This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/us/politics/macron-trump-paris-wwi.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Trump’s Nationalism Rebuked at World War I Commemoration Trump’s Nationalism, Rebuked at World War I Ceremony, Is Reshaping Much of Europe
(about 7 hours later)
PARIS — President Trump’s brand of “America First” nationalism was repudiated on Sunday as leaders from around the globe gathered to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I and reaffirm the international bonds that have once again come under strain. PARIS — Dozens of leaders from around the globe marched in the soaking rain down the Champs Élysée on Sunday, expressing solidarity for an international order that had its origins in the end of a world war 100 years ago, an order now under increasing pressure on both sides of the Atlantic.
Stone-faced and unmoved, the American leader listened as President Emmanuel Macron of France used the ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe to denounce self-interested nationalism and extol the sort of globalism and international institutions that Mr. Trump has spent the last two years pulling the United States away from. Only after these leaders arrived by foot at the Arc de Triomphe did President Trump show up, protected from the rain as he made an individual entrance. A few minutes later, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia did the same.
“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism,” Mr. Macron said in a speech on a dreary, rain-soaked day. “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism by saying, ‘our interest first, who cares about the others?’ ” For Mr. Trump, at least, the separate arrival was attributed to security concerns. But somehow it felt apt that these two leaders would not arrive with the crowd.
Remembering the forces that led to World War I, Mr. Macron warned that “the old demons” have been resurfacing and declared that “giving into the fascination for withdrawal, isolationism, violence and domination would be a grave error that future generations would very rightly make us responsible for.” No one has done more to break up the postwar global system in the last couple of years than Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin. As the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I was commemorated on Sunday, Mr. Trump’s brand of “America First” nationalism was rebuked from the podium while he sat stone-faced and unmoved, alienated from some of America’s strongest allies, including his French hosts.
Mr. Trump, who recently declared himself “a nationalist,” appeared grim as he listened to a translation of the speech through an earpiece and clapped only tepidly afterward. He had no speaking role at the ceremony and made no mention of the issues Mr. Macron raised during an address later in the day at a cemetery for American soldiers killed in the war. But while he may have been out of step with many of the leaders gathered around him, Mr. Trump remains at the vanguard of forces that are redefining the Western political paradigm in countries like Poland, Hungary, Italy and Turkey. In Britain and Germany, two of the Continent’s major powers, nationalist movements have upended the establishment.
The anniversary ceremony encapsulated the tension in the international arena as Mr. Trump seeks to rewrite the rules that have governed the world in recent decades. Mr. Trump has argued other nations have taken advantage of the United States, whether in economics or security, and that it was time to look after American interests first. So a ceremony meant to celebrate the ties that bind the world today in effect showcased the divisions that are pulling it apart.
He has abandoned a number of international agreements on trade, nuclear proliferation and climate change, and disparaged alliances like NATO and the European Union. He has denounced virtually every trade pact that the United States has ever agreed to and recently forced Canada and Mexico to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement in a way that he says will benefit the United States more. “Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said in a speech at the Arc de Triomphe, welcoming the leaders and extolling an old system now under siege. “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism by saying: ‘Our interest first. Who cares about the others?’”
On the campaign trail last month, Mr. Trump railed against what he called the “rule of corrupt, power-hungry globalists,” as he put it during a rally in Houston. “You know what a globalist is, right? You know what a globalist is? A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much. And you know what? We can’t have that.” Recalling the forces that led to World War I, Mr. Macron warned that “the old demons” have been resurfacing and declared that “giving into the fascination for withdrawal, isolationism, violence and domination would be a grave error that future generations would very rightly make us responsible for.”
The discord was on display during the president’s meeting with Mr. Macron on Saturday, a day after Mr. Trump issued a Twitter blast at his French host, calling a proposal for a European army “very insulting.” Mr. Macron explained that the idea was not to counter the United States but to relieve it of some of the burden for European security, a constant theme of Mr. Trump’s. Mr. Trump, who recently declared himself “a nationalist,” appeared grim as he listened to the speech through an earpiece and clapped only tepidly afterward. He had no speaking role and made no mention of the issues Mr. Macron raised during an address later at a cemetery for American soldiers killed in the war.
“We know where we disagree, and we are very straightforward in that — on climate, on trade, on multilateralism — but we work very well together because we have very regular and direct discussions,” Mr. Macron said later in an interview with Fareed Zakaria of CNN. Mr. Macron termed himself “a patriot” as distinct from a “nationalist.” The ceremony led by Mr. Macron encapsulated the tension in the international arena as Mr. Trump seeks to rewrite the rules that have governed the world in recent decades. He has abandoned international agreements on trade, nuclear proliferation and climate change, and disparaged alliances like NATO and the European Union.
“I do defend my country. I do believe that we have a strong identity,” Mr. Macron said. “But I’m a strong believer in cooperation between the different peoples, and I’m a strong believer of the fact that this cooperation is good for everybody, where the nationalists are sometimes much more based on a unilateral approach and the law of the strongest, which is not my case.” On the campaign trail this fall, Mr. Trump railed against what he called the “rule of corrupt, power-hungry globalists,” as he put it at a rally in Houston. “You know what a globalist is, right? You know what a globalist is? A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much. And you know what? We can’t have that.”
Aside from their friction, Mr. Trump’s two-day visit to Paris was marred by his decision on Saturday to scrap a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery at the foot of the hill where the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought. Aides cited the rain in canceling a helicopter flight, but it went over badly in Europe. Winston Churchill’s grandson called Mr. Trump “pathetic” and not fit to represent the United States. Mr. Macron has now, in effect, given a rebuttal. In addition to the speech, he also used an interview with Fareed Zakaria of CNN that aired Sunday to define himself as “a patriot” rather than a “nationalist.”
Mr. Trump had another chance to pay respects to the war dead on Sunday at the Suresnes American Cemetery outside Paris, where 1,565 American soldiers are buried. Speaking in a drenching rain, Mr. Trump paid tribute to the war heroes and praised Franco-American relations, largely sticking to his prepared text without responding to Mr. Macron. “I do defend my country,” Mr. Macron said. “I do believe that we have a strong identity. But I’m a strong believer in cooperation between the different peoples, and I’m a strong believer of the fact that this cooperation is good for everybody, where the nationalists are sometimes much more based on a unilateral approach and the law of the strongest, which is not my case.”
Despite the friction with Mr. Macron, Mr. Trump’s views have been embraced by other Western leaders, some of whom, like Viktor Orban in Hungary, have made an anti-immigrant stance the keystone of their policy.
“He’s not isolated,” said Bruce Jentleson, a scholar at Duke University, citing nationalist politicians across Europe. “They’ve all benefited from him as precedent.” Other leaders have even adopted and adapted Trump phrases like “fake news” and “America First” for their countries.
But, Mr. Jentleson said, it “mostly gives him second-tier players like Poland, Hungary, Italy, and not the big guys like Germany and France.”
And even some of those nationalists do not favor unraveling the world order entirely so much as changing the rules, as with President Xi Jinping of China or the Europeans who want better arrangements within the European Union, not a departure from it.
Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary of state for Europe, said Mr. Trump’s nationalism did not reflect a consensus even within his own administration, which still has senior officials with a more traditional internationalist outlook.
“The danger to the world is not that Trump will lead the nationalists, sweeping them to remake the world in an ugly, pre-1914 image or a dystopian counter-world of the U.S. siding with the fascists in World War II,” he said. “The danger is that Trump may take the U.S. out of the game — à la the interwar period — long enough for one of the serious nationalists, Putin or Xi, to do major damage.”
Aside from the discord with the French president, Mr. Trump’s two-day visit to Paris was marred by his decision on Saturday to scrap a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery at the foot of the hill where the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought. Aides cited the rain in canceling a helicopter flight, but it went over badly in Europe.
Mr. Trump had another chance to pay respects to the war dead on Sunday at the Suresnes American Cemetery outside Paris, where 1,565 American soldiers are buried. Speaking in a drenching rain, Mr. Trump paid tribute to the soldiers and praised Franco-American relations, largely sticking to his prepared text without responding to Mr. Macron.
“The American and French patriots of World War I embodied the timeless virtues of our two republics — honor and courage, strength and valor, love and loyalty, grace and glory,” he said after visiting a field of white crosses. “It is our duty to preserve the civilization they defended and to protect the peace they so nobly gave their lives to secure one century ago.”“The American and French patriots of World War I embodied the timeless virtues of our two republics — honor and courage, strength and valor, love and loyalty, grace and glory,” he said after visiting a field of white crosses. “It is our duty to preserve the civilization they defended and to protect the peace they so nobly gave their lives to secure one century ago.”
In contrast to the stiff interactions with the American president, Mr. Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, representing the two nations that were once bitter enemies, demonstrated the close friendship that has emerged from the rubble of war. In appearances over the weekend, the French and German leaders appeared affectionate, and Mr. Macron on Saturday posted a picture of the two holding hands along with the single word “Unis,” or “United.” In contrast to the stiff interactions with the American president, Mr. Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, representing two nations that were once bitter enemies, demonstrated the close friendship that has emerged from the rubble of war. In appearances over the weekend, the French and German leaders — who are facing their own political struggles at home — appeared affectionate, and Mr. Macron on Saturday posted a picture of the two holding hands along with the single word “Unis,” or “United.”
Led by Mr. Macron, dozens of world leaders on Sunday marched down the Champs-Élysées under black umbrellas as a chill rain fell and soldiers wearing feathered helmets and bearing swords stood watch. Mr. Putin, on the other hand, seemed focused on Mr. Trump, approaching him at the Arc de Triomphe, shaking his hand and giving a friendly pat on the arm. The two later chatted briefly at a lunch for all the visiting leaders, according to the Kremlin, but will wait for a formal meeting until later this month, when both will be in Buenos Aires for a Group of 20 summit meeting.
At the Arc de Triomphe, bells tolled exactly one century after the guns fell silent at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, but the moment of symbolism was lost as the leaders who were supposed to be standing together at that point were still taking their places, and neither the American nor Russian presidents had arrived yet. In marking the centennial of the armistice, Mr. Macron said that from the ashes of that war and the next one came hope. “This hope is called the European Union, a union freely entered into, never before seen in history, a union that has freed us of our civil wars,” he said.
Mr. Trump arrived in his own motorcade, traveling separately, aides said, because of security, and joined the world leaders under a transparent enclosure at the arch. Then President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arrived, approached Mr. Trump, shook his hand and gave him a friendly pat on the arm. The two later chatted briefly at a lunch for all the visiting leaders, according to the Kremlin, but will wait for a formal meeting until later this month when both will be in Buenos Aires for a Group of 20 summit meeting. Yet absent from the ceremony was the prime minister of Britain, which is currently in the throes of trying to detach itself from the European Union. Prime Minister Theresa May attended her own country’s commemorations on Sunday, although she made a point of visiting France and Belgium on Friday to lay wreaths at the graves of soldiers killed in the war.
Absent from the ceremony were leaders of Britain, the other main ally during the war. Prime Minister Theresa May and members of the royal family attended their own country’s commemorations on Sunday, but Mrs. May made a point of visiting France and Belgium on Friday to lay wreaths at the graves of soldiers killed in World War I. Among the leaders present on Sunday were Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, King Felipe VI of Spain, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine and dozens of others.
The war to end all wars, as it was called, did nothing of the sort — the world found itself in conflagration again just two decades later. But World War I marked the beginning of a new era of American leadership beyond its shores and, in some ways, kicked off a century-long effort to tie the nations of the world together in an interdependent way — the global order rejected by Mr. Trump. The ceremony, in some measure Franco-centric by dint of being held in Paris, made a palpable effort to reach out to other countries that lost hundreds of thousands of people.
Even a century later, World War I remains a resonant memory across a Continent that was ravaged by a conflict unlike any that preceded it. From its opening days in 1914, the Allies led by Britain, France and Russia fought with the Central Powers led by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire in a brutal, beastly war that introduced trench warfare, chemical weapons and aerial bombardment. While the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, opened the ceremony, the most moving moments came when high school students in yellow scarves read century-old letters from eight men and women who either fought or lived through World War I, sticking to the language in which they were written, including English, French and German.
The United States resisted being drawn in until 1917, when it joined the Allies and sent expeditionary forces that finally tipped the balance against Germany, which surrendered in 1918. In total, some 8.5 million soldiers and seven million civilians were killed. The war also shook up the map of the world as empires fell, colonies were redistributed and new nations created; the lines of the Middle East were redrawn, and Bolsheviks rose to power in the Russian Revolution. After the ceremony and subsequent lunch, Mr. Macron opened the Paris Peace Forum, a three-day conference to discuss fostering multilateralism. “History will retain an image — that of 84 chiefs of state and of governments united,” he declared.
The peace that came 100 years ago turned out to be a victors’ peace through the punishing Versailles Treaty, and the League of Nations created at that time failed to become the guarantor of peace it was intended to be. Instead, the world plunged back into war two decades later. “What is uncertain for the future is how this image will be interpreted,” he continued. “Will it be a ringing symbol of a durable peace among nations or the photograph of the last moment of unity before the world goes down in new disorder?”
But Mr. Macron said that from the ashes of those two wars came hope. “This hope is called the European Union, a union freely entered into, never before seen in history, a union that has freed us of our civil wars,” he said. “This hope is called the organization of the United Nations, which is a guarantee of the spirit of cooperation to defend the common good of the world that has its fate effectively linked and that has drawn from the lessons of the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles.” Mr. Trump was not there to help answer that question. He skipped the forum and headed back to the United States.
Among the leaders present on Sunday were Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, King Felipe VI of Spain, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine and dozens of others. Five jets flew over the arch streaming the blue, white and red of the French flag.
The ceremony, in some measure Franco-centric by dint of being held in Paris, made a palpable effort to reach out to the countries that lost hundreds of thousands of people, or millions in the case of Germany and Russia.
The cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed the Sarabande from Cello Suite No. 5 by Johann Sebastian Bach, and Angélique Kidjo sang “Blewu,” a song of gratitude for the dedication of others, which was composed by a Togolese singer in the Mina language.
While the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, opened the ceremony, the most moving moments came when students in yellow scarves read century-old letters from eight men and women who either fought or lived through World War I.
The students, from Albert Schweitzer High School in Seine-St.-Denis, one of the grittier suburbs of Paris, read the letters in the language in which they were written: English, French and German, among others. Then a Russian conductor led the European Youth orchestra in playing a somber excerpt from Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro.”
“The traces of that war never have not faded from French soil. They have not faded from Europe, from the Middle East nor from our memories,” Mr. Macron said. “Let us not forget, because the remembrances of these sacrifices urges us to be worthy of those who died for us that we may live free.”