New world order or chaos
Against the backdrop of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the trial of strength between China and the US and the war in the Middle East, European media turn their gaze to the international multipolar power structure. While some focus on the emergence of new rules, others see little more than a worrying chaos.
Europe at an impasse
Writer Stephanos Konstantinidis comments in Phileleftheros:
“There is little doubt that the world is going through a period of prolonged instability, so much so that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has spoken of a world threatened by chaos. Even during the Cold War there was a certain stability in relations between the superpowers, and a tacit agreement about certain red lines that each side had to respect. Today all of that is a thing of the past. ... Europe has reached an impasse in several respects: politically, economically and socially, but also as it is afraid to lose American security protection without being prepared to shoulder more responsibility on its own.”
No one capable of restoring order
Naftemporiki is worried:
“Wars, conflicts and disasters are virtually omnipresent. Hardly a day goes by without disturbing and frightening news. ... There is a great deal of chaos in the world right now. And worst of all, no one has the necessary power to restore order. Not the US, not Russia, not China, and of course not Europe by a long shot. The United States under Joe Biden is a prime example of this. The American president keeps trying to force the Israeli prime minister to make compromises in the Gaza war. In vain. Israel’s prime minister is just making Biden look weak.”
Grasp the zeitgeist
Former Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti warns in Corriere della Sera:
“In the new globalised world, the power of the ‘old politics’ — once reserved for states and their parliaments — has gradually been transferred to other and new entities. To the ‘international financial market’. ... Or to ‘Big Tech’, which does in postmodern form what the old states used to do: build roads, guarantee freedom, mint money. Today this seems to be done with data highways, telematic agoras and virtual currencies. If reality today is global for better or worse, politics and democracy cannot remain local. This is precisely why Europe, the home of modern democracy, can today be the testing ground for the return of politics and democracy.”
