Joschka Fischer warns: ‘It’s hard not to think about the year 1914’ ‘We need a break’: Biden sparks controversy over Israeli ground offensive in Gaza

Former German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Joschka Fischer is sounding the alarm about the current situation in the world. “It is difficult not to think of the year 1914, when events took an uncontrollable turn and provoked the First World War,” the Green politician told the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”. He sees the world on its way to a new order and a conflagration.

He mainly refers to the Russian war against Ukraine and the war between Israel and Gaza. Both share a “striking parallel,” Fischer says: “At their core, both are waging an existential struggle for the survival of a nation-state.” With its war against Ukraine, Russia tapped the first domino that “finally undermined the Pax Americana after 1945.”

The slogan ‘Pax Americana’ refers to the US’s claim to have significant influence on the world order. But Russia has created a “new polarization where no one wins.”

“A dynamic that the West simply cannot accept”

The West would now be on the side of Ukraine and Israel, while China, Russia and the Global South would be on the other side, Fischer said. “This is a dynamic that the West simply cannot accept,” he warns. The West must make “gigantic diplomatic efforts” to stop this. The Global South must have a ‘seat at the table’.

Fischer also warns against a direct confrontation between the US and China. Because: The danger of “a military confrontation in the China Sea and Taiwan Strait” is growing. “Attempts to shift the global balance of power and impose a new international order have never been carried out without violence,” Fischer said. “This makes the mutual tone of the great powers all the more aggressive and worrying.”

Sources