French President Emmanuel Macron hit the nail on the head when he diagnosed NATO as “brain dead,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said.

“Golden words. True and accurate. A proper definition of the current state of NATO,” Maria Zakharova wrote in a Facebook post, referring to the hard-hitting remark Macron made in an interview to the Economist, which was published on Thursday.

In the interview, which has already drawn a sharp rebuke both from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Macron argued that the bloc is no longer effective since the US has been “turning its back” on Europe. Without the US playing its part as an ‘older brother,’ the military alliance is a meaningless construct, as the mechanism “only works if the guarantor of last resort [the US] functions as such,” he argued.

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“What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” Macron said, adding that it’s a must for Europe to reclaim its “military sovereignty” and be in control of its “destiny.”

Zakharova said, however, that it would be hard for Europe to once again become the master of its own fate. Washington has been trying to impose its view of the world on the continent since at least the early 20th century, she noted, starting with Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points,’ the US vision for the post-WWI world, which paved the way for the creation of the League of Nations.

Bold rhetoric from Macron “is not just some fancy words,” but is likely a well-conceived strategy to exert pressure on other EU countries, Lode Vanoost, former deputy speaker of Belgian Parliament, told RT.

Vanoost pointed out that Macron sees the looming UK exit from the EU as an “opportunity to become an undisputed leader” of what is left of the bloc.

Also on rt.com Merkel & Stoltenberg slam Macron’s ‘brain-dead NATO’ comment, insist rumors of bloc’s death greatly exaggerated

Noting that while Macron, with France being a big weapons producer, might be pursuing his own agenda, Vanoost said that he nevertheless agrees that Europe should disentangle itself from the US.

“What the EU could do is find another way of dealing with the geostrategic affairs – through diplomacy, economy etc. That is what Macron is not saying because he has his own agenda. Let’s not forget what the French Army is doing in West Africa.”

At the same time, the former lawmaker said that he “totally disagrees” with Macron’s assessment that the EU stands on “the edge of precipice,” facing some kind of “existential threat.”

“There are some big problems in the EU – economic and social, and there are indeed problems, but to put it that way is just alarming rhetoric.”

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