Russia seems to have caught up with the United States. What was remembered by Putin and Trump at events by the centenary of the end of the First World War

In Paris, the mass festivities of the presidents and prime ministers on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War were completed. The heads of state - seventy souls (add wives and staff here) - celebrated the anniversary with a solemn dinner at the Orsa Museum, a modest and touching ceremony in the Champs Elysees, an official dinner in the Champs Elysees (the ladies dined in Versailles) and the Parisian forum of the world, which took place on the former massacre. The deep meaning of these events has yet to be found, but for now we limit ourselves to contrasting pictures.

Picture 1. Diplomacy on the knee

Before accepting high foreign guests in Paris, the President of France traveled to the northern and north-eastern corners of the country for a week, the most affected by the Great War. In the sad memorable Verden, the president uttered a careless phrase. In an interview with Radio, Europe 1 Macron said the need to create a “real European army” in order to “protect us from China, Russia and even from the United States of America.”

The interview was published on the morning of November 6, and literally three days later, in the evening of the 9th, barely landing at the Paris airport, Donald Trump quickly launched a tweet:

“France President Macron has just proposed building its own army in Europe to protect against the USA, China and Russia. This is offensive, but perhaps Europe should first pay a fair share to the NATO budget, which is largely subsidized by the United States. ”

In the morning, Trump had a meeting with Macron, and the US president, one might say, had an artillery preparation to her. The next day, Macron had to reassure Trump in the Champs Elysees, who was sitting in a chair with the look as if he was twisted by some severe geopolitical ailment.

“I understand that the pile of plots in an interview could cause confusion ...” - Macron explained, referring to the frowning Trump. The French president also emphasized that the decision of Europeans to create their own defense forces does not mean refusal from NATO, and promised to increase the contribution of Paris to financing the organization.

Trump, without changing facial expressions, muttered that he was impressed by the words of the President of France about NATO budget. And he added about Macron in the third person: “We have become very good friends during these years” (although they are familiar with a little over a year).

“If the US president decides to strengthen the security of one of the states, he will not ask for his friends: Germany or other European governments to finance it. <...> That's why I think that we need more our own European defense, ”Macron explained, and when the journalists tried to ask questions, instead of answers, for some reason he stroked the US president on his knee several times. Trump did not reciprocate, continuing to sit in the same stone pose, and journalists were taken out of the room. So we did not find out whether Macron managed to even smooth out the sharp corners of the franco-American relations.

Picture 2. Champagne for the glory of the dead

Immediately after this meeting, Trump was supposed to fly to the American cemetery in the Belo Forest (ENA Department), but canceled the visit “because of bad weather conditions”: there was a rain.

It was, of course, a strong gesture from the President of the United States, especially against the backdrop of historical knowledge about what weather conditions had to fight here American soldiers.

But not everything is so sad: instead of himself, Trump sent a retired general John Kelly (with his wife) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the cemetery. And the next day, the US president nevertheless got into the Suren cemetery, located three kilometers from Paris.

However, this did not brighten up the longing of Jacques Crabal - the mayor and deputy of the French National Assembly from the Department of Ena. On the eve of Crabal expected to meet the President of the United States in the cemetery in the Bello forest, having prepared a bottle of good champagne on such an occasion for Trump and for some reason the book of Busen Lafontaine. But all the efforts, one might say, went to dust and the deputy from the Macron Party “Forward, Republic!” It remains to complain about this to the French media, taking pictures with a bottle in a gift package.

Picture 3. All on buses, and we are the leaders of the world

At 11 in the morning of November 11, on Sunday (that is, exactly at the time when the end of the First World War was documented in the compound forest), the ceremony was scheduled for the triumphal arch on the Champs Elysees. As planned by the organizers, the presidents had to arrive at the Elisei Palace early in the morning and from there to go to the arch on buses together. It was a gesture showing the theoretical possibility of some unity between the heads of different states. But not everyone could afford it. And while a crowd of other leaders, led by Macron and Merkel with mournful faces, patiently slapped in the rain from buses to stands, two “poles” of a multipolar world raced to the eternal fire on armored limousines. And still arrived later than others.

“The leaders of the Russian Federation and the USA are the only presidents in the world who, even during foreign trips, use cars brought with them,” the fact of parity established this year emphasized. It has long been known that the US presidents even drive in their cars, not trusting the “guest”. Now Russia in this sense caught up with America. At the Paris airport, Vladimir Putin was waiting for the Aurus Senat lime from the Russian Federation.

Trump arrived at the rostrum somewhere at 11.15, and Putin at 11.19. It doesn’t matter that in the end, the ceremony began a little later by the end of the First World War, and thousands of people stood a little longer in the rain. But the Russian leader, with the support of the American colleague, once again managed to change the course of history.

By the way, Trump's cortege was slightly slowed down by three Femen activists who rushed to him. Each of them had the inscription “Fake Peace Makers on the body. Real Dictators. " The activists were twisted, but they clearly succeeded. But if Trump went by bus, he would have escaped this petty trouble, and Femen could keep himself for the next motorcade. But the activists were no longer enough for the next motorcade.

Leaving the limousine by the triumphal arch, Putin approached the podium, shook his hands at Macron, Merkel, and then Trump, who then showed a thumb. Political scientists are already looking for a hidden meaning in this gesture. We will not distract them, let's move on to more serious things.

Here is the first of them: after the ceremony for lunch at the Eliseisian Palace, Trump has already arrived later than Putin. Thus, the score in the “limousine war” was equal. Now you can prepare for the Big Twenty summit in Buenos Aires.

Under the text
For a cry of a question (for some reason specified in the past tense) from an employee of the Russian website Life: "What DID You Say Putin?" - The US president answered from the steps of the Champs Elysees: "Good Lunch!"

They say that at lunch Trump and Putin were still transferred to a couple of words. Leaving the Eliseisian, the President of the Russian Federation to the question of how communication passed, answered: "Good." But they did not have the possibilities for a normal conversation: the presidents sat on opposite sides of the table. There was no desire - at least from the American side.

Picture 4. "Nationalism is a betrayal"

The ceremony of the triumphant ceremony turned out to be restrained, laconic and without obvious signs of falsehood, if, in principle, not to consider any such ceremonies (and not take into account the moment when the commander in chief of Macron heated the sword over the eternal flame - “revived the flame”). Children read letters from soldiers from the front, the musicians played, Macron made a short speech.

He mentioned “10 million killed, 6 million wounded and crippled, 3 million widows <...>, a billion shells released only on French land.” He pricked Donald Trump, who, not so long ago, to the elections, said: "I am a nationalist." "Patriotism is the complete opposite of nationalism: nationalism is a betrayal." Saying “Our interests - first of all” ( American First . - Ed. ), “We erase the most valuable that the nation has”: “its moral values,” Macron macron.

And instead of the traditional "Vive La France!" In the end of the speech, he said: “Long live the world between states! Long live the free nations of the world! Long live friendship between the peoples! Long live France! "

After that, for some reason, I remembered how at the end of October Angel Merkel proposed not to supply weapons of Saudi Arabia as a punishment for the murder of a journalist Khashoggi, and Macron abandoned this idea, calling it “pure demagogy”.

With the help of Western weapons, I recall that since the spring of 2015, Saudi Arabia has been waging a war in Yemen, which, unlike Syrian, speaks very little. (And on Monday, 11/12/2018, the Foreign Minister Le Drian, as well as his colleagues of their US and Great Britain, called for the end of this war. “There will be no winner in this war. So, you need to stop it,” Le Drian explained.)

But let's move from sad thoughts into the halls of the Great Pavilion La-Vilelet, in which a massacre was located until 1974. On Sunday, the first Parisian forum in the world was opened in this room.

Picture 5. "Davos

Macron conceived a forum in order to discuss issues of "the development of more fair globalization and a more effective, multipolar system." He all voice announced this in August, in the annual message to French diplomats.

“The partner with whom Europe has built a post -war multipolar world together turned back to our joint story,” Macron said. And he emphasized that in these conditions “the main question is not whether I will take Donald Trump’s arm at the nearest summit”, but that the response to the “crisis of multipolarity” that has arisen should be found “by deep reorganization of the world order”.

At the “closest summit”, as you know, Macron took Trump by the knee, but this did not become a turning point on the path to the reconstruction of the world. Trump simply did not go to the forum, but went to the cemetery ( see above ). And this man also called Macron his friend!

However, the Paris Forum of the World still promises to live long. “Safety experts have Munich, Shagri-la or Valdai, the economists have a forum in Davos, but so far there is no forum to discuss issues of effective management,” Macron said, calling the Paris Forum “Davos on Peace issues” and ordering it to be annual.

This year, 850 participants came to the forum, presenting 120 “management initiatives”, divided into five topics (peace and security, ecology, development, digital technology, inclusive economy). According to the results of the forum, which will end on Tuesday, money will be allocated for 10 projects. Among the participants are the Kudrin and MGIMO Foundation, who work on a macron invented a year and a half ago in Versailles of the Russian-French initiative “On the Development of Civil Society (“ Trianon Dialogue ”).

The President of the Russian Federation came to the Great Pavilion La-Vilelet, served the entry and rushed off on the limousine in the city center: to lay flowers to the monument to the soldiers of the Russian Expeditionary Corps and give an interview with RT television ( which Macron in Versailles, a year and a half ago, thoroughly and tastefully in the presence of the silent Putin called the “false propaganda authority” ).

At this time, Macron, along with the head of UNESCO, the Prime Ministers of Canada and Norway, the presidents of Costa Riki, Senegal and Tunisia supported the work of “reporters without borders”, which a couple of days before presented a declaration according to information and democracy.

It is assumed that the authorities of the countries that have joined the declaration will do everything to support the spread of objective and free information, which is the “world property of mankind” and to ensure the safety of journalists.

In the world, “offensive actions” “go to freedom of speech -“ from the side of authoritarian regimes, from the side of radical movements ”,“ which are trying to control, censored ”,“ launch massive misinformation campaigns, attack journalists, ”said Macron, clarifying:“ The list (dead) is unfortunately too long. But what not to name the names of Anna Politkovskaya, James Fowley ( killed by ISIS militants in 2014.-Ed. ), Georges Volinski ( artist who died at the attack on the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo. - Ed. ), Yana Kutsyak (Slovak journalist, killed in February 2018.- *Ed. ) , *Jamal Khashoggi and many others. "

The declaration has so far supported 12 countries, Russia is not among them.

The forum talked about Syria (UN Secretary General), they talked about Ukraine. The second issue was discussed in the course of an impromptu meeting between Poroshenko, Macron and Merkel.

Late on Sunday, on Sunday, the Eliseisian Palace sent a joint statement by the President of France and Chancellor of Germany “On the situation in the east of Ukraine”.

In the statement:

• “illegal elections in certain territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” are condemned;

• The “nearest discussions of foreign ministers”, “dedicated to a possible (peacekeeping) mission under the auspices of the UN” are announced;

• "The prospect of the new exchange of prisoners and the liberation of all political prisoners before the end of the year."

Where did the information about this prospect come from? But if the “perspective” is fulfilled, I would not refuse champagne on this occasion. I know that the deputy Krabal has remained from Donald Trump.