Macron and Scholz are now Putin's 'useful idiots'

 In my blog entry (11 Jul 2015) I wrote that,

"Finally the mask behind which Merkel and Hollande (left) were hiding their true 'sympathies' with Putin has finally slipped down.

AFP (Agence France Press) now informs us that,

"German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande took the rare step on Friday of pressing Ukraine's Western-backed leader to ensure partial self-rule for the pro-Russian separatist east." (The Telegraph : 10 Jul 2015) (my emphasis)

Fast forward to 2022, and following in the 'appeasement of Putin tradition' in Germany and France since 2015, we now have none other than the current President of France, Emmanuelle Macron (right), yet again arguing that,

"This means that one of the essential points we must address - as President Putin has always said - is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia," Macron said.
...
"That topic will be part of the topics for peace, so we need to prepare what we are ready to do, how we protect our allies and member states, and how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table," Macron said.

But Macron's remarks suggested he was sympathetic to Moscow's need for security guarantees - a demand that was the focus of intense but failed diplomacy in the run-up to the war." (Geert De Clercq : Reuters : 3 December 2022) (my emphasis)

To which, as reported by Lidia Kelly (left):-

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's top aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that it is the world that needs security guarantees from Russia, not the other way around.

"Civilized world needs 'security guarantees' from barbaric intentions        of post-Putin Russia," Podolyak said on Twitter on Sunday.

• Former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb said he "fundamentally" disagreed with Macron. The only security guarantees we should focus on are essentially non-Russian," he said on his Twitter account. "Russia needs first to guarantee that it does not attack others."

• Lithuania's former foreign minister, Linas Linkevicus, said that Russia has security guarantees as long as it does not "attack, annex or occupy" its neighbours. (Yahoo (Reuters) : 5 December 2022) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Sergei Kuznetsov  : Politico : 4 December 2022)
  

 Left to right : Podolyak, Stubb, and Linkevicus

Like Macron, German Chancellor Scholz is similarly calling for 'dialogue' with Putin.

As reported by Wion News,

"Referring to the call (2 December 2022) , Scholz as per Reuters said "I have spoken to him (Putin) repeatedly since then because I am firmly convinced that it is a grave mistake if, despite all the differences, and this is, after all, a small word for huge differences, we no longer talk to each other at all."

He added that "it is also important that the French president and I, as representatives of the G7 countries, as two NATO countries, keep seeking dialogue again. (MSN : 6 December 2022) (my emphasis)

DW News : 3 December 2022 : YouTube

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken (left), rather succinctly sums up exactly what Putin and, indirectly Macron and Scholz, are supporting.

Secretary of State Blinken stated in a recent interview,

"One of the things you can imagine is the Russians are trying to find an offramp that will be a phony offramp. 

By which I mean ....let's just freeze things in place .... get a frozen conflict ... never negotiate about the territory that they have seized and continue to hold ... rest ... refit ... regroup ... re-attack [Ukraine] ...  
...
Unless Russia demonstrates that it is interested in meaningful diplomacy it [peace talks] cannot go anywhere" (William Mauldin : Wall Street Journal : 5 December 2022) (my emphasis)

 

And whilst Macron and Scholz are following in the 2015 footsteps of Merkel and Hollande in appeasing Putin, Paul Adams and Ben Tobias report that,

"Russia has fired a barrage of missiles at targets across Ukraine for the eighth time in eight weeks.

Significant disruption to the power grid was reported, mainly in the east. In the south, Odesa was without power. Ukraine says four people were killed." (BBC News : 5 December 2022) (my emphasis)

 DW News : 5 December 2022 : YouTube

And as reported by BBC News (YouTube),

"[Putin] has dismised comments by President Biden that he would be prepared to talk to Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader signals that he was looking to end the war in Ukraine. [President] Biden insisted that such talks could only take place after Russia troops withdrew [from Ukraine]" (BBC News (YouTube) : 3 December 2022) (my emphasis)

 

As Putin continues to rain down missiles on Ukraine, BBC News report that,

"Russian air defences intercepted Ukrainian drones over two military airfields in Russia, hundreds of kilometres from the border between the two countries, Russia said on Monday.

Falling debris from the unmanned vehicles lightly damaged two aircraft, a defence ministry statement said.

Three Russian servicemen were killed and four injured in the incidents in the Ryazan and Saratov regions.

[Russian] Long-range strategic bombers are believed to be based at the airfields." (BBC News : 5 December 2022) (my emphasis)

The Sun : 6 December 2022 : YouTube

French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz are being constantly rebuffed by Putin and yet, like former German Chancellor Merkel and former French President Hollande before them they do, indeed, seem to be 'gluttons for diplomatic punishment' at the hands of Putin.

In the words attributed to Lenin,

 

"LENIN is supposed to have referred to blind defenders and apologists for the Soviet Union in the Western democracies as "useful idiots." Yet even Lenin might have been surprised at how far these useful idiots would carry their partisanship in later years -- including our own times." (DFW Politics) (my emphasis) 

Are Macron and Scholz now Putin's 'useful idiots'?

 

(to be continued)