Macron Tags NATO as “Brain-Dead,” Warns of G20’s demise

Emmanuel Macron has a penchant for predicting the end of eras.

Macron's prognosis was reflected in the drab optics of the family photo. (Photo: G20 South Africa Facebook)

Back in 2019, years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he proclaimed that NATO was effectively brain-dead. Indeed, the post-war military alliance has struggled to rise to the occasion, Sammy Adghirni reported for Bloomberg News..

Now, at the Group of 20 summit in South Africa — boycotted by the US, its most powerful member — Macron has donned his Cassandra-like hat again.

“Meeting for the first time on the African continent marks an important milestone in the life of the G20,” Macron said in his opening remarks in Johannesburg. “But we must also recognize that the G20 may be reaching the end of a cycle.”

The very existence of the bloc, he added for emphasis, is at risk.

His prognosis was reflected in the drab optics of the family photo, where the few recognizable leaders in attendance struggled to fill the space against a sparse backdrop.

This time, the effort to line up looked half-hearted. Last year, Joe Biden arrived late and the photo had to be retaken — an ominous sign even then of US retrenchment.

This year, it could have been Donald Trump taking center stage and flashing a thumbs-up with Cyril Ramaphosa.

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni was missing from the original lineup, with stand-ins subbed in for seven absent leaders, then walled off to the furthest corner of the conference hall for another photo.

Underscoring the drift, the French leader cited the absence of the US at the table and the difficulty of protecting humanitarian law and the sovereignty of countries such as Ukraine as evidence that require urgent collective re-engagement.

“We are struggling to have a common standard on geopolitical crisis,” Macron said.