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The first three were the direct result of US intelligence agencies’ anti-Russian information warfare campaign and attendant political weaponization of the false perceptions that were instilled in the minds of the European elite. The last two then built upon the preceding progress to geostrategically re-engineer the continent via a clever divide-and-rule system that’s upheld by the Damocles’ sword of catalyzing cascading crises across Africa that would inevitably spill into Europe as punishment if the US’ vassals ever dare to seriously rebel.
The successful reassertion of the US’ previously declining unipolar hegemony over Europe was one of the most important developments of the past year. The objectivity of this assessment is evidenced by Director General of the prestigious Russian International Affairs Council Andrey Kortunov extensively elaborating on that trend in his report about “A New Western Cohesion and World Order” that he published in late September. It’s worth reading for those who aren’t yet familiar with his thoughts.
The present piece won’t rehash that esteemed expert’s insight, but build upon it in the geostrategic direction. The overarching trend that Kortunov devoted considerable time to investigating has some additional facets that he either glossed over or completely missed in his report. This analysis will therefore aim to correct those shortcomings, while humbly acknowledging that it too is far from comprehensive and admittedly overlooks some details as well.
What follows are the five ways that the US successfully reasserted its hegemony over Europe in 2022. These factors contributed to the past year being transformational for Russian grand strategy since they forced the Kremlin to decisively oppose the US-led West’s Golden Billion after realizing that any potential rapprochement with this de facto New Cold War bloc was now impossible even if it undertook some pragmatic compromises to that end. Here’s how the US made this outcome inevitable:
1. Influence Networks & Values Were Exploited To Decouple The EU From Russia
American intelligence agencies leveraged their deeply embedded influence networks across the continent to coerce the EU into unilaterally conceding on its objective national (and especially economic) interests vis-à-vis Russia. In pursuit of this, they also exploited nebulous notions of so-called “Western values” in order to falsely present Russia’s special operation not as a military campaign in defense of its national security red lines, but as supposedly being an existential threat to the West.
2. Liberal Totalitarianism Was Weaponized As A “Self-Defensive” Reaction To Russia
The totalitarian tilt inherent in the liberal-globalist ideology that proliferated across the EU since the end of the Old Cold War was weaponized by the US to make that bloc’s decoupling from Russia irreversible. American perception managers provoked its most fascist manifestations such as rampant Russophobia into finally coming to the surface on the false pretext of being required to “defend Western values” from so-called “Russian subversion”, which resulted in irreconcilable differences between those two.
3. The World War II Mindset Was Manipulated To Entrench The EU’s Newfound Vassalhood
Upon being led by the preceding two developments into considering Russia to be a World War II-like existential threat, the EU was easily manipulated into surrendering its sovereignty to the US on the false basis that failing to do so would result in the “New Hitler” steamrolling them after Ukraine. Granting America control of their military policies saw it demanding that Europeans indefinitely make sacrifices for the “war effort”, which in practice led to them subordinating their economies to the US’ too.
4. The US-Provoked “Friendly Competition” Between Europeans Keeps Them Divided
Europe’s preexisting centralization trend was unprecedentedly accelerated in the face of the falsely presented “Russian threat”, but the US cleverly provoked “friendly competition” between its vassals as part of their “shared war effort” to ensure that they remain divided and never unite against it. This saw it encouraging a rivalry between Germany and Poland over leadership of Central & Eastern Europe (CEE), which is expected to be indefinitely maintained for divide-and-rule purposes by its UK “junior partner”.
5. Africa’s Artificially Manufactured Food & Fuel Crises Are Wielded As A Damocles’ Sword
The West’s anti-Russian sanctions artificially manufactured Africa’s food and fuel crises that otherwise would never have materialized but have subsequently been wielded by this de facto New Cold War bloc’s US leader as a Damocles’ sword over its EU vassals. In the worst-case scenario that they ever seriously rebel, America will exacerbate these systemic crises for the purpose of provoking unparalleled political unrest in Africa that’ll inevitably result in a crippling wave of uncontrollable migration to the EU.
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The five developments mentioned above add credence to Kortunov’s conclusion that the US has indeed successfully reasserted its previously declining unipolar hegemony over Europe across the past year, which represents one of the most globally significant trends of 2022. The first three were the direct result of its intelligence agencies’ anti-Russian information warfare campaign and attendant political weaponization of the false perceptions that were instilled in the minds of the European elite.
The last two built upon the preceding progress to geostrategically re-engineer the continent via a clever divide-and-rule system that’s upheld by the Damocles’ sword of catalyzing cascading crises across Africa that would inevitably spill into Europe as punishment if the US’ vassals ever dare to seriously rebel. The latter likely won’t be necessary though since the former “division of labor” driven by the US’ manipulation of Europeans’ World War II mindset has proven sufficient for keeping them under control.
Looking forward, the US is expected to exploit its restored hegemony over the EU in order to give itself an edge over China in their ongoing talks on a New Détente. It’ll threaten to have the bloc impose Russian-like maximum sanctions against the People’s Republic on an equally manipulated values-driven basis if China doesn’t concede on its security interests in the Asia-Pacific. This scenario shouldn’t be taken lightly since the US already got the EU to sacrifice its economic interests vis-à-vis Russia.
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This article was originally published on the author’s blog site, Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter.
