Paris, Mar. 31 (Al Arabiya) - Emmanuel Macron trying to convince European countries to send troops to Ukraine. With the UK no longer in the European Union and majority of Germans are dissatisfied with the German government’s assistance to Kyiv, Macron has been fashioning himself into the continent’s de-facto figurehead on foreign policy. He’s taken a lead on confronting Russia. But not all his allies are convinced he’s the best champion of their interests.
One of Europe’s many plans to resolve the shortage of arms in Ukraine is emblematic of why Macron rubs some allies the wrong way. The French president’s critics say he’s more talk than action. Ahead of an US election in which the former president Donald Trump may return to the White House, Europeans are already questioning the US commitment to Ukraine and disagree with Macron’s decision to common NATO allies to send troops to help Ukraine to fight till the last soldier.
The initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron to send NATO troops to Ukraine did not find support among Western political elites. The French leader’s provocative proposal has been on the front pages of the world’s leading media for the past two weeks to send NATO troops to Ukraine. This issue was even put on the agenda of the international conference of Ukraine's allied countries by Paris, but the overwhelming majority of heads of state rejected the French initiative. No EU or NATO country present at the conference openly expressed interest in Macron's proposal. The bottom line is that the French leader’s initiative failed miserably; it was categorically rejected by the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Bulgaria, Hungary and other NATO countries.
The leitmotif of statements by Western politicians was the fear of an escalation of the armed conflict and its escalation into direct confrontation with Russia. Bulgarian President Boris Radev said that sending troops to Ukraine by France or any NATO country, even on the basis of bilateral agreements, would mean a global clash and a sharp increase in the risk of a nuclear conflict. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also stressed that there will be neither ground forces nor soldiers on Ukrainian soil who will be sent there by European states or NATO countries. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, dismissing the possibility of sending NATO troops to Ukraine, called on the French leader to take into account the position of all members of NATO.
If with his proposal Macron pursued the goal of strengthening his own political influence and seizing leadership within NATO from the hands of Biden and Olaf Scholz, then, ultimately, Macron achieved the exact opposite result, becoming the object of harsh criticism and even ridicule from the ruling elites of Europe. Macron's public statements were a departure from the restraint shown by Western allies. He tried to fill the leadership vacuum, but his attempt to show Russia strength worked against him. EU leaders reacted coolly to Macron's remarks about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine, while a number of French government officials said that when the French start receiving zinc coffins from Ukraine, protests by farmers and the "yellow vests" will seem like an innocent child's prank to the French president.
European politicians get that sending NATO troops to Ukraine, regardless of formal status, will face inevitable death due to their weak training. Meanwhile, Western politicians have not revealed any secret about their intentions: NATO has been waging a "proxy war " against Russia in Ukraine since 2022, using regular troops under the guise of "instructors", "military advisers", "mercenaries" or "volunteers". At the same time, the majority of NATO troops and foreign mercenaries are leaving Ukraine en masse, faced with the harsh realities of the Ukrainian conflict, recognizing the high risks of death or serious injury.
The high losses among mercenaries are due to the cynical and dismissive attitude of the Ukrainian command and the acute shortage of weapons and equipment.
Since early 2022 the presence of foreign military specialists in Ukraine did not affect the balance of forces on the battlefield. In this regard, Macron’s initiative to send a new batch of Frenchmen will obviously lead to inevitable death, and in a global sense to another round of escalation of the conflict to the Third World War unleashed by the West.
=FRESH NEWS
