A ceasefire of fire does not mean the end of the war in Ukraine, the British historian reports Timothy GartonProfessor of European Studies at the University of Oxford, noting that the creation of a common European defense is urgent as people return to the law of the jungle.
In an interview with “Vima”, the distinguished historian estimates that the US is sliding into an authoritarian regime, and considers the binding of political liberalism to economic neoliberalism.
Is the biggest war in Europe since 1945?
“It is very unlikely that this war will end soon. I believe that a lot of the debate on the so -called “peace” is unrealistic because. It is possible that there is a ceasefire, but this is obviously something different. “
Does the war in Ukraine sign a new era in international relations?
“As I wrote in my book” Homeland, a personal story of Europe “(Psychogios editions), I believe that there is a distinct period in European history, which I call” after the wall period “that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and ended with the beginning of the Berlin. We are in a new period from 2022.
The new element in recent weeks is that the US, our largest and most powerful partner, seems to have passed into the world of trading nationalist major powers in the world of Russia, China, India, Turkey. The US now belongs to these trading major forces, and this leaves us in Europe. “
Was the West surprised by the invasion of Ukraine, as it was surprised by the fall of the wall and the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union? Would the invasion be if Vladimir Putin was not on the Kremlin’s rudder?
“We should expect that there would be a reaction from Russia. . The largest empire left in Europe, the Russian Soviet Empire, disappeared peacefully, suddenly, within three years from 1989 to 1991.
We should expect that there will be a reaction, but the character of this reaction, both raw aggression and craftsmanship, is partly due to Putin as a person. I believe it is at the same time a Russian war as well as a Putin war. “
“I never expected that I would see the American Republic to see such a frontal attack as it is today. It’s like an attempt at a coup in stages »
Will it evolve into a “frozen conflict”, is an example of the new world of things? What does this mean for smaller countries such as Greece, threatened by a neighbor, Turkey?
“We have returned to a significant degree to the world described by Thucydides in the renowned dialogue of Milia and Athenians, in a world where the law of the powerful prevails in the law of the jungle. That’s why we all need power.
I believe that for Greece this power comes mainly from Europe, but also to some extent from the fact that it belongs to the European part of NATO. “
Does Europe apply two meters and two weights in Ukraine and the Middle East, especially in Gaza, for the rules of war and human rights?
“The West follows two meters and two weights for centuries, at least since colonialism, when the values of the Enlightenment were respected only when it concerned Europeans, not the peoples in the rest of the world.
But I believe that they were specifically trying in the 1990s and 2000s to be relatively consistent in the application of values and international law.
Now we look completely unreliable. We condemn the invasion of Ukraine in the name of international humanitarian law, but we are very reluctant to criticize the clear and huge violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. This has completely destroyed our credibility. “
What went wrong in liberal Europe for the last two decades? For years you have warned of the dangers of Trump 2.0 and the rise of the European far -right. Are the leaders, policies to blame?
“It’s a very good question. The challenge for us liberals, in the broad sense, I mean the liberals in the left, the right and the center, are the authoritarian in and out of Europe. And to make meaningful self -criticism.
To put it in a nutshell, it is to blame that we have tied our political liberalism to economic neoliberalism, and that led us to the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 that evolved into the eurozone crisis-you know all this in Greece-I have not seen the financial inequalities that we have not seen at 100 years. Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos who corrupt American politics.
And it made a big part of our own societies feel that liberal Europe did not benefit them. I think this is the main thing that went wrong. Obviously there are others. “
Is Europe able to build a common defense while it is in trade war with the US? Will a war economy work in favor of the far -right if the welfare states are reduced to strengthen defense?
“I think we can do it, combining a new generation EU with wide European lending, a bank for the re -equipment of Europe. And, because Germany, as opposed to most countries, has the budgetary margin (its debt is only 60% of GDP) and can spend 500 billion euros for this purpose.
From the economic point of view, we can do it without huge redistribution from social welfare programs. But there is another issue. Can we do this with 30 countries, each having its own army, its own weapons systems and want to make money in its own defense industry? I think this is at least as difficult as the simple redistribution of funds. “
The “new sheriff in Washington” is elected but imposes his ideas at every level of everyday life, and even threatening academic freedoms. Does Trump build an authoritarian regime in the US?
“I have to be honest with you. I never expected that I would see the American Republic to accept such a frontal attack as it is today. It is like an attempt at stages, an attempt to control the state as it was in Hungary and Poland.
Oligarchy plays a very important role in all that is evolving into competitive authoritarianism. The question is whether the institutional counterbalances remain strong enough to resist. I still hope for them. “
