Chapter 1117 Old and New Europe
September 11, 2001, is destined to be recorded in history.
The world seems to have formed a different world on this day.
Since September 11, 2001, anti-globalization and the spread of terrorism have expanded at an incredible speed.
From Rome to Cancun, from Evian to Geneva, with the convening of international conferences related to the economy, the anti-globalization movement has been following closely, "stirring up trouble" outside the venue, mixed with lingering violence and conflicts. 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 weak perspective, thus becoming another driving force for globalization.
At the same time, terrorist activities have also begun an "alternative" "globalization" process. "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.
What anti-terrorism is facing now is not just some fixed and identifiable targets, but dozens of small organizations that are difficult to track down and attack.
If the purpose of terrorism is to undermine people's confidence, then it is obviously only temporary.
The United States uses the war on terrorism to promote hegemony, and terrorist activities have also combined the meaning of anti-hegemony.
The entire European and American world is tearing apart at an accelerated pace. Some people are disgusted and angry about the indiscriminate killing of innocent people, but some people think that they are "doing justice for the heavens" and sympathize with them.
In China, the investment in maintaining public security has increased significantly. In addition to strengthening security measures and security inspections at customs, airports, borders, subways, railway stations, and cars, the residence verification has also been significantly strengthened in terms of social stability.
From 2001 to now, two rounds of special struggles have been carried out to eliminate gangs and evil. This special struggle has extended to village tyrants and bullies, and a large number of criminals have been eliminated. There are even particularly serious public trials.
Not long after Panshan Group held its year-end party group meeting, the whole of China ushered in 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 celebrates the Spring Festival, the world is in turmoil again.
After the outbreak of the North Korean nuclear crisis, there is 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 solve the problem within a multilateral framework. And just at this time, just after Persia announced in February that it had obtained the technology to refine enriched uranium, the Iranian nuclear issue surfaced again.
Although Iran has repeatedly claimed that the purpose of developing a nuclear program is only for energy production, the international community has not reduced its attention to its nuclear program, and the pressure of verification is pressing step by step.
The United States has repeatedly issued warnings that it will not "tolerate" Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
Not only the Iranian nuclear issue, the outbreak of contradictions between the United States and Europe and the formal formation of the Franco-German alliance.
Now the situation is very clear. The Americans are organizing a joint force and are determined to fight Iraq.
France and Germany strongly oppose the United States to fight Iraq, because the 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, the international oil and natural gas prices will inevitably rise further.
This is just a conflict of economic interests, followed by security considerations.
The United States attacked Afghanistan, and Europe suffered greatly. Not only did the European armies suffer heavy losses in Afghanistan, but many vicious explosions also occurred in European countries, causing huge casualties and property losses to European countries. This has caused complaints in European countries, and the people generally feel unsafe.
If the United States attacks Iraq this time, Iraq is likely to attack Turkey, and Turkey is a NATO country. Will this trigger NATO's mutual defense clause?
Will these NATO countries be involved at that time?
NATO was established to defend against the Soviet Union. Now that the Soviet Union is gone, the rationality 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 because of their opposition to the attack on Iraq. This dispute between the United States and Europe is the most serious one in the Western Alliance in more than half a century, and its depth and intensity are far greater than any previous one.
The United States is very angry and divides European countries into two groups: 'New Europe' and 'Old Europe'!
All of a sudden, everyone only mentioned Europe and regarded Europe as a single topic.
Now, because of what the United States did, people keep mentioning "New Europe" and "Europe", as if Europe is two parts.
Not only that, the United States has divided the "pro-American" British, Spanish, and Italian groups and the "anti-American" French and German groups among the "old European" countries.
Should other European countries that have not yet been positioned by the United States choose a suitable position for themselves?
This is obviously forcing other European countries to choose sides, which will undermine European integration in any case.
Russia quickly expressed its position and stood on the side of France and Germany, and even some European media began to discuss the possibility of France, Germany and Russia uniting.
This incident can be said to be a redrawing of the political map of Europe after the end of the Cold War!
On the Chinese side, further promoting the friendly relations between China and France and China and Germany, and promoting the friendly relations between China and Europe.
Emphasizing seeking common ground while reserving differences, shelving disputes and developing together, and emphasizing that peace and development are the themes of the times.
From the perspective of the multipolarization process, it is obviously in line with the multipolarization process to let the EU form a separate pole.
However, the EU also has its own problems, that is, each country has different demands, and the most important thing is that there is no unified army.
In other words, sovereignty is incomplete and it is too easy to be disintegrated from the inside.
Even the Franco-German alliance is difficult to truly achieve European unification.
The British continue to act as a troublemaker in Europe. Obviously, Britain is most reluctant to see a hegemonic country appear in Europe, because for the British, once a hegemonic country appears in Europe, Britain will inevitably be isolated and marginalized.
This is obviously unacceptable to the British, who once had the empire on which the sun never sets.
Now in Britain, there are even arguments for Brexit. And this is not the first time that Brexit has appeared. As early as 1975, Britain held a referendum on whether to leave the European Community. The result of that referendum was that 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 trouble, because Britain has not joined the euro zone and is not a member of the Schengen area.
And the United States’ biggest ally in Europe is none other than Britain.
In addition, Italy and Spain are also generally more pro-American.
The Franco-German alliance fell out with the United States, which had a dramatic impact in Europe and even the world. For developing countries, it can be seen that Europe and the United States are not one.