#FlashpointsinEurope #EuropeanCrisis Russia is funding the right-wing parties from France to Germany , The left parties are there in Spain to Greece , where China is playing an increasing economic role. China is investing heavily in infrastructure in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe . China is set to invest £105 bn in British infrastructure by 2025 , the largest in Europe . Even French blue-chips like Club Med and airports are going Chinese ! Except Austria-Germany-Switzerland ( I call it the Hapsburg Centre !) , Scandinavia and Netherlands, many of whom anyways do not share the Euro , the rest will now be in multiple crises . And now that Europe is saving itself from Arabs , its ONLY the Chinese who can bail them out ! The question about Europe now is not whether it can retain its current form, but how radically that form will change. And the most daunting question is whether Europe, unable to maintain its union, will see a return of nationalism and its possible consequences. As I put it in Flashpoints: The most important question in the world is whether conflict and war have actually been banished or whether this is merely an interlude, a seductive illusion. Europe is the single most prosperous region in the world. Its collective GDP is greater than that of the United States. It touches Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Another series of wars would change not only Europe, but the entire world. To even speak of war in Europe would have been preposterous a few years ago, and to many, it is preposterous today. But Ukraine is very much a part of Europe, as was Yugoslavia. Europeans confidence that all this is behind them, the sense of European exceptionalism, may well be correct. But as Europes institutions disintegrate, it is not too early to ask what comes next. History rarely provides the answer you expect — and certainly not the answer you hope for. ft/intl/cms/s/0/501808f6-5b89-11e4-b68a-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Pzgm1uPX
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 04:07:55 +0000
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