THE END OF PAX AMERICANA: THE END OF AN ERA?
February 24, 2022 represented a historic date for the West. Not for the invasion of Ukraine itself. But for what it dramatically represented. Not for the trail of blood that this conflict has unfortunately generated (with great pain for all of us). But because PAX AMERICANA seems to have ended with it. A chapter of human history has therefore ended. That period which since the end of the Second World War had guaranteed peace and prosperity to the West. The period in question had deluded us that the war was an “exotic” event. An event that only concerned countries far from us and which we only heard about on television. Today, however, we learn that war is upon us. And, regardless of the interpretation that can be given, this is a completely new fact for seventy years now. And it is a fact with notable geopolitical implications because this war is, like the First and Second World Wars, a war for global power. That is, a war which, by force of circumstances, will produce new global geopolitical structures with contours that are not yet fully definable. It seems that in the West all this is not yet very clear. Or, at least, it is not clear to public opinion taken as it is by “governmental” information that hammers on the “unprovoked aggression” of Ukraine by Russia and on the legitimate claims of the Ukrainian people to defend themselves from such aggression. The fact is that Ukraine is nothing more than a mere “geopolitical pawn” used by the West in its global confrontation with Moscow. But, obviously, Western public opinion is unaware of all this. The fact is that he will soon have to open his eyes and face reality. Also because the reality will soon be before our eyes if, as it seems, the West intends to go to war with its own troops once Kiev’s “human resources” are completely exhausted. At that point the losses at the front and the involvement in the war can no longer be hidden and the drama of the ongoing conflict, despite the incessant work of propaganda, will irremediably break into our lives.
PAX BRITANNICA AND PAX AMERICANA. BACKGROUND.
The PAX AMERICANA can be considered the historical appendix of the British one. The latter had established itself in Europe after the second French hegemonic attempt which ended with the defeat of Napoleon first in Russia and then, definitively, at Waterloo. The Pax Britannica guaranteed Europe during the 19th century relative geopolitical stability and also great cultural and industrial development. Of course, the continent was not without wars in that period. But they were more than anything else wars that concerned the new national realities of Italy and Germany, the formation of which produced very significant geopolitical effects on the European geopolitical scenario of the time. England let it happen. Immersed in her “splendid isolation” and completely focused on the overseas trades from which she generated her immense financial resources. However, the birth of the German nation (and its powerful industrial development) created the conditions for a new hegemonic attempt in Europe which materialized first with the hegemonic attempt undertaken by Wilhelmine Germany in the First World War and then from that, even more threatening, of Hitler in World War II. With the victory over Hitler’s Germany, the Pax Americana was imposed, in which we have lived until at least 2022. The transition from the Pax Britannica to the Pax Americana was made necessary due to the exhaustion of the economic and military potential that the victory over Hitler had cost the Great Britain. From 1945 onwards the USA took over, de facto, the reins of the world (together with the other geopolitical actor that had contributed fundamentally to Hitler’s defeat, the Soviet Union) and imposed their pax Americana, a harbinger of peace and prosperity throughout the West. Until the present day, in which a new hegemonic attempt seems to reappear which seems to call everything into question.
THE END OF PAX AMERICANA:TOWARDS A NEW MIDDLE AGES?
It is known that the world has historically known various PACES. That is, various periods of stability determined by the establishment of a world, continental or regional order imposed by a hegemonic power with undisputed economic and military superiority over all other geopolitical realities. The one best known to us is the so-called PAX ROMANA. This expression indicates the period of peace and relative stability that the Roman Empire enjoyed with the advent of the emperor Augustus (precisely for this reason this period is also called PAX AUGUSTEA) until, roughly, halfway through the first century AD (period in which the Roman Empire reached its maximum expansion and the apogee of its power). All these PACES ended at a certain point and a long period of instability and conflict always followed aimed at imposing a new geopolitical structure that reflected the new balance of power. It is the situation that is developing (or has already developed) on the contemporary global geopolitical scenario. I know this may disturb the dreams of many. But things cannot be seen differently. We are at the end of an era and another is beginning whose features we cannot yet determine. Nobody knows when and how the war in Ukraine will end. And no one knows to what extent the establishments of the various countries involved are willing to go to extreme consequences (the statements of many protagonists of the affair are alarming to say the least). What is certain is that the world will no longer be the same as it was in the last eighty years. And that PAX AMERICANA has come to an end together with the peace and prosperity that it had been able to guarantee to the entire West. It is therefore probable that we have already entered a new “geopolitical Middle Ages”. In a middle age with problematic and undefined contours. In which the balance will have to be renegotiated and reset. As we were saying, no one can know how all this will happen in the near future. But we know it will happen and it is good to prepare. All this will be more problematic for us Westerners who have not experienced such developments since the end of the Second World War. Many of our beliefs and certainties could soon disappear. Like those of an easy victory over Russia in Ukraine. Beliefs that already in the past led very powerful armies to disaster. The fact is that in all likelihood the ongoing conflict between Washington and Moscow will not be limited to Eastern Europe but will include other geographical theaters that are already in deep turmoil today (Africa, Middle East). In the hope that this dynamic does not lead to a real world war fought on all continents, we trust in the reasonableness of the political leaderships of all nations so that our dear world is not incinerated by a nuclear war and therefore led to its total destruction .