Germany yesterday marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall that ushered in the end of communism and national reunification, as the Western alliance that helped secure those achievements is riddled with divisions.
Two days before the date that brought epochal change, French President Emmanuel Macron dropped a bombshell, declaring that transatlantic partnership NATO was suffering from “brain death” and that Europe itself was “on the brink.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded with uncharacteristic sharpness, saying on Thursday that “I don’t think that such sweeping judgements are necessary,” and the ensuing storm over NATO laid bare the growing differences among traditional allies.
Photo: Reuters
The bad-tempered prelude to the festivities stood in sharp contrast to celebrations five years ago, when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former Polish president and freedom icon Lech Walesa were present.
This time, leaders of former Cold War powers were to be absent, as US President Donald Trump’s “America first” policy, the UK’s Brexit struggles and Russia’s resurgence put a strain on ties.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit ended on Friday, while Macron was only planning a flying visit today, leaving the actual anniversary on Nov. 9 without globally prominent figures.
Pompeo also left behind a stark warning: “As we celebrate, we must also recognize that freedom is never guaranteed.
“Today, authoritarianism is once again rising,” he said, namechecking China and Russia.
Carrying a similar message, incoming European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that the euphoric optimism over liberal democracy and freedom that characterized Nov. 9, 1989, has dissipated.
“Today, we have to admit that our complacency was naive,” Von der Leyen said. Russia is “using violence to shift established borders in Europe and is trying to fill every vacuum that the US has left behind.”
Hopes that China would develop closer to the Western liberal democracy model has not been fulfilled, she added.
Beyond the cracks surfacing in the global arena, a new chasm is opening up within Germany, with the far-right gaining a strong foothold in the former communist states.
Underlining the problem herself, Merkel said those who thought the differences between the former communist East and the capitalist West could be ironed out earlier, sees “that it would take half a century or more.”
Debate has also opened up more intensively over the differences between the East and West as “nationalist and protectionist trends have gained ground worldwide, thereby fueling more discussion too form a national perspective,” Merkel told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Amid the somber mood, a serious political program was planned for yesterday, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese