“And now, there is war again. There is new competition between great powers. There is vulnerability, aggression, terrorism, a whole universe of new threats and attacks again. And so, we must rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together.” From Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s October 7th speech in Greece, at the Acropolis. Mr. Rubio’s excellent speech should be mandatory reading for high school and college civics classes.
Mr. Rubio’s message was clear: He warned that Western nations are at a critical inflection point, facing a choice between maintaining global leadership or sliding into “atrophy, servitude, and decline”.
Francesco Sisci, a Sinologist and Director of Rome’s Appia Institute, says America is failing to exercise leadership and is pushing Europeans toward China.
Recent public opinion polls and surveys across Europe show shifting views in how Europeans view the U.S. and China.Trust in the U.S. alliance and traditional transatlantic ties has dropped significantly, while public favorability toward Chinese leadership in some European nations has occasionally edged higher than views of U. S. leadership.
Some of this can be attributed to the U.S. pivot to Asia during former President Obama’s presidency, with many in Europe thinking the U.S. focus shifted from the transatlantic relationship to Asia.This pushed the Europeans toward a China that projected a message of success, with modern technologies and new infrastructure.
However, the Europeans discovered there are drawbacks when dealing with China. China’s currency, the Renminbi (RMB), is not freely convertible, restricting cross-border movement of investments, stocks, bonds, real estate, and loans. And their territorial claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea are issues of concern in Europe, as is China’s support to Russia and Iran.
On October 9, the European Union (EU) and China reached a landmark interim trade agreement to curb the influx of Chinese vehicles, avoiding a full-scale trade war. The EU and China established a 16-point consensus aimed at balancing an unsustainable European trade deficit with China.
Another European concern is the rise of right-wing populist and nationalist parties. This trend is highlighted by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) successes in eastern states like Saxony and neighboring Saxony-Anhalt.Many view this shift as a critical threat to EU solidarity and democratic institutions, while hard-right factions celebrate it as a democratic mandate against failed mainstream policies.
What’s driving this shift? In Germany, a geographic and political divide has placed eastern states at the forefront of the country’s rightward shift. This shift is fueled by sharp economic anxieties and intense anti-immigration sentiment and a perceived detachment of the ruling coalition in Berlin. This has normalized AfD support across a broad voter segment, especially young people.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has formally designated the AfD branches in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt as “confirmed right-wing extremist” organizations.
Centrist governments in Europe are alarmed by the pro-Russian, anti-NATO, and anti-Ukraine-aid rhetoric from groups like the AfD.With over a quarter of European voters supporting hard-right platforms, centrist governments warn that the Western alliance’s united front against external geopolitical threats is under siege.
The AfD’s eastern factions reportedly have ties to radical extremist and neo-Nazi elements, thus motivating Marine Le Pen in France and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy to distance their parties from the AfD, and expelling the AfD from their main coalition in the European Parliament.Despite this, far right-wing populist parties in the 31 European nations are gaining momentum, with approximately 23% of the electorate voting for right-wing populist parties.
According to Mr. Sisci, even the Vatican is concerned with this shift to far-right political groups, viewed by many as heirs of the Fascists.
Mr. Sisci said the U.S. must be at the center of these geopolitical discussions, with strong U.S. leadership. Without this, there will be chaos.
And as Mr. Rubio said in Greece, at the Acropolis, “It shows us that ours is the inheritance of great heroes, and that we should be proud – intensely proud – of where we come from. We should marvel at what our forefathers carved out of this countryside. The story of our civilization is the greatest story ever know to man.”
The author is the former associate director of national intelligence. All statements of fact, opinion o analysis expressed ae those of the author and do not reflect he official positions or views of the U.S. government.
This article was originally published in The Washington Times.
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