Our native Europe, which was effectively born in 1945 from the ruins of decades of civil war, is like an ageing individual who, much like many of their peers, is prone to comforting and self-soothing myths. Unlike the generation that led Europe during the Cold War—who had lived through Europe’s great upheavals and understood power and its significance—the generation of politicians who led Europe in the post-war decades (of which the once-lauded and now-criticised Angela Merkel is the “purest” example) were the first to fully internalise the system of European values that formed and solidified after 1945.

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In the Middle East, South America, Africa and Asia, even quite close American allies are still happily trading with Russia, referring dispute resolution to Chinese arbitration, viewing the war in Ukraine as a distant European border skirmish unrelated to their interests, and regarding America’s role as the global policeman as a relic of history. Only now are EU leaders, such as its chief diplomat Josep Borrell Fontelles (Josep Borrell Fontelles), capable of realising that “many countries view China’s geopolitical influence as a counterweight to the West, including Europe. They will try to strengthen their manoeuvring options without choosing either side”. Thus, the war happening in Europe helps to delineate the borders of the European civilisation space, as demonstrated by solidarity with Ukraine. For decades, European leaders flattered themselves that their moral vision of the world was universal and that the fate of history had destined them to reshape the world. Instead, European values and interests are revealed as distinctly provincial: the customs and assumptions of just one (and a weak one at that) civilisation.

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The consolidation of the world into continental empires has only just begun. Political morality is irrelevant in this situation: the conquest and post-war division of Europe into two competing camps was merely the product of the massive industrial production and abundant raw materials of America and the Soviet Union, which were obtained through ruthless territorial expansion and genocide in previous centuries and allowed them to “feed” their factories.

Power flows through the chimneys of millions of factories, and both the “Covid” pandemic and the war in Ukraine have revealed to Europe’s carefree and misguided rulers just how weak our Europe has allowed itself to become. Both crises have finally put an end to this fragile, self-satisfied “old man”, the world born in 1945: the entire worldview of the political avatar Angela Merkel is now rejected, even if a replacement has not yet been fully formulated. First there were two competing empires, then one undisputed hegemon, and now there is a series of potential contenders on the stage of history. European leaders are belatedly realising that if Europe cannot protect and provide for itself, then, as E. Macron warned, “Europe will vanish”.
Full article: https://unherd.com/2023/05/boomer-europe-is-dying/?=frlh