/ world today news/ A Chinese observer from Hong Kong found a European document – a cry about how the USA is destroying Europe from the ground up. They destroy it as a competitor, as something independent in the world economy… In general, they turn it into nothing.
And perhaps the job of the columnist – Alex Lo from the “South China Morning Post” – is to comment in some way on this situation, to add something of his own. But Alex, a man with a sharp tongue and an avowed patriot of China in every sense, does none of this in this case – he simply quotes his discovery with sadness. He refrains from reviewing. On the other hand, what can he say.
He cited a report published by the European Council on Foreign Relations titled “The Art of Vassalization: How Russia’s War in Ukraine Transformed Transatlantic Relations.” This is a discussion document, that is, it expresses quite extreme opinions, but let’s not forget that the organization is more than serious. It includes former and current foreign ministers, leading civil servants, MPs. And they all bitterly read this and other documents about how the Europeans’ dreams of creating a blooming garden on their subcontinent, where America was only an envious guest, collapsed.
Why are the Chinese interested in this story? That’s why. Excerpt from the report: “During the Cold War, Europe was the center of superpower competition. Washington now expects the EU and Britain to follow America’s China strategy, and the US will use its leadership to ensure that this happens.” The report calls this a process of vassalization of Europe.
We seem to be watching all this without reports: Europe (especially its main power Germany) is crying and biting the cactus, embroiled in conflict with China and Russia, destroying economic and all other independence in the process. But what we may not have known were some numbers. In 2008, the EU, which includes Britain, was the world’s largest collective economy, generating $16.2 trillion in annual GDP, compared to $14.7 trillion in the US. And now the ratio: 19.8 trillion versus 25 in the US.
Perhaps someone remembers the enthusiasm in Europe for the emergence of the euro as an alternative to the dollar. But if in 2010 up to 39% of transactions in the world were made in euros, today only 31%.
And at the end of the day, European leaders are aware of what’s going on, but they can’t say anything, the report notes: because Ukraine is on their minds, there’s no time to talk about anything else. The continent’s economy went into recession because of this, and it will only get worse from here on out.
Why does China care? Well, because Beijing, like Russia in previous decades, would like to see in Europe an alternative to the American course of suppressing the global competitor. An example of this is the recent trip of Chinese Premier Li Qiang to several European countries. But this hope is weak: the United States manages to crush two competitors at the same time – both China and Europe. Although it can be predicted that the leaders in Beijing will continue to try to stop Europe from killing itself and will show very typical Chinese patience along the way.
Why does Russia care? Including because it is useful to understand that we are not now Cold War number two. Then the Europeans were a key player in this, they competed with the USSR and its allies, trying to make the USA their powerful rear, an instrument for their support. But in the foreground was still the idea of creating a powerful global power, capable of independently playing at the height of world politics, on an equal footing with everyone else, or even leading the United States.
Now things are getting worse because the risks are greater. Europe backed into a corner, Europe with a weakening economy and with the impossibility of doing anything about it – here is something that sooner or later will somehow explode, fall apart, collapse. But we don’t know how, because the Europeans themselves don’t know. And it’s unclear how long it will take for them to turn on the self-preservation instinct, if at all. Should we threaten them with a nuclear bomb, as our best experts on Europe are doing? Maybe the threat will work.
But rather, the further development of events here will depend on the world, which is non-Western and therefore free to choose its own destiny.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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