed in recent years and the world has become once again
multipolar, which means we must relearn the complexity of dialogue, as well as
its fruitfulness.”
For both Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump, the 72nd
General Assembly of the UN in New York represented their first opportunity to
address the international body as leaders of their respective countries. Taking
advantage of the absence of German chancellor Angela Merkel, Macron staked his
claim as the de facto leader of the liberal, globalist world.
Regarding North Korea, Macron insisted
on the pressure of sanctions and the necessary involvement of Moscow and
Beijing to force Pyongyang to sit at the negotiating table. At the podium, he
recalled his opposition to military escalation, “because the map shows all the
complexity of a military intervention.”
“The United States has great strength and patience, but
if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to
totally destroy North Korea,” Trump declared. “Rocket Man is on a suicide
mission for himself and for his regime.”
In reply, Macron said that “France will resist all
escalation and will close no door to dialogue if conditions exist for this
dialogue to promote peace.”
The French President also took a stance on Iran
diametrically opposed to that of his American counterpart, declaring that
renouncing the Iranian nuclear agreement would be a “big mistake.”
According to President Trump, the Iran deal “was one of
the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered
into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t
think you’ve heard the last of it—believe me.”
“Our commitment to non-proliferation has resulted in a
strong, robust agreement to verify that Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons,”
Macron countered. “Denouncing it would be a big mistake, not respecting it
would be irresponsible—because it is a good agreement that is essential to
keeping peace at an hour where the risk of a hellish spiral can’t be discounted.”
On the immigration question, Macron spoke poetically,
declaring that “the migrant has become the symbol of our times, the symbol of a
world where no barrier can oppose the march of despair if we do not transform
the roads of necessity into roads of freedom.”
“These migrations are political, climatic, and ethnic,”
the French President said. “These are always roads of necessity.” He also said
that “it is not walls that will protect us,” in reference to Mr. Trump’s promise
of constructing a border wall between the United States and Mexico.
Trump, on the other hand, took a far more pragmatic
approach, examining the short and long-term costs of mass migration, and its
ties to “international criminal networks.”
“For decades, the United States has dealt with migration
challenges here in the Western Hemisphere. We have learned that, over the long
term, uncontrolled migration is deeply unfair to both the sending and the
receiving countries,” he said.
“For the sending countries, it reduces domestic pressure
to pursue needed political and economic reform, and drains them of the human
capital necessary to motivate and implement those reforms,” he said. “For the
receiving countries, the substantial costs of uncontrolled migration are borne
overwhelmingly by low-income citizens whose concerns are often ignored by both
media and government.”
Macron likewise took a predictably hardline position
regarding the Paris climate accord (a topic Trump didn’t even mention),
refusing to entertain the possibility of renegotiating the agreement.
While declaring that he “deeply respect(ed) the decision
of the United States” to withdraw from the agreement, Macron insisted that the
accord “will not be renegotiated, it binds us” before adding, that “we will not
back down.”
“The future of the world is that of our planet, which is
on course to take vengeance on the foolishness of men,” Macron said. “The
planet will not negotiate with us.”
The UN event provided an opportunity for the world to get
a good look at the profound differences among the visions of its member states,
none deeper, perhaps, than that separating Trump’s populist nationalism from
Macron’s globalism.
Let’s connect the dots:
French
Elizabeth
Frawley Bagley was a director at the French-American
Foundation, a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, an alternate U.S. representative
for the United Nations, is a
director at the Atlantic Council of the
United States (think tank), and an advisory council member for the Acumen Fund.
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Committee for
Economic Development.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, Andrea
Soros’s father, the founder of the Soros
Fund Management, Jonathan Soros’s
father, Christine Lagarde attended his 2013
wedding reception, and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), the International
Rescue Committee, the ClimateWorks
Foundation, the Committee for
Economic Development, and the Roosevelt
Institute.
Andrea
Soros is global board member for the Open
Society Foundations, George Soros’s
daughter, and was a director at the Acumen
Fund.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Committee for
Economic Development.
Reuben Jeffery
III is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and a director at the French-American Foundation.
Anne Dias Griffin
was an analyst for the Soros Fund
Management, and is a director at the French-American
Foundation.
Christine Lagarde
attended George Soros’s 2013 wedding
reception, and was the finance minister for France.
Howard H. Leach
was a U.S. ambassador for France, a
director at the French-American
Foundation, a regent at the University
of California, and a board member for the Haas School of Business.
Richard C. Blum is
a regent at the University of California,
a board member for the Haas School of
Business, married to California
Senator Dianne Feinstein, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
C. Douglas Dillon
was a chairman for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a U.S.
ambassador for France.
Richard L.
Kauffman was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a director at
the French-American Foundation.
John
A. Thain is a director at the French-American
Foundation, and was Timothy F.
Geithner’s unofficial adviser.
Timothy F.
Geithner’s unofficial adviser was John
A. Thain, and is an overseer, director for the International Rescue Committee.
Bertrand P.
Collomb was a director at the French-American
Foundation, and a director at the ClimateWorks
Foundation.
Douglas M. Price is a director at the French-American Foundation, and was a
trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development.
Charles E.M. Kolb
was the president of the Committee for
Economic Development, and a director at the French-American Foundation.
G. Richard Thoman was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
is a director at the French-American
Foundation.
Arthur A. Hartman
was a director at the French-American
Foundation, a U.S. ambassador for France,
and a U.S. ambassador for the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Charles E. Bohlen
was a U.S. ambassador for France,
and a U.S. ambassador for the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
William
Christian Bullitt was a U.S. ambassador for France, and a U.S. ambassador for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Mikhail Gorbachev
was the president of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair Foundation, and the founder
of Green Cross International.
Valery
Giscard d'Estaing is
an advisory board member for the Wheelchair
Foundation, and was the president of France.
Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair
Foundation, and the chair for the Roosevelt
Institute.
Jonathan Soros is
a senior fellow at the Roosevelt
Institute, and George Soros’s son.
Robert Redford
Robert Redford
is an
honorary board member for Green Cross International, and an advisory board member for Edible
Schoolyard Project.
Robert Redford
is an honorary board member for Green
Cross International, and an advisory board member for the Edible Schoolyard.
Adam
Gopnik is an advisory board member for the Edible Schoolyard, and a director at the French-American Foundation.
Elizabeth
Frawley Bagley was a director at the French-American
Foundation, a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, an alternate U.S. representative
for the United Nations, is a
director at the Atlantic Council of the
United States (think tank), and an advisory council member for the Acumen Fund.
Andrea
Soros was a director at the Acumen
Fund, is global board member for the Open
Society Foundations, and George
Soros’s daughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment