You spoil what you can. Your “democracy”. You’ve jumped on the US bandwagon

In connection with the war in Ukraine, the “new world order” is a fairly current topic that is being addressed both in the Czech Republic, the USA and the European Union. Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy from Spain, commented on that. He spoke at Oxford about what world conditions will be like.

He stated that the post-war multilateral order is disappearing, there is polarization, confrontations, on the contrary, there is less cooperation. “To meet the challenges we face in the 21st century, we need a true assessment and decisive action,” says Borrell.

He notes that China has become a world power. And other powers, such as India, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, are fighting for the light. “As Europe, we wanted to build a circle of friends, and there is a circle of fire around us, from the Sahel to the Middle East to the Caucasus to Ukraine,” he claims. According to him, global trends are accelerating, climatic, demographic, inequality is growing, democracy is declining and freedom is under threat.

“What do we need?” Borrell asks, answering himself that it is a clear assessment of the existential threat to Europe that is Russia. And also a strong focus on principles, cooperation and strength.

“If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he will not stop there: He considers the entire West to be his opponent. The horrific 10/7 Hamas terrorist attack and Israel’s response plunged the Middle East into its worst cycle of violence in decades. We weren’t ready,” Borrell continues.

He then discusses what he means by principles, cooperation and power. “We say we are a union of values, but we should show that we respect them always and everywhere. We don’t do it as much as we should. It seems that we value lives in Ukraine more than in Gaza and that we care less about whether Israel violates UNSC resolutions.”

“Cooperation requires trust. It is largely missing. However, global challenges such as climate change require greater cooperation. So we need to reduce dependencies and work with those who do not share our values. But we also need resources with an unprecedented increase in global solidarity. We need tax fairness, an increased minimum corporate tax and an estate tax. We need to shift resources to afford climate change or pandemics. And we need to adapt existing multilateral and financial instruments,” he continues.

And he ended with the question of power and wars. “The American security umbrella may not be around forever. We must increase our defense capabilities and build a strong European pillar within NATO. It’s going to require more resources: If we see it as an existential threat, we need creative ways to find them,” he said. It is said that Ukraine needs to be given the necessary help to win. In the Middle East, it is said that there is a need to avoid further tragedies and to ensure that people there can live side by side in safety. “Peace has never seemed further away, but we must try,” Borrell said.

His words were noticed by the entrepreneur, founder of the HouseTrip travel service Arnaud Bertrand. And he subjected them to crushing criticism. According to him, every European should read Borrell’s words to understand how much Europe does not understand the current geopolitical situation. According to him, the head of European diplomacy hit the mark only when he said that a true assessment and decisive steps were needed. “Yes. So why is the evaluation completely out of the question right after that?” asks Bertrand.

He mentions Borrell’s words about Russia as an existential threat and Putin’s perception of the West as enemies. “It shocks me that Europe still doesn’t understand two things. For one thing, things don’t happen in a vacuum, Russia didn’t wake up one day with the West as an enemy and the war in the Middle East didn’t start on October 7th. And that ‘EU values’ and ‘Western values’ are mainly the problem and certainly not the solution.”

He does not want to go into the history of the Maidan, the expansion of NATO and non-compliance with the Minsk agreements. “History will confirm that the war in Ukraine was anything but unprovoked. The same October seventh, you have more than 70 years of history leading up to it, and mainly the resignation of its obligations on the part of the West, which unconditionally supported Israel against the Palestinians. Guess what happens when you unconditionally support one side, be it in Gaza or Ukraine. This will increase tensions and eventually lead to a bitter conflict where the side you did not support sees you as an enemy as well. That makes sense. So Europe has largely created this ring of fire itself,” finds Bertrand.

And he continues: “This is the main reason why the events in Ukraine and Gaza happened. Ukraine was an attempt to turn the country into a Western bastion against Russia, which was seen as ‘dissenting’ and whose protests were therefore largely ignored. If the EU were pragmatic, it would understand that its interests lie in not playing with fire and instead focus on creating a security architecture that would prevent war regardless of what form of government Russia would have. The EU will say: ‘But the Ukrainians had the right to prefer an alliance with us over Russia, our values ​​call for supporting democracy everywhere.’ And that’s the crux of the problem: It’s about values ​​over interests, and in the end, everyone’s worse off.”

According to him, the same applies to Israel, i.e. the defense that it is the only democracy in the Middle East: “Who the hell cares? It has always been clear that the Palestinians will never give up and that either a sustainable solution to the conflict will be found, which inevitably means putting a lot of pressure on Israel, or something like October 7 will happen. Again: Values ​​above interests and everyone is worse off in the end.”

Furthermore, according to Bertrand, Borrell ignores the elephant in the room, namely the United States, which has the lion’s share of the EU’s current situation. And with much more cynical interests. “Take Ukraine. US strategic doctrine has always called for the prevention of a united Eurasia, because a strong united Eurasia would be an insurmountable force for the US. Ukraine is achieving just that: A permanent division of Russia and Western Europe that is likely to last for decades. This is a strategic godsend for the US, and when we see all the very well-documented efforts they put into Ukraine before the war to prepare it, it’s hard not to see the US as a major – if not key – actor in the outbreak of the war. The same is true of Israel: Support has always been primarily American… Or take the ‘war on terror’, which previously led to an unprecedented wave of refugees coming to Europe…” calculates America’s sins Arnaud Bertrand, saying that the “ring of fire” prepared Europe’s closest partner.

“In hindsight, we will find that the EU’s biggest problem is a huge lack of hard pragmatism and strategic thinking. And it should do the exact opposite of ‘respecting EU values ​​always and everywhere’. Definitely respect your inner values, stay true to yourself, but don’t use them as something through which we view international relations, because that’s what led to the very disaster that the EU is in now, and paradoxically leads to the EU ultimately causing or at least promotes massive humanitarian catastrophes that go against our most basic and universal human values,” concluded Arnaud Bertrand in his critique of Borrell’s words.

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