Day 752

Noticeably renewed vigor

I just read a long windy article about what to expect from Emmanuel Macron¹. And then I listened to this:

The hypothetical deployment of military units from France, Germany and Italy to Ukraine sounds good, but what will these foreign soldiers do? We can easily imagine how this might be unhelpful.

⚡️Emmanuel on the introduction of troops into Ukraine: we do not need another war and we cannot go down the path of escalation.

• The role of France is to be “the nerve of this war,” Macron said, invoking Winston Churchill²³.

• Chancellor Scholz and I will reach an agreement regarding Ukrainian initiatives (most likely, we are talking about Taurus).

• Macron dodged the question about the possibility of Putin's arrest in France.

• Ukraine should go to the moment when negotiations will be possible. But the territorial integrity of Ukraine will be a fundamental value.

The crap about France being a “nerve in this war” is puzzling. Why invoke Churchill? Wasn’t it Niccolo Machiavelli who said, Good soldiers are the sinew of war, or to be precise:

“I nervi della guerra non sono l’oro, ma i buoni soldati; perché l’oro da solo non procurerà buoni soldati, ma i buoni soldati procureranno sempre l’oro.” - The Art of War⁴.

Emmanuel probably means well. We all hope France sends more guns and ammunition.

1. ЩО СТАЛОСЯ З МАКРОНОМ І ЧОГО ТЕПЕР ЧЕКАТИ УКРАЇНІ (ДЗЕРКАЛО ТИЖНЯ, March 17, 2024)

2. “Nerve of War” c/o former Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko.

3. A problem of translation, perhaps? Or maybe just muddled thinking.

«Il faut avoir le nerf de la paix» : quand Emmanuel Macron cite Winston Churchill lors de son interview sur l’Ukraine (Le Figaro, March 17, 2024)

The problem is people are confusing nerves and sinews. “Sinews of Peace” is the name of one of Winston’s most famous speeches, which he delivered at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946.

The main differences between nerves and and sinews lies in their anatomical structures and functions. Nerves are part of the nervous system and are responsible for transmitting signals between the brain, spinal cord, and other parts of the body to control movement, sensation, and other bodily functions. Sinews, also known as tendons, on the other hand, are tough bands of dense fibrous connective tissue that connect muscle to bone, transmitting the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system.

4. Dell'arte della guerra (Niccolo Machievelli, 1519-1521)