Macron Steps Into Middle East Role as U.S. Retreats
that Despite their misgivings about Trump’s approach,
Lebanese said that If this was five years ago, there would already have been American diplomatic involvement
Mr. Crocker said that The real question about Macron is did he actively engage the Saudis and move them to a different place,
Ryan said that Clearly, in the past the U.S. did play a major role in Lebanon,
but presumably the Saudis did this thing with Hariri without a word to us, which is saying something,
that He wants to keep contact with the Saudis, with the Qataris, with the Emirates — he’s said he
will go to Iran one day; this is someone who does not want to be confined to one camp or another,
9, 2017
PARIS — A year ago, no one would have envisioned President Emmanuel Macron of France as the public face of Western diplomacy in the Middle East.
Other senior officials in the Foreign Ministry include a former ambassador to Lebanon who also served in Saudi Arabia
and Iran, as well as a stable of career diplomats with years of experience working in the Middle East.
France said that He calculates that Sarkozy was too linked to Qatar and Hollande to Saudi Arabia.
Emile Hokayem said that capit
