The Downfall of the West

The failure of the West’s economic war against Russia speaks of the end of the old-world order. The West could not defeat Russia in the economic war, writes Der Spiegel. On the contrary, this year the growth of the Russian economy will exceed the average for the eurozone. And all this suggests that the old-world order has come to an end. 

The US and Europe are losing their dominant position in the world, and if they do not stop punishing other states with sanctions then they will lose in the new cold war, warns the author of the article, Henrik Müller.

The Western-dominated world order is coming to an end and in the most obvious way. Despite the back-firing economic war, the allies have not been able to destroy the Russian economy. Moreover, experts predict that this year its growth will reach greater values than the average for the euro area. Even last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, it fell by only 2.1%, and not by the expected 3.4%.

Before the start of globalisation in the 1990s, the G7 countries accounted for almost half of the world’s GDP. Now it’s a third and shrinking. In trade, the situation looks similar. 

Western sanctions did not give the desired result, mainly due to the fact that many countries did not join them. China, India and other states are now buying oil and gas at a discount, which the West did not get. As a result, the Kremlin was able to compensate for the loss of supplies to Europe and the United States. Moscow has abandoned the euro and the dollar in trade operations so that Brussels and Washington are denied an opportunity to influence the situation and it is not possible to cut off Russia from the rest of the world.

Iran is supplying her with weapons. According to the US, South Africa is also providing military assistance to the Kremlin. Saudi Arabia, which has long been an ally of the Americans, is now acting more and more independently in the international arena, and not only in matters of oil production. Latin America, Africa and much of Asia have not joined the Western punitive measures. 

The US and EU are hardening their approach and threatening sanctions on countries that help Russia bypass Western restriction which doesn’t contribute to the growth of the popularity of the West.

The actions of the US and the EU cause discontent among many other democracies, which are essentially natural allies of the West. The US and EU have abandoned their liberal doctrine and now view the economic arena as a place for strategic confrontation.

There is another problem: the West itself is ‘rotten from the inside.’ EU leaders do not know where they are going. Today’s Great Britain is just a shadow of its former self. The UK’s exit from the EU has greatly weakened it. 

The banking crisis brewing in the United States will lead to a financial catastrophe on a global scale. And such a collapse as a result of the inoperability of democratic institutions will be a real feast for Chinese and Russian propaganda. The European army is weak. The only thing that is growing is debt.