Macron's dangerous Trump tip-toeing

All the handshakes and hugs between US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron made for cringing viewing.

Not because the two were being cordial and affectionate. No, the embarrassment stems from the French leader being such a pathetic guy to the White House bully. The "dandruff moment" was perhaps the most revealing. At one point in the Oval Office, the American president interrupted himself mid-sentence to lean over to his French counterpart and he began grooming his collar, saying he was removing "dandruff". Macron seemed unfazed and continued smiling. It was what Trump said next that was revealing, "We want him to be perfect… He is perfect." The Freudian slip from the American signified that the French president is little more than a cypher, a perfect little guy for Washington. Does as he's told! During the three-day state visit, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron gave the appearance of best buddies, of being equals. That's certainly what the French leader was striving to achieve: to be seen as the top European ally of America, and the European politician who best understands Trump, best manages the maverick American.

In that way, Macron apparently aims to make "France great again"; for it to be seen as a re-energized world power on an equal footing with the US. Since Macron was elected president last May, his stated goal has been to restore France as a great power. That seemed to be working to plan this week! Macron is the first international leader to be hosted by Trump in an official state visit. The British "special relationship" with Washington has been eclipsed; and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel who follows Macron's visit is being only afforded a low-key, one-day working meeting in the White House. But the optics of the tip-toeing aside, Macron's pretensions of standing alongside Trump as the "leaders of world freedom" are overblown.

The proof of that came when Macron caved-in to Trump's antagonism over the Iranian nuclear deal. Saving that deal by keeping Trump onboard was supposed to be Macron's main mission in Washington DC. The day before Macron arrived, he gave an interview to Fox News asserting that "there was no Plan B" to the Iran nuclear accord which was signed in 2015 by the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China.

Macron was billed as the European leader who would persuade Trump to stick with the nuclear agreement. But this week, despite all the glad-handing with "my friend Emmanuel", Trump maintains an aggressive disdain for the Iran deal, hinting that he is ready to scrap it next month. And what was Macron's response?

Macron said that France was then working with the US to "renegotiate a new deal" with Iran. So much for Macron standing up to Trump!

Iran says that there will be no renegotiation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as it is formally known. The JCPOA was ratified by the UN Security Council after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries signed it as a done deal in July 2015. Russia and China have also said there can be no backtracking on the accord. The Europeans were also stating this — at least up to this week before Macron's embarrassing U-turn. Macron may have been amused with pomp and ceremony, and with florid rhetoric about representing "America's oldest ally". But in practice, all the show of two strong leaders standing side-by-side is corny public imaging.

However, that's what makes Macron a particularly dangerous accessory to Trump. The French politician is evidently willing to bend over backwards to pander to Washington's demands. Macron's presumption of leading Europe seems to be a delusion. Some media have even referred to him as "Trump's whisperer" — intimating that the young French president has an influence over the older American.

In the days before the US, Britain and France carried out their illegal missile barrage against Syria on April 14, it was Macron to whom Trump turned to for advice on what action to take. Macron reportedly briefed Trump on "French intelligence" about the alleged chemical-weapons atrocity on April 7 in Douma, near Damascus. Macron also reportedly persuaded Trump to order the military strikes a week later.

However, it has become clear now that the chemical-weapons incident on April 7 was a false-flag provocation staged by Western-backed militants. In other words, French "intelligence" was either faulty, or more likely a fabrication. But the upshot was that the US, Britain and France committed a grave war crime by attacking Syria.

This is why Emmanuel Macron should give us the creeps. He is willing to say anything to show himself with the American president in order to inflate his world standing and that of his has-been colonial nation. However, Macron later tried to sound more in tune with the EU in an address to US Congress, appealing to the country’s leaders to preserve the Iran deal and remain part of the global community. The French leader said later in the day that Trump would most likely pull the US out of the nuclear accord, disappointing many in the European Union.

Meantime, Russia says it sees no room for amendments or additions to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group countries as a deadline looms for the US to announce whether or not it will keep its side of the bargain. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, voiced concerns on Thursday over the remarks made by the US and French presidents, Donald Trump and Emanuel Macron respectively, on the JCPOA. She said, “We are seriously concerned by all of this. Russia has repeatedly said that there is no possibility for some kind of revote for this document, changing or enlarging it.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says that Iran's nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), must be preserved. On Wednesday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres believes that the JCPOA is "very important and it should be maintained." He added, "We must build on this important achievement to preserve the non-proliferation regime which is a cornerstone of our global security."

Elsewhere, a senior Iranian official said, the 2015 nuclear agreement should be honored in its current form, adding that the Islamic Republic will not accept a deal that harms the country. Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, said on Thursday that Iran will surely withdraw from the multilateral accord should the United States pull out of it.

He said, "If the Americans attempt to violate the JCPOA, it is not clear whether the Islamic Republic will remain committed to its obligations and if they exit, Iran will definitely leave it, too." Velayati said if the European countries question the solidity of the JCPOA and reinstate sanctions against Iran, which were lifted under the nuclear pact, they will make the deal "ineffective" as far as Iran's interests are concerned. He also emphasized that the agreement should be implemented in its written form because otherwise Tehran will be entitled to retaliate.

The Leader’s advisor went on to say that it would still be unacceptable for Iran if US President Donald Trump stuck to the deal at the cost of keeping sanctions in place, as demanded by the Europeans. Ali Akbar Velayati said, "This appeasement to Trump will practically make the JCPOA impotent and Iran will not accept a JCPOA that is to its detriment."

He also defended Iran's "legitimate" presence in the region, saying, "Every country has the right to be present in its own region and the Western Asia is our region."

Trump has been a vociferous critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama. He has called the agreement the “worst deal ever” and even threatened to tear it up. Back in January, Trump said he was extending the sanctions relief on Iran for the last time, giving the European signatories a May 12 deadline to fix what he claimed “flaws” in the agreement or he would refuse to waive those bans.

Iran insists there is no way it will renegotiate the nuclear pact, which was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 in 2015.

As for the position taken in Washington by the French President Emmanuel Macron, in order to justify this outrageous bad-faith and backsliding, Macron is giving credence to Trump's calumny about Iran being a sponsor of terrorism, destabilizing the region, and illegally developing ballistic missiles. Macron is saying that a "new deal" with Iran will have to be made which will curb Iranian presence in Syria, allegedly in Yemen and the Middle East. As it seems, the "Trump whisperer" is not an independent, principled European leader. He is a self-aggrandizing careerist who is willing to play to Trump's worst instincts and ignorance.

That was from an article by Finian Cunningham who has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organizations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. Dear listeners, let’s remind you that any words on Macron’s position is just the writer’s own wording.

EA