Makis Andronopoulos: Can Europe pick up the reigns of the West?

The West in the broadest sense, as it was formed after WW II, is facing a cultural and geopolitical frontier. Its values ​​and democracy have been degraded and collapsed in a social fantasy, while the emergence of strong new competitors calls into question its geopolitical and geoeconomic status. Thus, the West will either continue its rapid decline or with a new program and new leadership will return dynamically to the vanguard of history, a position it has held for the last five centuries.

The American 20th century, twenty years after its end, seems to have reached the zenith of Western civilization and launched its decline. We do not know whether the acceleration-thickening of historical time brought about by technology drastically reduces Oswald Spengler’s theorem, according to which the historical cycle of every great civilization has a lifespan of about a thousand years. But the phenomena converge in constantly revealing the signs of a “decline of the West” in all its manifestations of “westerness”.

Democracy and its institutions are controlled by the interests of the super-rich and their corporations, the welfare state has been minimized, inequalities are widening exponentially, intellect has been replaced by the dramatic simplification of current history by the media as a pillar of totalitarianism. Education has been fully subordinated to the service of technical civilization and art has chosen the market as a mentor, losing its soul.

If the election of the President of the USA is resolved in the courts, the collapse of the electoral system of the greatest democracy of our time, which is problematic at this time, will be sealed. The indirect system of election by an electoral college, which has already twice been at odds with the majority of the electorate, has overcome the historical and social conditions that imposed it.

The election of the populist Trump in 2016 against the representative of the deep American system, Hillary Clinton, led to an administration of billionaires, in the radical questioning by the USA of the international institutions (UN, NATO, WTO),  of international relations in deals, while highlighting the troubled face of American power.

Europe and American decline

When the presidential debate ended in a bar brawl, when the major US television networks cut off the live broadcast of the statements of the Republican Donald Trump, because he was misinforming, when the Proud Boys terrorize Black Lives Matter fans while armed on Hummer and the division of American society flirts with civil war, as many analysts write, no further evidence of the decline of American democracy is needed.

The split was also evident in a quote from Joe Biden to Trump supporters when the numbers made him president: “We may be rivals, but we are not enemies. We are Americans… it’s time to come together as a nation to heal… “.

The division does not only concern society, but also the structures of power. There is no American police-spy TV serial that does not record police corruption, the entanglement of politics with sponsors, and the dominance of the war industry. The US failure to defeat terrorism (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya) and the rise of Islamic terrorism in Europe are indicative of their flawed and ineffective foreign policy.

The NATO identity crisis and the Greek-Turkish crisis in NATO’s southeastern wing are another important sign of American embarrassment. Turkey’s distancing and flirtation with Russia are also indicative. The US retreat into the Pacific is also evident, not only because of the rise of China, but also because of the ever-changing camp of countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, etc., but mainly because of Pyongyang mouthing off to Washington.

The West and jihadism

It is doubtful whether a Biden presidency can overturn and overcome the divisions of American society and can regain international confidence in the United States. The depth of the division and the size of the inequalities presuppose radical upheavals in all areas. The inability of the Democratic Party to self-reform and bring out a radical program and truly new leadership is another tragic fact of American concern. Any hopes are now pinned on Kamala Harris…

The West and its culture – in addition to its major inherent problems – after facing political Islam in a paternalistic way (decolonization, Arab nationalism, etc.) are now facing jihadism. The jihadism that seeks to return to the way of life of the Prophet’s time is not only directed against the West and Westernism but also against Muslims who refuse to return to the old way of life (sharia, etc.).

The holy war-terrorism declared by the various sects of jihadism for twenty years has not been won by the West. A fairly large part of the 26 million Muslims living in Europe has been ghettoized, does not adhere to the Western way of life and many of its scions are becoming radicalized and becoming jihadists. The causes are many, and is not examined here.

The only thing worth noting here is that imams from various Muslim countries who come to Europe on a “mission” are shamelessly exploiting Europe’s political rights and democratic institutions to promote hatred. But what matters is that there are an estimated 17,000 dormant terrorists in Europe.

Lone wolf

Europe’s secret services, despite their successes ex post facto after various terrorist acts, cannot deal with the terrorism of the “lone wolf” who falls with his knife or truck upon innocent civilians. Here comes the role of the Muslims of Europe for who it is time to leave their fear and solve the problem of jihad that concerns them directly and turns the Europeans against them.

They must organize and act with the help of European governments. In this way, they will mitigate the negative impressions of their religion and will regain the appreciation and trust of their fellow citizens. European governments, in addition to practical support, must understand that the economic conditions in which large sections of European Muslims, especially young people, live on the margins and in crime, favor their adherence to extreme Islam, as is the case with the European masses. joining the far right and fascism.

If European governments, which seem to be awakening to the new wave of terrorism, fail to redefine a range of policies, such as demographics, the welfare state, education, and do not effectively redefine the democratic values ​​they themselves have eroded. will find themselves completely unprepared in the coming massive waves of economic and ecological migrants from Asia and Africa. Rapidly aging Europe does not have much time to defend the “European way of life” ¨

France’s active military “support” in Greece and Cyprus and its confrontation with Turkey’s aspirations in the Eastern Mediterranean was recently complemented by the rhetoric developed by President Macron after the beheading of the professor, which, as we have recently argued, made a huge political impression in Europe. We estimated that this rhetoric was indirectly aimed at Germany, which strongly supports Islamist Turkey, both in terms of their intra-European competition and in terms of geopolitics and geo-energy.

Erdogan and Islamists

It is no coincidence that Islamist demonstrations against Macron took place at the Hermannplatz in Berlin, which Erdogan is known to “control” with MIT agents and the “Gray Wolves”, the abolition of which was demanded by German opposition MPs, as was done in France. It is worth noting that Germany has not paid a heavy tax on Islamic terrorism, with the exception of the truck attack (19.12.2016) at the Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, resulting in the death of 12 people and the injury of 56 others.

This does not mean that there are no jihadists in Germany. Some observers believe that there are many camouflaged hidden behind the parastate and “organized crime”. They are felt indirectly by the pressure and terrorism they exert on Muslims, but also by the beheadings of Muslim women who go on the police report as crimes.

The aspirations of German supremacy in Europe are well known. But it seems to be seeking more, as former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told Der Spiegel, who said the United States would not change its foreign policy after the election and return to its former policy of world leadership. “The United States remains a paralyzed country, even internationally. Any country that is so deeply divided will probably not shape the world order for long.”

After January 20, 2021, when the change of guard will take place in the White House, we may see the Franco-German competition for the conquest of the “US franchise” in Europe flare-up… At the same time, Germany will take advantage of the rift between the Senate and Congress in Washington, concerning the international arena, to cover them, at least in the diplomatic field.

Russia and the West

The West needs Russia, not only against jihadist Islam, but mainly to revitalize it. Unfortunately, when it lost its henchman Yeltsin, it developed a short-sighted and dangerous strategy that contributed negatively to the consolidation of democratic institutions in Russia. It slammed Rusia onto the ring. The Anglo-Saxon phobia of Slavic dynamism is ideological. It is an idiotically competitive attitude, while it could be explosively creative and produce the new wealth that the sterile West so desperately needs.

Russia does not belong to the West. It is the West. It is a robust and different version of it. It belongs entirely to its ecology, historically, ideologically, religiously, and even racially. French was spoken in the Russian courtyard, as well as in the German courtyards.  Diderot’s library was purchased by Catherine the Great and is located in the Hermitage. Imperial Russia was a great power in the 19th century and its intellectual heritage is enormous and classic for Western civilization, to which it added as an added value a profound naturalistic humanism that even Rousseau failed to give.

Russia’s integration into Western institutions in terms of absolute equality and parity, with respect for its particularities, is the only solution for the survival o the West, which is sinking into despair and chaos. But it is also the only strategy of balance between the West, Islam and Asia. It is the only way to secure western control of the heartland before it is absorbed by Asian neo-colonists.

Who could possibly do that? Washington, London, Berlin have failed and are unreliable. Macron perhaps, with the final transformation of the G7 into a G8 and the establishment of an institutional and operational relationship between NATO and Russia. Such a perspective could contribute as a precondition to the political integration of the European Union, which again only Macron can accomplish. Thus, the United States of Europe could take the reins of the West …