Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Jordan General Security: King Hussein Bridge close to travelers and cargo from Israeli side until further notice.
Israeli occupation army: Sirens sound in Eilat due to a drone infiltration
'Time for peace has come': Macron at UN on recognizing Palestinian state
France recognizes a Palestinian state: French President Macron
The Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the Palestinian Embassy in London following the UK’s recognition of the State of Palestine
Islamic Waqf in al-Quds: Around 300 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under Israeli police protection
Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela: Malta will announce its formal recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in New York today
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: MPs explained in letter that Iranian defense doctrine, stance on nuclear weapons first originated at time when international community, West, were capable of containing Israeli entity's actions, madness.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: 70 Iranian MPs sign letter urging authorities to reconsider defense doctrine, stance on nuclear weapons.
Al Mayadeen correspondent: The number of martyrs in the Bint Jbeil massacre has risen to 5, including 3 children.

The ‘Fourth Turning’ that will Define our Century

  • Alastair Crooke Alastair Crooke
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 11 Jun 2023 00:04
  • 26 Shares
6 Min Read

European economies are reeling from inflation and the spectre of de-industrialisation - fuelled by self-imposed foreswearing of all imports of cheap Russian energy.

  • x
  • The ‘Fourth Turning’ that will Define our Century
    The ‘Fourth Turning’ that will Define our Century

Zbig Brzezinski, then (1997) a US Presidential adviser, put it starkly: ‘Eurasia is the largest Continent on earth; and Europe is America’s indispensable bridgehead into that Heartland. With each expansion of Europe’s scope, therefore, the US sphere of influence expands as well’. And for domination of Eurasia, he said: Ukraine is the key state.

Today, however, the single most momentous development of our time is the tide flowing towards disavowing the western insistence that only one ‘reality’ -- the US-led ‘Rules-Based’ ideology (and it alone) -- can predominate. This -- coupled with the reversal in the earlier colonial cycle such that now the non-West can and is rolling back and ultimately displacing its western overlord -- is the ‘Fourth Turning’ that will define our century.

Patrick Lawrence, a veteran American correspondent, observes however, that “to listen to the speeches, pronouncements and off-hand remarks of the power and policy cliques in Washington - you would think that no such [inflection point]” is occurring at all.

Lawrence asks: 

“And so, I ask: Can I be the only one to wonder whether those shaping and conducting American foreign policy are blind to this immense global shift, or deaf to what the non–West lately has to say to the West, or too stupid to understand events, or deaf to them – or, in denial, or maybe some of all these?”.

Bold, affirmational statements have a seductive power over audiences, and people often subconsciously prefer the ignorant assertions by the credentialled class over the obviousness of raw ‘facts on the ground’. This, coupled with a western MSM totally beholden to the US Permanent State, creates a sort of moralistic black hole where very little accountability exists for people who propagate deception and exaggeration. People and institutions have had a free pass for so long, they know that there will never be repercussions, even for outright lies -- much less dishonest and disingenuous equivocations of discourse.

Now, fifteen months into the Ukraine conflict, (and with the tables turned), Europeans have so overtly and loudly sided with the Biden war to cripple Russia that the turning of the tables cannot be seen as anything but a civilisational defeat for the West. 

It is not at all certain however, that Team Biden -- with its European proxies in acquiescence -- will not resort to open intervention in a desperate attempt to re-appropriate a Western ‘triumph’. 

Secretary Blinken, on Friday in Helsinki, seemed to be foreshadowing major long-term escalation when he re-buffed any thoughts of ceasefire, and instead spoke in terms of long-term defence pacts with Ukraine that would lock in future military aid and possibly formalize commitments for mutual defence.

Related News

The assassination of neo-Nazi, 2014 coup leader Andriy Parubiy shocks Ukraine elite

US losing India to China-Russia bloc, as SCO summit rang alarm bells

This turnabout was predicated in Blinken’s affirmation, thus underlining Lawrence’s argument that those conducting foreign policy seem either blind, deaf or in denial to shifts in events -- by tying the ‘new’ US policy to Putin’s massive “strategic failure” in Ukraine, a débacle, Blinken insisted, that has isolated Moscow, weakened its economy and exposed the weakness of Russia’s once-feared military.

The “sad reality” is of course, the converse: On every front in this conflict, the US has fallen well-short of expectations: Russia has ascendency in terms of forces deployed (by a substantial margin); in terms of sophisticated weaponry; in terms of near domination of the airspace and the electro-magnetic sphere above Ukraine. 

In addition, Russia is winning in the financial war and the diplomatic war, where to the West’s consternation, the rest of the world -- beyond the G7 -- have declined to join with sanctioning Russia.

Nevertheless, the Establishment’s Washington Post headlines with a piece entitled: Biden Shows Growing Appetite To Cross Putin’s Red Lines,  with the subtitle: “Despite warnings that arming Ukraine will start a world war - Biden continues to push the Russian leader’s limits — a strategy that brings risk and reward”.

The point here -- simply put -- is that Biden has an election to win, and may think to try to win it as a ‘war-time President’.

Europeans however, have only elections to LOSE. Why should they go along with a ‘forever war’ in Europe?  The blowback to Europe already has been more severe than the intended impact on the Russian economy. European economies are reeling from inflation and the spectre of de-industrialisation - fuelled by self-imposed foreswearing of all imports of cheap Russian energy. Industrial giants like Germany have slumped into a recession -- and much of Europe is in recession’s grip too.

Europe – self-evidently - is economically weaker than it thought itself to be at the outset of war, when European leaders were in thrall to the prospect that the European Union was going to bring down a major power -- Russia -- by financial coup d’état alone.  (Much of Europe, including Germany and the EU, had undergone ‘BlackRock financialisation’ from the 2000s, which has notably weakened EU real economies in favour of the services economy).

Recall too, that it was Merkel, as the ‘most powerful woman in Europe’, who secured and ‘covered’ the Brzezinski strategy against Russia -- including its’ targetting of Ukraine as a key bridgehead:  

“The Konrad Adenauer Foundation … has been heavily involved in Ukraine at least since the Maidan coup in 2014, albeit in a subordinate position. Its last important service to ‘US national interests’ was the Minsk Agreement — Merkel as its leading figure, enabled Ukraine to arm itself with the largest army in Europe”.

Put plainly, the EU has been – and is still -- too deeply invested in the US’ Ukraine Project to reverse course, in spite of the dire risks to itself.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Russia
  • US
  • gas
  • EU
  • Ukraine
Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Director of Conflicts Forum; Former Senior British Diplomat; Author.

Most Read

All
Why is Choose Love using a firm with British and US intelligence connections to run a pro-Palestine musical event? (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Together for Palestine: Troubling questions about the organisers of this huge event

  • Opinion
  • 17 Sep 2025
UKLFI’s latest faux pas, like "Israel’s" recent failed attempt at regime change in Iran, is unambiguously indicative of a flailing entity on the verge of extinction. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Zionist lawfare operation facing collapse?

  • Opinion
  • 13 Sep 2025
Across all of the prominent Washington-based Zionist think tanks, the message appears uniform, they all seek further pressure upon Beirut in order to force it to disarm Hezbollah. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Washington based think tanks advocate war on Lebanon

  • Opinion
  • 16 Sep 2025
The West Bank is on the verge of catastrophe

The West Bank is on the verge of catastrophe

  • Opinion
  • 9 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
War on Iran

More from this writer

All
The Nakedness of EU ‘Geo-political’ Ambitions Will Be Revealed - As the Ukraine War Melts Away

The Nakedness of EU ‘Geo-political’ Ambitions Will Be Revealed - As the Ukraine War Melts Away

The Slow-Motion Advance to the Edge of the Abyss

The Slow-Motion Advance to the Edge of the Abyss

Already, "Israel" has the White House committed to support an Israeli military operation against Hezbollah. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

Does 'Israel' want war?

The European Mutiny: The Consequences are Just Beginning

The European Mutiny: The Consequences are Just Beginning

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS