Lesson in forgiveness for heavily indebted world 100 years after WW1

World leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, gathered in Paris yesterday to commemorate the armistice of November 11, 1918. The centenary is a natural occasion to reflect upon abiding lessons from the tragic and seemingly pointless carnage of the “Great War.” The central question is why the peace that followed proved to be no more than a fragile and unstable intermission between two global conflicts.

In the run-up to the ceremony in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron made a journey along the former front in northern France culminating in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Compiègne, where a previous German representative signed the armistice in a railway carriage. Macron is already highlighting the relevance of the troubled years between the wars to contemporary Europe. He finds disturbing parallels in the resurgence of nationalist tensions. And in keeping with his pro-European stance, he insists on the crucial role of the European Union (EU) in combating what he calls the “leprosy” of nationalism.