recent A series of threats Putin from Vladimir is no longer only related to Ukraine. The Russian President has steadily expanded the scope of his requirements to cover defense and security arrangements throughout Europe. Even if the current tensions on the Ukrainian border will not eventually lead to open conflicts, this deliberate escalation is ominous for 2022.
In fact, what Putin wants is to turn time back to the 1990s, when Poland and other former Warsaw Pact countries and former Soviet republics such as Estonia joined NATO. If he acts in his own way, he may rebuild the Soviet Union, and he is saddened by the demise of the Soviet Union. This bitter old KGB spy never accepted the defeat of the Cold War.
The Western Alliance must clearly point out that this dangerous revisionism is unacceptable. Russia cannot have veto power over Ukraine (or Georgia)’s future NATO membership. Putin will not reinvigorate the old Soviet Union, reinvigorate spheres of influence, or decide where to station Western troops “in the vicinity”. Negotiations on confidence-building measures to alleviate Russia’s concerns would be a wiser way forward.
However, by deploying about 100,000 soldiers to the Ukrainian border and maintaining verbal bombing, Putin made it clear that he will not relax pressure on European leaders anytime soon. For Washington, this is a geopolitical problem. For Europeans, a hostile and angry Russia is a direct threat lurking at their doorstep.
Sensing the weakness of the United States, Eastern European countries are particularly shocked by President Joe Biden’s statement that the United States is ready to address “Russia’s concerns about NATO”-and Putin’s “active demands” last week.immediate“Concessions. The broader concern in 2022 is that after the withdrawal of troops from chaotic Afghanistan, the United States’ security assurances are not credible.
Although the G7 summit in Cornwall last summer promised “America is backBiden’s main focus is on his domestic agenda and containment of China. Both of these policies are not going well. Covid has soared again, and the spending bill signed by the President to trigger a post-pandemic recovery has been played down by the wayward Democrats in Congress. Or stop. Biden will concentrate on the difficult campaign in the November midterm elections.
Therefore, for Europe, especially the European Union, the new year looks set to begin in disturbing uncertainty. Lonely note. It is sandwiched between the vicious Moscow and the contradictory America. To make matters worse, the basic relations in post-war Europe—the relationship between France and Germany—may be about to face new pressures. The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz immediately started a dialogue with French President Emmanuel Macron, who left for Paris two days after taking office. On paper, the center-left three-party coalition led by Schultz supports deeper EU integration and enhanced European sovereignty. The idea advocated by Macron was played down by Schultz’s predecessor, Angela Merkel.
But in practice, the convergence of France and Germany may be difficult to achieve. The EU energy policy, the “green transition” and France’s efforts to classify nuclear energy as a “sustainable” fuel amid the rapid rise in natural gas prices are clearly divided.Macron wants more support from Germany Pan-European spending, Funded by a common debt set along the precedent of the European Union’s 800 billion euros (679.0 billion pounds) Covid Recovery Fund. This is unpopular in Berlin.
Macron enthusiastically argued that in a world full of ferocious predators and unreliable friends, Europe must strive for greater autonomy in defense, security, and foreign policy. However, he opposed calls for a harder line against Russia and China, for example, Annalena Balbok, The co-leader of the German Green Party, he is Schultz’s new foreign minister and an avid human rights advocate. This circle is difficult to square.
Europe’s ability to deal with a range of other pressing issues-constitutional disputes between Brussels, Poland and Hungary, separatist tensions in Europe Balkans, Frictions with Turkey, Islamic terrorism in the Sahel, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the unresolved Brexit debate-France’s six-month EU presidency in January will not help.
Although he denied, Macron Surely he will be distracted by his fight for re-election in the April election. This epic battle combines three core issues that will dominate the European agenda in 2022: right-wing populism, immigration, and epidemics. Some surveys show that since the German election, The wave of populism has recededBut in France, the strong support for the xenophobic racists Marina Le Pen and Eric Zemur shows that such a conclusion is too early.
Following Biden’s abandonment of Afghanistan, European NATO member states will face a new wave as predicted by aid agencies. Afghan refugees This winter. This will once again highlight the EU’s failure to agree on a comprehensive and humane immigration policy — and it will be used by the far right in France.
Another failure is the lack of a coordinated response to Omicron variants in Europe due to different, contradictory and often very unpopular severe restrictions imposed by countries, which may help reveal how France ticket. Like Boris Johnson, the new crown virus, rather than a conspiracy by Russia, China, and the United States, may be the destruction of Macron and Europe.
