Having skulked off stage following his joint press conference with President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity to bash Trump and embrace Putin (presumably after getting permission from Angela Merkel).

“We are living the end of Western hegemony,” Macron told diplomats on Tuesday, pointing to the rise of Beijing and Moscow as signs of a shift on the world scene.

"The world order is being shaken like never before..." “It’s being shaken because of errors made by the West in certain crises, but also by the choices made by the United States in the past few years – and not just by the current administration.”

So a shot clearly aimed at Trump but we wonder if Macron realizes he is part of the "West" he describes as making errors?

Macron then doubled down, warning that it would be a “strategic mistake” for Western nations not to change their attitude toward Moscow.

As RT notes, Macron’s rhetoric towards Moscow has somewhat softened in recent months...

"Pushing Russia away from Europe is a profound strategic mistake." “We’re either pushing Russia into isolation, which increases tensions, or to ally itself with other major powers like China, which would not be in our interest,” Macron said, calling for the “rethinking” of relations with Moscow.

Otherwise, Europe will be stuck with “frozen conflicts” and will remain “a theater for strategic struggle between the US and Russia,” he stressed.

These “choices” are impacting “the conflicts in the Middle and elsewhere, making it necessary to rethink military and diplomatic strategies,” Macron noted.

Ironically, Macron's Putin-pandering comments came after US President Trump was bashed by most of western media for daring to suggest inviting Putin to attend the G7 event next year, (which Trump will be hosting).

Which is odd because journalists claimed one key G7 dinner was "ruined" over Trump's insistence that Russia would be vital to discussions:

During the seaside meal, French president Emmanuel Macron and European Council president Donald Tusk opposed Trump’s demands. A diplomat present told the publication that the evening was tense: “Most of the other leaders insisted on this being a family, a club, a community of liberal democracies and for that reason they said you cannot allow president Putin — who does not represent that — back in.”

Apparently Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte, who formally announced his resignation early this week, was the only G7 leader present to back Trump's proposal.

More 'fake news'?