Right off the bat let me say that Dominique de Villepin is someone I highly respect as a politician with impeccable vision/integrity and I hope through his political activism can help lead us all into a more sane world than the one we’re experiencing today. This is a quite a lengthy interview and it will be difficult for me to respond to many of the views discussed but what I can do in order to make it as brief as possible is a) summarize my response as much as I can [don’t hold your breath on that one] and b) link to previous posts (where there is one) in expressing my views in more detail – as a political layman of course – so here goes;
- Double standards of Europe on GAZA; I actually thought so too, that is until considering the Ukraine and Greenland crisis. There is definitely double standards on rhetoric but mainly consistency in terms of inaction – or to be more accurate (lack of effective action => aka. sanctions+throwing money/arms on problems). Why? Because facing up to the powerful nations with military might and/or influence like the US or Russia takes a kind of leadership that is currently non-existent in Europe partly because Europe has come out of 2 world wars expecting/working towards good times but not preparing for bad times (at least not without the good old US of A). In other words “an alliance of reliance” was the new game played under the hood. I mention this in many posts and will link a to one shortly.
- The Fear Extreme Right Politicians Over-Reliance on Excessive Force If In Power: I feel this is an exaggerated fear simply because the European experience/capabilities in conflict do not match that of the US and protections against political abuse/civil liberties in Europe is stronger than it is in the U.S-will see how that one holds… I also believe that if such parties one day do take power the’ll likely do all to keep a steady ship particularly when being hit by the realities of governance/real politics and NOT just punchlines; in other words – in my opinion – not much change anticipated except on the edges.
- Dealing with Autocratic Regimes: Soft power that was largely abandoned by Europe/delegated to the US in the good times should be resurrected/doubled. Both soft/hard power need to are foundational to any effective union. I also wrote a post here entitled “Progressive Governance Initiative (PGI); Incentivizing Change” which talks about one approach here but suffice to say this should a much more elaborate/well articulated strategy moving forward because as I always repeat in my posts cheap transactional alliances or ones based on fake perception of shared values should be scraped/replaced with ones that promote core values (as in principles) not in currency exchange ; https://fidelitosblog.com/progressive-governance-initiative-pgi-incentivising-change/
- Ideological Fractures within the EU: I’ve written plenty on this topic but my latest post here highlights that fact and I’ve always supported the concept that “if doesn’t fit just help it quit” talking about EU members that seem to have chosen to join for either the wrong reasons or have reverted back to their own comfort zones of past times. Here’s a recent post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fadelgalal_europe-cannot-afford-to-stay-a-loose-club-activity-7424191610378235904-CjGD?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGTf1MBosvCcVnOEmcRvg6TZmzv95BWSuo ; and here’s another short one of many more; https://fidelitosblog.com/hungary-decides-underlines-and-highlights-the-irrelevance-of-the-eu-nato/
- Fighting Trumpism & Extremist Ideology: That’s easy; inspiring leadership that’s driven by core universal values geared towards action rather than empty punchlines. A leader keen on bringing people of differing views together and championing a new/reformed way of doing politics while never shying away from challenges/threats by standing tall in these moments; in a away like New York Mayor Mamdani (at least so far…) and of course Canada’s PM Mark Carney who’s really impressed me. There simply no other way to fight extremism in my opinion. This can only happen in this day-an-age after the experiences of the last 1 or 2 decades to have someone comes out and demonstrate in every way that there is indeed another way to do politics that serves the majority and protects core values and it’s neither a delusional or a controversial concept.
- Fighting Social Media Control: Maybe – just maybe – its time to consider public initiatives to develop platforms that are both engaging and more trustworthy alternatives (perhaps also in partnerships with existing platforms and help adapt them accordingly). This may also convince current media platforms that the road ahead isn’t as wide as they thought so that they start following the curve themselves.
- Accepting Difference within the EU in Foreign Policy & Defense (+others): No two countries will have the same political outlook (internally, foreign or otherwise) but there needs to a core foundational elements that all members agree with as core strategic policies/objectives – and with tempo of geopolitical changes going on the fritz that’s the reason why I believe that delegating these critical policy areas to an independent body would be the best approach as I mention in Linkedin post above.
These are dangerous time and requires being creative/critical thinking coupled with a mechanism of constant self-assessment at every level. Worse yet, time is not on our side. Does that help make you comfy? No, well not to worry it wasn’t intended for that purpose ;-(