EURASIAN PUZZLE BOX
EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for Rapprochement with Russia and End of
"American-led System"
A recent address by the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borell, hints at a new
pro-Asian political order on the continent as Germany gets ready to lead the
27-nation bloc. But, is it just a ploy to check Chinese hegemony?
by Raul Diego
May 27th, 2020
By Raul Diego
Asignificant change in the global balance of power may be in the offing if
we are to believe declarations made by EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell
while addressing a group of German ambassadors on Monday in Brussels. Borell
reportedly "created a diplomatic headache" when he called for the end of the
"American-led system" and made the case for ushering in an "Asian century"
centered around stabilizing European relations with Russia.
Borell ruffled more feathers earlier in the week when he publicly opposed
"any Israeli initiative toward the annexation of parts of the West Bank,"
but stopped short of articulating any concrete steps the EU might take to
curb Israeli abuses in the region, stating that the EU would limit itself to
"diplomatic action in order to avoid any unilateral action" by Israel in
Gaza, despite support by several European nations for punitive actions
against the apartheid state.
Nevertheless, Borell's most recent comments before the German ambassadors
are noteworthy for the simple fact that Germany is set to take over the
presidency of the EU, as well as the UN Security Council in July, giving the
EU's chief diplomat's words particular resonance and may point to a new
phase in the broader Atlanticist geopolitical playbook.
Playing both sides
Borell, a Spanish politician who took over the EU's top diplomat spot in
December of 2019, has straddled the fine line Europe has taken between
siding with American insistence on maligning the Asian superpower with
claims of trying to block an investigation into the origins of the
Coronavirus earlier this month and calling China a "partner country" in a
recent article he penned in several European newspapers.
Ultimately, the European Union's role in advancing Atlanticist designs in
Asia hinges on its ability to play mediator in the tense relationship
between the other world superpower - the United States, together with its
proxy state, Israel - and China. To this end, Borell calls for the EU to
"maintain the necessary collective discipline" against the threat of Chinese
economic hegemony in their natural sphere of influence, which includes
nations like India, Japan, Indonesia, and Russia.
For this reason, Borell's message to the German ambassadors revolved around
mending relationships with Putin's Russia and strengthening ties "with the
rest of democratic Asia," suggesting that the EU should put their full
support behind the Russian port of Vladivostok and Trans-Siberian
transportation routes in order to skirt China's One Belt One Road Initiative
and thus weaken its position throughout Asia.
Germany's close commercial ties to Russia have been a recurring bone of
contention against the American-led intransigence against Putin in recent
years, and as the Teuton nation prepares to assume a leading role in the
27-nation bloc government and the UN it looks as though the Atlanticist
playbook is being tweaked as they discover that the strategies applied so
far are only bringing its enemies closer together.
Filling the powder keg
As the geopolitical chess match continues to unfold amidst this
pandemic-induced global economic reset, the real purpose of Israel as the
linchpin of the entire Atlanticist project might soon be revealed to the
world.
Should the EU's rapprochement with Russia bear the desired fruit and the
Kremlin indeed begins to forge closer ties with Europe instead of China, the
balance of power will shift away from the U.S.-Israeli axis, at least
momentarily. But, it will also set the stage for what Borell - perhaps only
intuitively - expressed as the "pressure to choose sides."
The EU is Israel's biggest trading partner and Borell himself underlined
that it was important for Europe to have "the best relationship with Israel"
as a new coalition government between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz
finally begins to take shape in the Middle Eastern state. Borell's rhetoric
about supporting Palestinian sovereignty might be nothing more than a bone
thrown to the more conscientious EU members so that the aforementioned
"collective discipline" might be achieved and Russia may be successfully
lured into the fold and halt any further nurturing of Sino-Russian
relations.
The American position on Israel is unambiguous and, in addition to the
scandalous and continued subsidizing of the Israeli state, completely backs
its most ambitious annexation plans in Gaza and beyond in complete
contradiction to the position several European countries are currently
taking.
Once the economic corridors have been ironed out and Russia comes on board
to serve as the Atlanticists' Silk Road into all of Asia - not to mention
Russia's own "huge investment potential," in "natural resources, fisheries,
and tourism," a more isolated China could become fatally vulnerable to a
manufactured war sparked by Israel and Washington, which the EU - at that
point - might have no choice but to support.
