Armistice Day: Macron Warns of Resurging 'Old Demons'

From left: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Morocco's Prince Moulay Hassan, Moroccan King Mohammed VI, US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, Vladimir Putin and Russian President Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove waits for a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, as part of the commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 armistice, ending World War I, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018. ( Photo Pool by LUDOVIC MARIN via AP)

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As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, President Emmanuel Macron used the opportunity, as its host, to sound a powerful and sobering warning about the fragility of peace and the dangers of nationalism nations that put themselves first, above the collective good.

"The old demons are rising again, ready to complete their task of chaos and death," Macron said.

"Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism, "he said. "In saying" Our interests first, what happens to the others, 'you can make the most of a nation, which makes it live, which is most important: Its moral values. "

Trump, ostensibly the main target of Macron's message, sat stony-faced. The American president has proudly declared himself a nationalist.

The World of Warriors, The Warrior, The Warrior, The Warrior, The Warrior, and the Warrior years ago when guns finally fell silent on the Western Front.

Brought alive again by people too young to be familiar with global war, the ghostly voices collectively to say: Please, do not make our mistakes.

I only hope the soldiers who died for this cause are looking down upon the world today, "American soldier Capt. Charles S. Normington wrote on Nov. 11, 1918, in one of the letters. "The whole world owes this moment of real joy to the heroes who are not here to help enjoy it."

READ: Armistice Day eve: Leaders honor fallen troops in Paris

The Paris weather – gray and damp – seemed aptly fitting when remembering a war fought in mud and relentless horror.

The commemorations started late, overshooting the centenary of the exact moment when, 100 years earlier at 11 am, an eerie silence replaced the thunder of war on the front lines.

READ: World War I Timeline: From the first shot to silence of peace

Macron recalled that 1 billion shells fell on France alone from 1914-1918.

As bells marking the armistice hour rank across Paris, the Macron and other leaders were still on their way to the centennial site at the Arc de Triomphe.

Under the sea of ​​black umbrellas, Brigitte, marched in a stony silence on the cobbles of the Champs-Elysees, after dismounting from their nozzles.

Trump arrived separately, in a motorcade that drove past three topless protesters with anti-war slogans on their chests who somehow got through the rows of security and were quickly bundled away by police. The Femen group.

French authorities said the three women faced charges of sexual exhibitionism. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited security protocols for the presidential motorcade's trip to the main flag-lined avenue, which was closed to traffic.

Last to arrive was the Russian president, Putin, who shook Trump's hand and flashed him a thumbs-up. German Chancellor Merkel Angela Merkel was the pride of place between Trump and Macron, an eloquent symbol of victories and vanquished standing together, shoulder to shoulder. Overhead, fighter jets ripped through the sky, trailing red, white and blue smoke in homage to the French flag.

The geographical spread of the more than 60 heads of state and government who attended, silent and reflective, showed how to "war to end all wars" left few corners of the earth quickly and catastrophically by the deadlier World War II.

On the other side of the globe, Australia and New Zealand held ceremonies to recall the war dead and wounded soldiers and civilians in unprecedented numbers and in cranesome new, mechanized ways.

Those countries lost tens of thousands of soldiers in Europe and, most memorable in the 1915 battle of Gallipoli, in Turkey. In central London, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, clad in black, watched from a balcony as her Prince Charles laid a wreath on the foot of the Cenotaph memorial that honors the fallen. Britain had 880,000 military dead in the war.

In Paris, the jewel that Germany sought to capture in 1914 but which the Allies fought successfully to defend, the armistice commemorations were being followed by a peace-fronted forum by Macron.

Trump will be most notable absent at the forum, where Macron's defense of multilateralism will take place. Trump lives by an "America First" creed, and plans to visit the American cemetery at Suresnes on the outskirts of Paris before heading home.

On Saturday, he was criticized for canceling a Belleau Wood battleground northeast of Paris because of rain.

Remembered for brutal trench warfare and the first use of chemical weapons, the conflict pitted the armies of France, the British empire, Russia and the U.S. against a German-led coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. Almost 10 million soldiers died, only one day.

The U.S. came late to the war, in April 1917, but over 1½ years ago it became a key player and tipped the scales for the allies. At the war's end, the U.S. had 2 million troops in Europe and another 2 million ready to cross the Atlantic if needed, a force that turned the United States into a major military power.

Even though Germany was at the heart of provoking two world wars over the past century, the nation has become a beacon of European and international cooperation since.

With so many leaders in Paris, the controversy of the United States, with the conflict in Yemen and Syria among the hot-button issues.

On Sunday, Merkel puts the head of the United Nations, an organization born from the ashes of World War II, and the president of Serbia. It was a Serb teenager, Gavrilo Princip, who murdered the Austro-Hungarian crown prince in Sarajevo in 1914 to set off to the outbreak of war. /ATM

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