Is Europe risking the most in the new Cold War?
- By Giovanni Vimercati
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 11, 2015
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Participants of the G7 summit (L-R) President of the European Council Donald Tusk, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker have a group photo taken at the Elmau Castle near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, on June 7, 2015. [Xinhua/Zhu Sheng] |
It is not by chance that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the only European leader to fly to Moscow after Victory Day, when Russia celebrated the defeat of Nazism without a single Western leader in attendance. As the most economically robust nation in Europe, Germany knows that isolating Russia politically could result in economic disadvantages. Germany is therefore walking a tightrope between U.S. dollars and Russian roubles. Given the profound crisis that is still traversing Europe, a further decline in the European economy could have negative effects on the already weak European Union. Ultra-nationalist political formations are in fact on the rise throughout Europe, exploiting anger and disaffection to further their racist, anti-euro agendas. Russia sees in them strategic partners able to undermine Europe and its anti-Russia positions. Another, far more disturbing consequence of this is the infatuation of right-wing xenophobic parties in Western Europe with Putin's Russia, which is in fact a generous supporter of said parties.
Decrying the strategic blindness of a Europe that swallows pretty much anything it is told by the White House does not necessarily mean absolving Putin's autocratic regime, the domestic policies of which in particular leave much to be desired. If more sanctions are imposed on Russia, however, the above-mentioned situation is likely to worsen. A more impoverished Europe that effectively gives up its political and economic sovereignty is likely to see the growth of ultra-nationalist parties and their toxic influence on society. A diplomatic resolution to the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine and the re-establishment of economic relations between Europe and the Russian Federation could instead usher in a more stable situation, within which the threat of right-wing parties could be defused and more harmonious economic growth could gain traction. With the exception of Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain, though, there seem to be no political forces in Western Europe willing to veer away from the harmful policies the EU has blindly embraced thus far.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
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