Three Recent Seismic Geopolitical Changes That Have Flown Under The Radar and What They Mean For European Identity
I’m writing this as Russia’s war with Ukraine enters its 100th day — a bleak milestone in the conflict that brought 75 years of peace on the European Continent to an end. The war continues to dominate headlines and news feeds throughout the world, and so it should, but this ongoing flow of information from the most documented conflict in history has meant that a few other fundamental changes in Europe’s direction have been missed by those not keeping an eagle eye on the news.
Three changes stand out, each of which was triggered by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. That’s not to say that other seismic shifts have occurred in parallel, but we’ll focus on what these changes are, why they’re significant and what it might mean for the European Project and the continent’s identity in the near future.
German rearmament
German rearmament is arguably the most significant of the three changes. Pacifism has become deeply rooted in German society in the post-World War II years, driven partly by a sense of historic guilt and partly by a reimagination of new national pride that isn’t based on strength of arms and superiority over others. After bringing mass destruction to Europe and the world on two separate…
