Macroeconomics

The list of priorities has not shifted in the last two weeks. Wars around the world dominate the general attention. 

In the democratic states, war is seen as intolerable and this weakens the position vis-à-vis the autocrats, who see war as an effective means of realising their power fantasies. They therefore see further conflict as an effective means of weakening the so-called Western alliance. All the other potential conflicts that we see today on the Korean peninsula, between China and Taiwan, in the Americas and in Africa should also be seen in this context. There is no way the democratic West can afford many more conflicts.  Also, the division of public opinion as a side-effect is very convenient for the opponents of the Western understanding of democracy. Growing nationalism, also in the West, further reinforces this development. What weakens loose state structures such as the EU simultaneously strengthens autocratic systems and their despots.

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