DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Applebaum: Trump? Neither conservative nor right-wing, more radical than anything Europe has ever seen

2025-03-08 21:46:09Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Applebaum: Trump? Neither conservative nor right-wing, more radical than
Illustrative photo

Screenplays by Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scholar of autocracies. “Europe must prepare. Trump is different from Meloni or Le Pen, he has people around him who believe in conspiracy theories and want to blow up the system.”

After the White House clash between Trump and his Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian leader Zelensky, Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and contributor to The Atlantic magazine, said that "Putin's presence was felt in that room."

"Putin has a worldview that is fueled by the fact that he and his KGB colleagues were burning documents while the rest of the world was celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. He wants to reduce US influence in the world, he wants to restore Russian power in Europe, and he wants Russia to become a superpower again. And he sees in Trump the possibility that his dream can finally be realized."

"Trump also has a vision of relations with Russia, perhaps based on economic agreements, and imagines a ceremony in which he, Putin and perhaps Xi Jinping sign a deal and divide the world. And that coincides with what Putin wants."

Applebaum, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, says that Europe must "find new ways of living in the world that a very different America is beginning to create."

What is the future of liberal democracy?

“Liberal democracy has a future. It is simply not clear whether the United States will be a liberal democracy or whether it will lead it. It is also true that some of the current plans may fail: the attempt to dominate the federal administration is already creating major backlash. And it is true that we have not yet heard what the plan is to end the war in Ukraine.”

In your 2020 book “The Decline of Democracy,” you observed illiberal trends in Eastern Europe that were emerging in America. What about now?

“I think Donald Trump is much more radical, in domestic and foreign policy, than anything we have seen in Europe. And it is wrong to think that he is a conservative. I don’t even think that ‘right’ is the right definition. He is very different from Giorgia Meloni or Marine Le Pen. He is radical, the people around him are motivated by conspiracy theories and the desire to destroy the existing political system. In domestic policy, there is Elon Musk’s government efficiency department, which has nothing to do with efficiency.

What he is doing is terrorizing people who work for the government into resigning and replacing them with loyalists. Musk and his team of engineers are becoming the custodians of the bureaucracy's data system. We don't know what they will do with it, whether they want to sell it or use it for business. Victor Orbán took control of entire state departments in Hungary, just like Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela, but I have never heard of a political party taking control of a government's data system and putting it in the hands of a private individual.

Some of the institutions and individuals Musk is attacking have sought to regulate his companies. We are beyond a normal conflict of interest. He is not a businessman lobbying to change laws. He is a businessman changing the law, institutions and personnel in ways that directly benefit him. I have never seen anything like this in a developed democracy. The Chinese have systems to monitor citizens online, but they have been a dictatorship for many decades.”

And at the international level?

“Foreign policy is a mirror of domestic policy. After giving the impression that he wants to put pressure on Russia, Trump has aligned himself with Moscow against Ukraine, at least rhetorically. We don’t know what deal he is planning, but he is attacking Ukraine using the language of Russian propagandists. There is much speculation as to why, we simply do not know. At the same time, Ukrainians were asked to give up 50% of the income from all their natural resources in exchange for nothing: reminiscent of the Treaty of Versailles, imposed on Germany after World War I. This while Musk and Vance have in various ways supported the AfD, the pro-Russian party in Germany.

"There are many implications for Europe: if Trump aligns with Putin against Europe, that changes a lot of things. NATO is changing. That means the United States is actually an enemy of the European Union and will try to divide it. Of course it calls into question NATO's security guarantees. What does that mean in the long run? We don't know."

When Trump was elected in 2016, many spoke of isolationism; now some accuse him of a neocolonial stance.

“I think that’s what he’s always wanted. I don’t think he would use the term neocolonial, but he likes the idea of ​​exercising power. He’s not interested in what we used to call the liberal international order. He doesn’t care about borders and treaties. He just wants to take the pieces of territory that attract him. In that he’s similar to Putin: he doesn’t respect the sovereignty of smaller states, whether it’s Canada or Denmark or Panama or whoever. It’s a kind of law of the strongest: the big countries can decide what happens, like in the 19th century.”

Who are the theorists of this new America?

“Ka shumë. Vance është një prej tyre. Ekziston një lëvizje e tillë neo-reaksionare, pjesë e së cilës është edhe Curtis Yarvin. Dhe këtu është Peter Thiel. Pas gjithë kësaj qëndron një shkollë e tërë mendimtarësh reaksionarë dhe antidemokratikë, të cilët bëjnë podcast dhe janë me ndikim. Tucker Carlson është një tjetër”.

A ka një vizion të vetëm koherent?

“Do të thosha se janë tre. Ekziston ajo që ndonjëherë quhet tekno-autoritarizëm, ideja se ne nuk kemi nevojë për demokraci dhe se qeveria duhet të drejtohet nga CEO (ky është Yarvin). Pastaj janë nacionalistët e krishterë: Patrick Deneen, profesor në Notre Dame, thotë në librin e tij ‘Ndryshimi i regjimit’ se shteti amerikan duhet të jetë fetar, jo laik. Grupi i tretë udhëhiqet nga Steve Bannon”.

Shkrove se për tetëdhjetë vjet aleancat e Amerikës me demokracitë e tjera kanë qenë gur themeli i politikës së jashtme, tregtare dhe kulturore të SHBA-ve. Po tani?

“Ata po shkatërrojnë sistematikisht të gjitha programet pro-demokratike amerikane në Afrikë, Amerikën Latine, Ukrainë, Moldavi për të ndihmuar në mbajtjen e zgjedhjeve ose për të mbështetur mediat e pavarura. Dhe kjo mund të mos jetë pjesa më e dukshme e demokracisë amerikane, por në shumë vende është shumë e rëndësishme. Ishte pjesë e vizionit të Amerikës për të ndërtuar aleanca dhe ndikim jashtë vendit, në Europë dhe Azi. Nëse i hiqni të gjitha këto, në një farë kuptimi roli i Amerikës në botë shembet. Ata nuk duket se duan që Amerika të mbrojë demokracinë ose të identifikohet me idenë e demokracisë dhe lirisë, ose të jetë lider i një aleance të madhe demokratike. Atij nuk i intereson”.

A po kthehemi te modeli i ‘sferave të ndikimit’ pas Jaltës?

“Është diçka më primitive dhe në të njëjtën kohë më e sofistikuar. Ekziston edhe një element i kleptokracisë. Realistët folën për politikën e fuqive të mëdha. Këta njerëz mendojnë edhe për paratë. Musk ka shumë interesa në botë, në Kinë, ndoshta në Rusi. Dhe nuk e di nëse ai po bën shkurtime për të favorizuar biznesin e tij, por nëse po e bën këtë, atëherë politika e jashtme amerikane gjithashtu duhet të shihet në një mënyrë krejtësisht të ndryshme”.

A duhet të mendojë Europa për të ecur përpara e vetme me vlerat e saj, pa Amerikën? A është e mundur?

“Ka qenë e qartë për mua që nga viti 2016 se Europa duhet të fillojë të mendojë në këtë mënyrë. Çështja nuk është nëse është e mundur, ai mund të mos ketë zgjedhje. Mund të jetë gjithashtu një avantazh i madh për Evropën”.

Duke takuar Starmerin, Trump përsëriti angazhimin e SHBA-ve ndaj nenit 5 të NATO-s. Ajo nuk parashikon fundin e NATO-s…

"It's early days, a lot can happen. But it's clear that Europeans need to be better prepared. We need a European security mechanism outside the EU and the traditional NATO. Maybe a European version of NATO, I don't know, but there should be a coalition ready to defend Ukraine and Europe. Which countries are ready to join? Definitely the Scandinavians and the Baltics, Poland, the United Kingdom; under Chancellor Merz, I think Germany; France with Macron. Meloni? I don't know, tell me. But there is a group of countries ready to continue arming Ukraine, to strengthen the eastern border of Europe and also European air defense, because wars are now being fought in the skies."

What do you think about Meloni's stance on Trump?

"She has to be very careful, because this is not a move (by Trump) that cares about Italy's security or prosperity."


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×