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November 07, 2019The unexpected words of the French president Emannuel Macron on the state of "brain death", in which he says NATO is, have unleashed an outcry in defense of the Alliance by Germany and the United States and the applause of Moscow has always been critical of the health conditions and the effectiveness of the blockade.

In a long interview with the Economist, a few weeks after the December Alliance summit in London, Macron denounced in no uncertain terms that "we are experiencing the brain death of Nato". The reference was to the lack of coordination between Europe and the United States and to the aggressive action in Syria of Turkey, a key member of the Atlantic Alliance. "There is no coordination of strategic decision-making between the United States and its allies," said the Elysee leader, "there is uncoordinated aggressive action by another NATO ally, Turkey, in an area where our interests are at stake ".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened, after a few hours, to moderate Macron: "He used drastic words that do not coincide with my vision of cooperation in NATO". "We do not need", he added, after having had an interview with the secretary general of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, "of such general opinions, even in the face of the existence of problems to which we must apply together".

Speaking to the press from Berlin, alongside Merkel, NATO number one has assured that the Alliance "is strong" and has warned that any attempt to remove Europe from North America "risks not only weakening the Alliance, but also to divide Europe ".

The latest developments in Syria have seen Turkish military intervention against Kurdish forces in the North, strongly criticized by some members born as France, but made possible by the withdrawal of US troops, ordered by US president Donald Trump. For Macron, "politically and strategically we must recognize that we have a problem".

Even the US has not shared the alarm of Macron. "I believe that NATO remains one of the most crucial and strategic partnerships in history," said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Leipzig. This is why, he added, "it is an absolute imperative that each member country contributes adequately to the mission for a common security".

The only applause for Macron's merciless analysis came from Moscow, a crucial partner - in his opinion - with whom it is necessary "to reopen a strategic dialogue". The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, defined Macron's "golden words" and "sincere, which reflect the essential, a precise definition of the current state of NATO". In the same interview, however, the French president also spoke harsh words about Putin's Russia, whose model, in his opinion, is "unsustainable".