President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany earned media adoration for the “internationalist” tone of their speeches this weekend commemorating the centenary of the armistice ending World War I. But their vision of global order is vapid, built on nothing but platitudes.
For a start, columnists like Jennifer Rubin are absolutely wrong in supporting Macron and Merkel’s claims of guardianship over the international liberal order. The reality, as demonstrated by overt Franco-German submission to Russian President Vladimir Putin and to Chinese economic imperialism, is that Macron-Merkel will not stand up to defend Western values against those who would vanquish them.
Macron, for example, not President Trump, is the one seeking a gradual reduction of sanctions on Russia. Macron has increased defense spending, but he is also weakening NATO and wasting money, energy, and NATO efficiency on his European military project.
Merkel’s policy is an even bigger joke. Aside from its special forces, Germany’s military is starved of investment and capability. It would struggle to support operations in the Balkans, let alone NATO’s defense against Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Germany is enabling Russia’s energy blackmail strategy. American and British armored brigades, not German ones, stand watch alongside central and Eastern European democracies. While Macron speaks of internationalism, it is American warships, not French ones, that defend international trade and transit rights in the South China Sea.
History also suggests that Macron and Merkel might have shown more humility this weekend. It was America’s 1917 military arrival in Europe that most depleted rising German optimism for victory, and American military power that resisted German reinforcements deployed following Russia’s capitulation in 1918. The U.S. Army was especially important during the 1918 German spring offensive, where the 3rd Infantry Division earned its nickname, “The Rock of the Marne.”
History also demands Macron and Merkel’s humility for another reason: what followed. Namely, the post-war decisions, against former President Woodrow Wilson’s influence, that enabled a capricious French usurpation of German industry and rising nationalist fury in Germany. Exactly like Macron and Merkel, the League of Nations pledged peace and internationalism, but did little to defend it. And just as the League of Nations gave room to Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese army radicals, the Macron-Merkel language pageant gives Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin, and others their invitation to advance.
Fortunately, America still stands watch over allies under pressure, such as Australia and Poland. American vigilance, not Macron’s and Merkel’s speeches, is what actually defends the international order.
