Tolstoy Quotes and Proclamations of Friendship: Macron’s Russia Visit Leaves Dazzling Impression

This week, Friday became a peculiar moment of truth; at least, between Russia and France. Maybe even between Russia and Western Europe. There was a certain falling-out that occurred at the St. Petersburg World Economic Forum, where the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, had arrived. They talked with Putin eye to eye. Apparently, it was very meaningful. Later, Macron presented himself differently during a public discussion.

This week, Friday became a peculiar moment of truth; at least, between Russia and France. Maybe even between Russia and Western Europe. There was a certain falling-out that occurred at the St. Petersburg World Economic Forum, where the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, had arrived. They talked with Putin eye to eye. Apparently, it was very meaningful. Later, Macron presented himself differently during a public discussion. He wasn't the same French president that we saw in his visit to the US. And he wasn't the same cool EU guy.

In St. Petersburg, the young president of France showed up as a politician with much more potential than previously thought. Macron got a new sense of significance, and even a second wind charged with a feeling of new opportunities.

 

In my opinion, the key to a new Macron is a literary reference that he mentioned in front of Putin during their meeting. He recalled Tolstoy's novel, War and Peace, namely the pages where a young Duke Pierre Bezukhov gets captured by the French in a burning Moscow. Miraculously saved from being at the wrong end of a firing squad, he meets another captive — a soldier from a humble background, Platon Karataev. To Pierre, Karataev's attitude was contagious. He seemed like someone who had it all together. Being in the presence of such spiritual perfection, Pierre was reborn, as people would say now. When Macron was talking about Bezukhov in St. Petersburg, in my opinion, it seemed like he was talking about himself.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France: "According to Lev Tolstoy's War and Peace, here's what happened between Bezukhov and Karataev: Karataev, who showed his optimism, simplicity, cheerfulness, and belief in himself and others. Then there's Bezukhov, the man who looked at him. Bezukhov was a person who wasn't able to believe in himself. He caught Karataev's optimism. As a result, he became stronger because of contact with this person".

That makes sense. But the cherished Karataev might've mentioned one more thing to Macron: the French sacking of Moscow of those times. Today, it just sounds like if it was about Western hostility towards modern Russia.

"How not to miss Moscow, the mother of all cities! How not to miss looking at it. A worm eats cabbage, but it dies anyway, as the elderly used to say", -Tolstoy

Did Macron also forget to mention the worm that eats Moscow? Anyway, the President of France sounded very fresh by the end of the forum in St. Petersburg.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France: "It's necessary to review the architecture of our relationship; to review our common interests. Let's have a seat at the discussion table and work together. I'm ready for it. We have an opportunity to move forward. If we miss this moment, we can lose it forever".

It almost sounds fairytale-like. How wonderful! But it would be fair to say that some of the credit goes to Donald Trump.