In this chronicle, « The Voices of Twilight, » we have summoned the spirits of our great poets and national consciences. We have heard the prophetic melancholy of Chateaubriand, the popular fervor of Michelet, and the divine wrath of Victor Hugo. They reminded us that France has a soul. But today, as History accelerates brutally, poetry is no longer enough.
Faced with the humiliating spectacle of this « Vitkov, » a mediocre emissary sent to Moscow to validate—on the orders of a buccaneering Washington—the carving up of Ukraine and the definitive vassalization of Europe, another voice was needed. A voice that does not comment, but decides. A voice that does not weep, but refuses.
“The future is not something to be endured, it is something to be created.” (Georges Bernanos)
Table of Contents
Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, December 2, 2025.
« A continent that entrusts its sword to another is no longer an ally, it is a client; and History teaches us that clients always end up being sold. » (European-Security)
Preamble: The Twilight of the Ideal and the Triumph of the Braggart
Make no mistake. The America of Roosevelt or Kennedy, the one that landed on our beaches, defended freedom, certainly, but it first defended its own security against totalitarianisms.
There was then a happy coincidence between American interest and the interest of free peoples. Today, that coincidence is broken.
America is sick. It has surrendered itself to this adventurous Braggart (Matamore), this theatrical character who believes he can govern the world through invective and jutting chin. Where we once had an ally, we are now dealing with a buccaneering power. What you feel as a racket is nothing other than the reflex of an empire at bay which, no longer able to dominate through spirit, attempts to survive by fleecing its vassals like an unscrupulous horse trader.
Washington no longer sees us as partners in civilization, but as prey. This Swaggerer (Rodomont) occupying the White House thinks that alliance can be monetized and protection rented out. It is the return of the law of the jungle, concealed under the glitter of a strange reality TV show.
When History Stammers, the Voice Must Thunder
There are moments when the silence of officials becomes complicit in the crime. Current events offer us the distressing spectacle of this ballet of shadows between Washington and Moscow, orchestrated by a cynical Trump and executed by second-tier underlings.
The new visit to Moscow of these mediocre emissaries, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—mere transmission belts for the master’s will—is not a diplomatic act. It is an act of liquidation. They went to bring the Kremlin the « green light » of a buccaneering America, validating in advance the carving up of Ukraine and the vassalization of Europe. Under the guise of « peace, » a new Yalta is being negotiated in the alcove, where the freedom of peoples is auctioned off for barrels of oil and illusions of power.
Faced with this mechanics of enslavement getting back into gear, and before the embarrassed torpor of European chancelleries, it is urgent to sound another note. Not that of submission, but that of the uprising.
If General de Gaulle were here, witnessing this fool’s bargain where the soul of nations is sold, he would not remain silent. Here are, imagined for honor and for History, the words he would throw in the face of these gravediggers of freedom.
The « great » Charles would send a letter from soldier to soldier to President Zelensky with his ample and flowing handwriting, on his personal letterhead. Then he would launch an appeal on Radio Twilight to the Ukrainian people before delivering a grand speech broadcast simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Ukrainian Rada, before drafting a confidential posthumous note intended for his successor « in charge » at the Élysée.
Appeal to the Ukrainian People
If General de Gaulle were still at La Boisserie, contemplating this fool’s bargain where the freedom of peoples is sold off for a few barrels of comfort, he would not remain silent. Because Gaullism is not nostalgia, but a requirement of character in the face of fatality, we have imagined the message he would address, in this dark hour, to those who resist.
Here is, as it might have been written this morning in the blue ink of History, the verdict of the Constable:
Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, December 2, 2025
To the Ukrainian People,
There are hours in the life of nations when the sky darkens, when yesterday’s friends turn away, and when one feels terribly alone facing the brutality of fate. France has known these hours. She knows the taste of ash, the cold of abandonment, and the bite of invasion. Because she has lived through the abyss, she recognizes those who stand tall within it.
I learn that on the other side of the Ocean, your survival is now being weighed against mercantile calculations. I am told that a man, out of caprice or cynicism, is ready to sell off your freedom to sign an illusory « deal. » He believes History is a market; he ignores that it is a tragedy.
I write to tell you this: do not look to the distant West with anxiety any longer, but look toward us with certainty.
America may grow weary, for she is an island. Europe cannot falter, for she is your neighbor. Your land is the frontier of our continent. Your blood flows for principles that have been ours for a thousand years. If we were to let you fall, we would not only lose our honor; we would lose our own security. We would open the door to servitude for ourselves.
Do not believe the prophets of doom who say all is lost because funding stops. The force of arms counts, certainly, and Europe, finally awakened from her torpor, will provide it. But the true force, the one that wins in fine, is the will not to submit.
You are an old nation. You have a soul. And souls are not sold, nor are they crushed under the treads of tanks.
Hold firm. The road will be rough. The winters will be long. But know that France and Europe, instructed by the ordeal, have understood that your front is our border. We will not yield to blackmail. We will not validate any iniquitous partition.
There is only one fatality: that of peoples who give up. You are not among them. We shall no longer be.
In the night crossing Europe, you are the sentinel. We shall be the fortress.
Haut les cœurs.
Charles de Gaulle
Europe Facing History: For a Resurgence of Will
Preamble: On the Dignity of Power
There are moments in History when the destiny of peoples hesitates between greatness and abasement, not only because of material circumstances, but because of the quality of the men who claim to lead them.
Politics, as I have always conceived it for France, is not a career, nor a personal adventure, and even less a show business enterprise. It is a service, harsh and demanding, rendered to a reality that surpasses us: the Nation. It is a lay priesthood that demands the silence of sad passions and the disdain of particular interests.
Yet, what do we see today on the other side of the Atlantic? We see a great democracy, our long-standing ally, sinking into tumult. We see at its head a character for whom the State seems to be merely an extension of his personal assets, and diplomacy a theater stage where outrage replaces thought. Faced with this phenomenon, which is more of a symptom than an accident, Europe must neither tremble nor be indignant like a frightened dowager. It must, simply and firmly, be itself.
I. The Confusion of Genres and the Decadence of Political Mores
We must call things by their name. What is playing out in Washington with Mr. Trump is not politics in the noble sense of the term; it is agitation. Formerly, we knew adversaries and allies who, even in error, retained a sense of the State. They knew that the office they held was temporary, while institutions were lasting.
Today, we are witnessing the triumph of immediacy and narcissism. A man who insults his allies in the morning, courts dictators at noon, and contradicts himself in the evening is not engaging in strategy. He is making noise. He confuses the conduct of world affairs with the management of a real estate office. He believes that relations between peoples are settled like dubious transactions, through brute force and public humiliation.
For a Gaullist, for any man attached to the « dignity » (tenue) indispensable to the supreme office, this spectacle is distressing. But it is also instructive. It shows us what becomes of a nation when it forgets that the general interest is not the sum of partisan interests, and that truth is not an option to be manipulated according to one’s mood. This is not a model for us. It is a warning. Vulgarity, inconstancy, contempt for the weak, and flattery of the strong are the marks of a moral collapse. Europe, an old land of civilization, law, and measure, cannot indulge in it nor submit to it.
II. Alliance is Not Vassalage
Since the Liberation, I have always said that France must be the ally of the United States, but that she must never be its vassal. Friendship implies equality. It implies frankness. It excludes, by nature, servility.
Yet, too often, European leaders have behaved like traveling salesmen of Atlanticism, awaiting instructions and protection from Washington.
With such a president in the White House, this courtier’s attitude becomes suicidal. How can one link one’s destiny to that of a leader who considers Europe a « competitor » to be taken down and NATO a condominium association where one pays dues? It is time to break with this lethargy.
To put this character back in his place is not to insult him on social networks. It is to tell him, with the cold courtesy of old nations: « Sir, we take note of your remarks. And since you preach ‘America First,’ we answer you without animosity: Europe by itself. »
The Europe of nations, the one I have called for, must understand that it can no longer outsource its security, its currency, or its foreign policy. A continent of 450 million souls, rich with a millenary history, powerful industry, and radiant culture, has no vocation to serve as a stepping stone or a doormat. If America chooses to isolate itself or become unpredictable, so be it. Europe, for its part, must continue its march, free in its movements, mistress of its decisions.
III. For a Europe of Realities: Strategic Autonomy
We do not make politics with feelings; we make it with realities. And the reality is that the world is dangerous. Faced with empires that are rising or hardening, faced with technological and ecological challenges, Europe cannot afford the luxury of impotence.
To put the character in his place is to oppose him with the solidity of our institutions and the coherence of our acts.
- Militarily: We need a credible European defense. Not to wage war, but not to have to suffer it, and not to depend on the goodwill of a versatile American president for our protection.
- Economically: We must refuse the extraterritoriality of American law, which is a modern form of colonialism. Our companies must be able to trade freely without fearing the wrath of a judge on the other side of the ocean.
- Diplomatically: Europe must speak with a voice that carries. It must be this pole of balance, capable of dialogue with China, Russia, India, without passing through the prism of Washington.
If Mr. Trump wants to erect walls and customs barriers, let him do so. But let him know that Europe will respond, blow for blow, with the calm of a power sure of itself. We are not supplicants. We are partners. And if partnership is refused, we shall be formidable competitors.
When the World’s Policeman becomes a Horse Trader (Maquignon), the only duty left to free nations is not to be dupes, so as not to end up as servants.
IV. « Dignity » Facing the Spectacle
Finally, there is a moral, I would almost say spiritual, dimension to this confrontation. The General de Gaulle that I was never separated politics from a certain idea of man. France is a light. Europe is reason.
Faced with a style of government that flatters base instincts, cultivates division and lies, our best response is exemplarity. Where there is chaos, let us bring order. Where there is invective, let us bring argument. Where there is denial of science and culture, let us bring progress and spirit.
Let us not be dragged into the mud of daily polemics. That would be giving him too much importance. This character will pass. Democracies, if they know how to hold themselves, will remain. What matters is the continuity of the State and the preservation of this « treasure » of which we are the guardians: public liberties, the law of nations, the dignity of the human person.
To put Trump in his place is ultimately to prove, by act, that liberal democracy is not the weak and chatty regime he caricatures, but a system capable of vigor, decision, and greatness. It is to refuse that politics becomes a planetary reality TV show.
Appeal to the Greatness of Europe
Frenchwomen, Frenchmen, Europeans,
Faced with the din of merchants selling off the world, the only response that counts is not indignation, but the cold silence of Recovered Power.
The time for hesitation is over. History does not serve dishes twice, and it is pitiless for the weak. The distressing spectacle coming from America is a paradoxical chance: that of waking us up.
We must reconnect with will. The will to be independent. The will to be respected. The will to be great. Not to dominate others, but to remain ourselves.
Let Europe rise, gather its forces, and make its voice heard. A grave voice, a sensible voice, a free voice. Then, the gesticulations of a man, however powerful he may be, will appear for what they are: the foam of days facing the deep tide of History.
Long live the Europe of nations, free and independent! Long live the Republic! Long live France!
Confidential Notes to My Successor
This is indeed the drama of our time: we have managers, we have communicators, but we cruelly lack statesmen carried by the breath of History.
If the General were here, in his office at the Élysée, looking out the window at the gardens and thinking of the storm coming from the West, here are the three secret notes he would draft for the attention of the Head of State. These are not pious wishes, but acts of command to deal with the most urgent matters facing American inconsistency.
Immediate Measures for National and European Safeguard
Mr. President, The words have been said. Public opinion is prepared. But faced with a buffoon (bateleur) like the one occupying the White House, words are not enough. He respects only the fait accompli. We must therefore strike hard, strike fast, and strike true. America is withdrawing? It threatens us? It wants to sell off our continent? Here is the riposte in three acts.
Decision No. 1: The Expansion of Deterrence (The Shield of Europe)
- The Observation: The American umbrella is leaking. Believing that Mr. Trump will risk New York to save Riga or Warsaw is a guilty chimera. NATO, under his direction, becomes an empty shell or a tool for blackmail.
- The Action: France is the only nuclear power in the Union. It is a privilege, therefore it is a duty. You must immediately convene a Defense Summit in Paris and solemnly declare that the vital interests of France are henceforth merged with the borders of Europe. It is not about giving the nuclear button to a Brussels commission; that would be chaos (chienlit). It is about saying: « Whoever attacks Europe exposes themselves to the wrath of France. » In exchange, we demand from our partners (Germans, Poles) that they buy European for their military equipment. No more American F-35s. If we guarantee their survival, they must guarantee our industry.
- The Desired Effect: Cutting the ground from under American blackmail. Trump can no longer say « pay or I drop you, » since we are here.
Decision No. 2: The Law of Economic Retaliation (European Preference)
- The Observation: This character views trade as a war. He uses the dollar as a weapon and his judges as soldiers to pillage our companies (extraterritoriality). He threatens our wines and cars with punitive taxes.
- The Action: We must stop turning the other cheek. Europe is the world’s largest market. It is a colossal weapon if we have the courage to use it. You must propose the immediate adoption of an « Act of Economic Sovereignty. »
- Total Reciprocity: For every dollar of tax on our products, one euro of tax on American digital giants (GAFAM).
- Legal Immunity: Formal prohibition for European companies to submit to the injunctions of American judges or pay their fines. The State will cover the risks.
- Public Procurement: Not a single cent of European public money must go to companies that do not produce on European soil.
- The Desired Effect: The Washington « broker » understands only the balance of power. When he sees that his own industrial champions are losing billions, he will return to the negotiating table with more courtesy.
Decision No. 3: The Paris Initiative (Preempting the Trump-Putin « Yalta »)
- The Observation: The mortal risk is that Washington and Moscow agree behind our backs to carve up Ukraine and create zones of influence, reducing us to the rank of powerless spectators.
- The Action: We must take the diplomatic initiative before them. Do not wait for the phone call from Washington. You must go to Kyiv, then propose a Grand Conference on European Security, bringing together Europeans, Ukrainians, and… Russia. Without the Americans. We must tell Russia: « America is far away; we are your neighbors for eternity. If you want peace and security, you must deal with us, on the basis of law, and not with a transatlantic adventurer who will change his mind tomorrow. »
- The Desired Effect: Showing that Europe is a major power, capable of settling the affairs of its continent itself. It is the only way to avoid a peace of capitulation imposed by Trump.
Synthesis Note
Mr. President, these measures will cause an outcry. Atlanticists will scream isolation. Bankers will tremble for their stock indices. But this is the price of liberty. If we do nothing, we will be the playground of others. If we act, we will be respected. In my eyes, « There is no policy worth having outside of realities. » The reality is that we must now choose between being a power or being a protectorate.
Signed: C. de G.
Charles de Gaulle – For the Honor of France and for the History of Europe!
V. To Those Who Call Themselves Gaullists: Let Us End an Intellectual Imposture
Seeing certain alleged « heirs » of Gaullism prostrate themselves before the Kremlin in the name of national independence is a tragic contradiction, a betrayal of the spirit by the letter. How can a Gaullist forget the importance of self-determination, the keystone of the edifice? We must set the record straight facing these « false devotees » of the Cross of Lorraine.
VI. The Imposture of Pro-Moscow « Gaullism »: The Call to Order
Why the General would never have supported the crushing of a nation: There is a drift today which consists of believing that to not be « American, » one must be « Russian. » This binary vision belongs to the weak. De Gaulle was neither: he was French. Those who use his memory to justify the invasion of Ukraine commit three fundamental errors that History, and the very life of the General, formally contradict.
1. The Confusion between « Eternal Russia » and Soviet (or Neo-Tsarist) Imperialism
De Gaulle respected Russia as a nation, as a geographical and historical reality (« Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals »). He knew that one does not wipe a people off the map. But he never had the slightest complacency for totalitarianism or imperialism. Let us never forget the young Captain de Gaulle of 1920. Where was he? In Poland. He was fighting, saber drawn, alongside the Polish army against the Red Army which wanted to invade Warsaw. He saw, with his own eyes, what the Russian appetite for conquest over its neighbors is. To say that de Gaulle would today validate the annexation of neighboring lands by force is to insult the officer who risked his life for the freedom of Poland.
2. The Sacred Oblivion of the « Right of Peoples »
Gaullism is sovereignty. But sovereignty does not apply only to France!
De Gaulle took France out of NATO so that she would be free. How could he accept that another country (Ukraine) be forced to enter the Russian fold against its will? The General had the unheard-of courage, he the man of the Empire, to grant self-determination to Algeria and the African colonies. Why? Because he had understood that popular consent is the only legitimate basis of power. –
- Ukraine voted for its independence in 1991.
- Ukraine has been resisting massively since 2022.
Faced with the fierce will of a people to determine their own fate, de Gaulle, the man of June 18, the man who refused Pétain’s « realistic » defeat, would have instinctively sided with the Nation that refuses to die. He despised peoples who lie down; he esteemed those who fight.
3. Alliance is Not Submission
Gaullist « non-alignment » was never a cowardly neutrality. During major crises (Berlin crisis, Cuban missile crisis), de Gaulle was always the first, the fastest, and the firmest to support the United States against the USSR.
Why? Because, although he refused American tutelage, he knew he belonged to the camp of Liberty. Between an imperfect democracy (America) and an aggressive tyranny (yesterday’s USSR or Putin’s Russia), the General’s choice suffered no hesitation.
He said: « There is no policy worth having outside of realities.« The reality of today is that Moscow wants to vassalize Europe, just as Washington wants to vassalize it economically. To be a Gaullist is not to choose the Russian master to punish the American master. It is to refuse both masters.
Conclusion: What De Gaulle Would Never Have Said
As Admiral Philippe de Gaulle so rightly said, let us beware of making the dead speak, but let us be sure of what they would have hated.
The General would never have said: « Ukraine is a fiction, it belongs to Russia. » (He who believed in the soul of nations). He would never have said: « It is NATO’s fault if Russia attacks. » (He who knew that an aggressor is solely responsible for his crime). He would never have said: « Let it happen to have cheap gas. » (He who placed independence above comfort).
Those who blindly support Putin while draping themselves in the Cross of Lorraine are forgers. They confuse the independence of France with hatred of the West. De Gaulle wanted a strong France in a free Europe, not a servile France in an authoritarian Eurasia.
European-Security (To be continued…)
In the series: Voices of Twilight
- Charles de Gaulle : « Le Crépuscule des Nations : Mémoires d’un désastre annoncé (1) » — (2025-1202)
- Charles de Gaulle : « The Twilight of Vassals: No to the Brokers’ Yalta! (1) » — (2025-1202)
- Charles de Gaulle : « Die Dämmerung der Vasallen: Nein zum Jalta der Krämer! (1) » — (2025-1202)
- François de Vries (Jules Michelet) : La contagion des ténèbres : Exégèse d’une pathologie impériale (2) » — (2025-1130).
- François de Vries (Jules Michelet) : « The Contagion of Darkness: Exegesis of an Imperial Pathology (2) » — (2025-1130).
- François de Vries (Jules Michelet) : « Die Ansteckung der Finsternis: Exegese einer imperialen Pathologie (2) » — (2025-1130).
- Jules Michelet : « La danse des morts : Chronique de la grande nuit (1) Ou le sabbat des tyrans contre la résurrection des peuples » — (2025-1130).
- Jules Michelet : « The Dance of the Dead: Chronicle of the Great Night (1) Or The Sabbath of Tyrants Against the Resurrection of Peoples » — (2025-1130).
- Jules Michelet : « Der Totentanz: Chronik der großen Nacht (1) Oder der Hexensabbat der Tyrannen gegen die Auferstehung der Völker » — (2025-1130).
- François-René de Chateaubriand : « Vu de l’autre rive : le naufrage de l’Occident » — (2025-1128).
- François-René de Chateaubriand: « From the Other Shore: Contemplation on the Shipwreck of the West » — (2025-1128).
- François-René de Chateaubriand « Vom anderen Ufer: Betrachtung über den Untergang des Abendlandes » — (2025-1128).
Decryption:
The Awakening or the Void : Faced with the distressing spectacle of an America which, under the rule of a stage-strutting braggart, is selling off its alliances for petty mercantile calculations, silence is no longer an option. While Washington dispatches its errand boys to Moscow to validate a shameful partition of Europe, it falls to France to shatter this consensus of cowardice. History is not negotiated; it is forged.
Just because the ally of yesterday has turned into a buccaneer does not mean the Old Continent must consent to its own vassalization. Refusing this new « Yalta of mediocrities, » which seeks to feed Ukraine to Eastern appetites to guarantee Western comfort, we affirm that the soul of nations is not a commodity. Europe, if it still lays claim to History, must cease to be a frightened spectator and finally become an autonomous fortress.
Faced with the cynicism of brokers and the brutality of empires, there is only one response that holds true: Will. Let Kyiv stand firm, for its frontier is now ours. Let Europe stand tall, for no one will save it against its will. It is high time to put the play-actors back in their place, and France back in hers: that of the tireless refusal of servitude.
