Global challenges

I cannot resist starting this article with something that is inexorably self-evident: what goes wrong is likely to get worse. The straw has fallen on the Suez Canal, with the blockage of navigation due to the grounding of the mega-ship Ever Given, the world's largest container carrier. We are going through a very delicate moment due to the risk of a fourth wave of the coronavirus when the third has not yet ended, with serious problems of vaccine supply in the European Union, with a very serious economic crisis that is creating thousands of unemployed, with a decision by the German Constitutional Court that paralyses, hopefully temporarily, the implementation of the EU Recovery Plan with the famous 750,000 million euros and with a geostrategic movement between two blocs that could lead to a new Cold War with unforeseeable consequences.

US President Joe Biden has launched an international offensive to clarify positions vis-à-vis what he considers to be more than political and military adversaries, and above all economic and commercial ones. The blocs have been formed by the United States and the European Union, despite the Europeans' trade agreement with China, which joins Russia and Iran. Biden's intervention at the European Council after four years of estrangement due to Donald Trump's policies places the challenge of the international situation for Westerners at a level of great difficulty for its management due to its notable pros and cons.

The game has begun with high stakes: from the "assassin" for Putin and threats to the Chinese on the American side, to the response of Moscow and Beijing, which are doubling the stakes for the Europeans with some sanctions. In the various international opinion institutes, there are numerous analyses and assessments to contextualise what is happening and the possible consequences. At the root of the West's need to rush its first bets is the growing suspicion about the origin of the coronavirus that is causing so much damage to Western society in particular. The next step is the interference in electoral processes in favour of populism and cyber-attacks on strategic centres and institutions by China and Russia. And in this environment, the enormous doubt about the cause of the manoeuvre that ran the Ever Given aground, causing the blockage of the Suez Canal. The Arctic route is beginning to be taken into account.