Interesting to listen to Hubert Védrine talking about Russia (in French). Védrine is said to be the or a Macron-whisperer on foreign policy. franceculture.fr/emissions/repl…
Indeed some passages in Macron's speech to the ambassadors on Russia sound quite similar. elysee.fr/emmanuel-macro…
Here's the French version of Macron's speech. lv.ambafrance.org/Ambassadors-co…
More Védrine at the Figaro lefigaro.fr/international/…
And with former French ambassador to the US @GerardAraud also at the Figaro. lefigaro.fr/vox/monde/hube…
@GerardAraud Most important parallel between Védrine and Macron on Russia is that both portray Russian aggression as a reaction to a failed Western approach to Russia.
@GerardAraud Macron: "We’ve witnessed cyber-attacks, the destabilization of democracies, and a Russian project that is deeply conservative and opposed to the EU project. And all that basically developed in the 1990s and 2000s when a series of misunderstandings took place ..."
@GerardAraud "... and when Europe no doubt did not enact its own strategy and gave the impression of being a Trojan Horse for the West, whose final aim was to destroy Russia, and when Russia built a fantasy around the destruction of the West and the weakening of the EU."
@GerardAraud You can argue with this one-sided narrative on many levels, but the biggest problem is that it fails to understand that Russia is doing more than just reacting to the West. It has its own strategic ideas and culture, and political will, and its policies are driven by them.
