I wish European leaders stopped talking about a new world, the return of geostrategic competition or whatever. It's the same world and international politics has always been about power, we just lied to ourselves for a few decades
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To the extent that Europeans could ignore geopolitics, it was in large part because the Americans didn't and Russia was comparatively weak. It's much easier to convince yourself of the irrelevance of power when you're sitting under America's nuclear umbrella
Others never had this luxury. Ask a Ukrainian, ask a Georgian - and that's still in Europe. If ten or twenty years ago you would have told someone in the Middle East or Central Asia that geopolitics really doesn't matter much anymore, they would have probably laughed at you
Look, I get it. Politicians say this kind of thing because they want to mobilise public support for a change in policy. Makes sense. But it risks giving voters the impression that this is temporary, that things will go back to "normal" in a few years
"Normal" was an illusion. In international politics, normal means competition and conflict. Power matters. Humanity may evolve beyond it at some point but right now it doesn't look that way. It's depressing but that's how the world works and it's best to be honest with voters
Most people in Europe have forgotten that you are not strong with strong morals only. You need to bring something to the table (best: hard power & soft power) to have a say. And with the industrial & knowledge base of Europe this is possible
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