Dissolution of the World Order – Dr. Christian Riedl

First

Alfred Huber's Opus 39, „Resistenza“, was inspired by his preoccupation with the  Inspired by the rise and fall of fascism in Italy. He deserves extraordinary thanks for musically setting this example as a admonisher against intolerance and inhumanity and, together with his circle, making this blog possible.

Dissolution of the world order

Recent global events suggest that our more or less functioning, values-based order is disintegrating. As the guardian of this comfortable, democratic basic order of the Western world, America's days of service are likely over. America First looms large. But what will replace the previous bipolar distribution of power between East and West? An order based on economic power and the rule of law has collapsed. Historically speaking, the decay of order leads to wars. Rational people do not actually wage wars, since there are only ever losers, but the power of the irrational must not be underestimated. Russia's imperial ambition to return to the former greatness of the Tsarist Empire or the Soviet Union is irrational on the one hand, but on the other hand it is also an expression of clear geostrategic convictions repeatedly voiced by Putin for years. The desire for a world of friends and change through trade, as it existed particularly in Germany from 1989 onward, has not been fulfilled.

The new actors

Much speaks in favor of Herfried Münkler's thesis that a new order can only function through the cooperation of the five major new world powers: the USA and Europe as representatives of the democratic West, China and Russia as authoritarian states of the East, and India as the leading power of the Global South. It must be kept in mind here that values are not universal, but rather norms! A foreign-policy „pedagogization“ will be just as unhelpful as the naive idea that negotiations could immediately end a war. History has unfortunately shown the opposite. „Even the pious man cannot live in peace if it does not please his evil neighbor“ (Schiller, Wilhelm Tell).

The role of Europe

Europe must become a major political actor. A barely agile, bureaucratic administrative apparatus must become an active shaper of our continent's future. Too much obstruction by too many states must not paralyze Europe. Countries like Germany, France, and Italy must live up to their leadership role; only with a joint voice will Europe be heard and respected. And in this context, it is essential that populists, neofascists, and conspiracy theorists of all stripes are given no influence. Because that would only play into the imperial great-power fantasies of a Vladimir Putin.

Dr. Christian Riedl, physician in Lindenberg/Allgäu