Macron Steps Into Middle East Role as U.S. Retreats<br />that Despite their misgivings about Trump’s approach,<br />Lebanese said that If this was five years ago, there would already have been American diplomatic involvement<br />Mr. Crocker said that The real question about Macron is did he actively engage the Saudis and move them to a different place,<br />Ryan said that Clearly, in the past the U.S. did play a major role in Lebanon,<br />but presumably the Saudis did this thing with Hariri without a word to us, which is saying something,<br />that He wants to keep contact with the Saudis, with the Qataris, with the Emirates — he’s said he<br />will go to Iran one day; this is someone who does not want to be confined to one camp or another,<br />9, 2017<br />PARIS — A year ago, no one would have envisioned President Emmanuel Macron of France as the public face of Western diplomacy in the Middle East.<br />Other senior officials in the Foreign Ministry include a former ambassador to Lebanon who also served in Saudi Arabia<br />and Iran, as well as a stable of career diplomats with years of experience working in the Middle East.<br />France said that He calculates that Sarkozy was too linked to Qatar and Hollande to Saudi Arabia.<br />Emile Hokayem said that capit
