BRUSSELS, July 9. /TASS/. Political leaders in the United States and Europe have been too slow to recognize that Russia and China are new trendsetters globally, Andrew Michta, director of the Scowcroft Strategy Initiative at the US Atlantic Council (deemed undesirable in Russia - TASS), said in an opinion piece for Politico.
"Russia and China are setting a new global agenda <...>. But political leaders in the US and Europe have been slow to recognize this new reality," he wrote.
"The West’s biggest vulnerability is internal," the author stated. "The collective West — though declaring itself united— remains fractured," he argued. "Democratic allies are often at cross-purposes when it comes to their economic interests, and they lack a shared threat assessment as well," Michta said.
Political establishments in the West, he continued, "seem unable to overcome their disbelief that the good old days of globalization are a thing of the past." He sees many in the US and Europe "still clinging to the post-Cold War narrative of a 'rules-based international order', instead of speaking directly to their publics about the storm that’s gathering over the horizon."
According to Michta, international relations are facing a rare moment when "history abruptly accelerates and decisions set the world on a new course." "Today, the US and its allies face a similar moment where strategic choices will set the course of history for a generation," the opinion piece reads. Otherwise, the expert warned, they risk falling into a full-blown global conflict.