The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 1117: Old and New Europe

September 2001, 9, was destined to go down in history.

The world seemed to have become a different world on this day.

Since September 2001, 9, anti-globalization and the spread of terror have been expanding at an incredible pace.

From Rome to Cancun, from Evian to Geneva, the anti-globalization movement has been a constant presence at international economic conferences, "stirring up trouble" outside the venues, mixed with lingering violence and conflict. The anti-globalization movement carries the hesitation, loss and powerlessness of many people in the face of globalization. Its significance and value lies in that it has raised the various drawbacks and shortcomings of globalization from a non-mainstream, marginal and disadvantaged perspective, thus becoming another driving force for globalization.

At the same time, terrorist activities have also begun an alternative process of globalization. Al-Qaeda is no longer just an organization, but has become an ideology.

The era of 'global insecurity' has arrived, and any scene may disappear in a few seconds, leaving behind damaged buildings and piles of dead bodies.

Counter-terrorism now faces not just a few fixed, identifiable targets, but dozens of small organizations that are difficult to track down and attack.

If the purpose of terror is to undermine people's confidence, then it is obviously only temporary.

The United States has used the war on terror to promote its hegemony, and terrorist activities have also incorporated anti-hegemony implications.

The entire European and American world is being torn apart at an accelerated pace. Some people are disgusted and angry about the indiscriminate killing of innocent people, but others think they are "acting on behalf of heaven" and sympathize with them.

In China, investment in maintaining public order has increased significantly. In terms of maintaining social stability, in addition to strengthening security measures and security checks at customs, airports, borders, subways, railway stations, and automobiles, residence checks have also been significantly strengthened.

From 2001 to now, two rounds of special campaigns to crack down on gangsters and eliminate evil have been carried out. This special campaign has extended to village tyrants and gangsters, and has eliminated a large number of criminals. Even public trials have been held for particularly serious cases.

Not long after Panshan Group held its year-end party committee meeting, the whole of China welcomed the Spring Festival, and the whole country celebrated the New Year together.

This year's Spring Festival, New Year's Eve happens to be the last day of January.

But when China was celebrating the Spring Festival, the world was in turmoil again.

Since the outbreak of the North Korean nuclear crisis, there has been no sign of a final solution. North Korea is still obsessed with bilateral negotiations and signing a non-aggression treaty with the United States, while the United States prefers to resolve the issue within a multilateral framework. At this time, just after Persia announced in February that it had obtained the technology to refine uranium enrichment, the Iranian nuclear issue surfaced again.

Although Iran has repeatedly claimed that the purpose of developing its nuclear program is only for energy production, the international community has not reduced its attention to its nuclear program, and the pressure for verification is increasing step by step.

The United States has repeatedly warned that it will not 'tolerate' Iran's development of nuclear weapons.

It's not just the Iranian nuclear issue, but also the outbreak of conflicts between the US and Europe and the formal formation of the Franco-German alliance.

The situation is now very clear. The Americans are organizing a joint force and are determined to attack Iraq.

France and Germany strongly oppose the US attack on Iraq because international oil and natural gas prices are already very high, which has seriously affected the interests of France, Germany and most of Europe. Once the United States attacks Iraq, international oil and natural gas prices will inevitably be pushed up further.

This is just a conflict of economic interests, and there are also security considerations.

The United States invaded Afghanistan and Europe suffered greatly as a result. Not only did the European troops suffer heavy losses in Afghanistan, but a number of vicious explosions also occurred in European countries, causing huge casualties and property losses. This caused complaints in European countries and the people generally felt unsafe.

If the United States attacks Iraq this time, Iraq is very likely to attack Turkey, and Turkey is a NATO country. Will this trigger NATO's mutual defense clause?

Will these NATO countries be drawn in by then? NATO was established to defend against the Soviet Union. Now that the Soviet Union is gone, the legitimacy of NATO's existence has been questioned. If NATO goes to attack Iraq now, it will become that the purpose of NATO's establishment is to bully countries like Iraq.

France and Germany fell out with the United States over their opposition to the attack on Iraq. This dispute between the United States and Europe is the most serious one within the Western alliance in more than half a century, and its depth and intensity far exceed any previous ones.

The United States was very angry and divided European countries into two groups: 'New Europe' and 'Old Europe'!
All of a sudden, everyone only mentioned Europe and regarded Europe as a single mention.

And now because the United States is doing this, people keep talking about the "New Europe" and "Europe", as if Europe is divided into two parts.

Not only that, the United States has divided the "old European" countries into the "pro-American" British, Spanish and Italian groups and the "anti-American" French and German groups.

Should other European countries that have not yet been targeted by the United States choose a suitable position for themselves?

This is clearly forcing other European countries to take sides, which will undermine European integration in any case.

Russia quickly expressed its position and stood on the side of France and Germany. Some European media even began to discuss the possibility of France, Germany and Russia uniting.

This event can be said to be a redrawing of the political map of Europe after the end of the Cold War!

On the Chinese side, we are further promoting the friendly relations between China and France, China and Germany, and promoting the friendly relations between China and Europe.

It emphasizes seeking common ground while reserving differences, shelving disputes and pursuing common development, and emphasizes that peace and development are the themes of the times.

From the perspective of the multipolarization process, allowing the European Union to form a separate pole is obviously in line with the multipolarization process.

However, the EU also has its own problems, namely that each country has different demands, and most importantly, there is no unified army.

In other words, sovereignty is incomplete and can be easily disintegrated from within.

Even if there is an alliance between France and Germany, it will be difficult to truly achieve the unification of Europe.

The British continue to act as troublemakers in Europe. Obviously, the British are most reluctant to see a hegemonic country emerge in Europe, because for the British, once a hegemonic country emerges in Europe, Britain will inevitably be isolated and marginalized.

This is obviously unacceptable to the British, who once ruled the empire on which the sun never set.

Now in the UK, there are even arguments for Brexit. This is not the first time Brexit has come up. As early as 1975, the UK held a referendum on whether to leave the European Community. The result of that referendum was 67% of the votes chose to stay, while 33% chose to leave the European Community.

For Europe and the United States, Britain is a big problem because it has not joined the eurozone and is not a member of the Schengen Area.

Moreover, America’s biggest ally in Europe is none other than Britain.

In addition, there are Italy and Spain, which are also generally pro-American.

The Franco-German alliance fell out with the United States, which had a profound impact on Europe and the world. For developing countries, it can be seen that Europe and the United States are not one.

(End of this chapter)