The new Cold War is here. And it is not like the previous one. It is technological. It is not Moscow who is in front, but Beijing. But again it has its main confrontation territory in Europe. It goes from mobile phones and 5G technology, which serves the Internet of things, artificial intelligence and algorithms. And now, as then, between the end of World War II and 1989, it is a bipolar way of spreading the world at the expense of the division of Europeans: who is not with some, is with the others, and each one must stick to the consequences
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This is the message that Donald Trump has sent, through Mike Pompeo, his secretary of state, to the security conference held annually in Munich. It will be better than European friends, he told them, forget the grievances accumulated during this chaotic presidency and overcome the fear that gives rise to the possibility of four more years of trumpism to surrender unconditionally to the demands of the United States in this second Cold War recently started
It does not matter that Trump, with his unilateralism, has expelled the Europeans from resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, broken the nuclear agreement with Iran or ruined the disarmament agreements. Nor is its boycott of multilateral trade agreements and the World Trade Organization. Not even the abandonment of the Paris climate agreement. Or his open sympathy for authoritarian regimes and those populist nationalisms that corrode the unity of Europeans, Brexit among others. Now only the battlefield set by Washington in 5G technology is of interest. And that's where Trump tightens the nuts.
They are two worlds apart. Two languages without translation. Pompeo assured with all the poise that the West is overcoming thanks to its unity, of which NATO is the best demonstration. That has happened after Trump's triumphant week, just overcoming the impeachment , and after a victorious speech by the state of the nation and its laughter before the difficulties of the Democrats to find the candidate capable of evicting him from the White House in the elections of November.
As in the first Cold War, there is at least one dissenting voice in Europe, which wants to clarify the demands of Washington. In favor of the transatlantic link, but also of European autonomy. With its own policies, not dependent on Washington, towards Russia, the Middle East or the Mediterranean. And with the capacity to guarantee the security and defense of Europeans, including a nuclear strategy, without always being at the expense of a foreign decision.
Who tried 60 years ago was De Gaulle, the founder of the V Republic. Now he is his last successor, Emmanuel Macron, who follows his mark with the determination to convert French sovereignty into the sovereignty of Europeans. Vast homework!
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