There are two forces that produce group solidarity and cohesion. The first is a shared identity, founded on a common heritage or mutual affection. The second is a common enemy.
As long as the old USSR was the common enemy of the West, the Euro-Atlantic world was forced to hang together out of fear of total destruction. And the unity of the West, based on a common heritage, freedoms, and democratic norms, was opposed to the tyranny, oppression, and nihilism of the Soviet empire. Though we may not always have lived up to our values and ideals, they were right and worth defending.
But since the Soviet Union fell apart, the West has been on autopilot. We consigned both the old enemy and our ideals to the dustbin of history. This was a mistake. The world is more dangerous now than it was in the 1990s, and we are not prepared.
Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan were the major flashpoints of the first Cold War. In our own time, they are Ukraine and Israel, and potentially Taiwan. Conflicts in those areas could well spread, or draw us into them. This would be familiar from the old Cold War. But the geopolitical competition we face now is far more challenging because our adversaries are more powerful and richer than before, and we are weak and divided.
Russia, Iran, China, and their satellites have little in common but their preference for autocracy and hatred of the West, but this is enough to draw them closer together. And the gigantic size of the Chinese economy and manufacturing capacity easily outclass the capabilities of the old Soviet Union, and military power may not be far behind.
In contrast, few countries in NATO spend enough on defence. Out of 31 countries in that alliance, only 10 meet or exceed the target of 2 percent of GDP. Canada is one of the worst laggards, spending only 1.38 percent. America, which has by far the largest military and greatest capacity to project power, will only put up with this sort of freeloading for so long. And another Trump presidency, which is far from unlikely, may well set its face against the Western alliance if other countries aren’t pulling their weight, and dissolve it. But with or without NATO, few Western countries are able to defend themselves, and this must change.
The problem isn’t just an actual or potential enemy at the gate, though. Western self-loathing disguises itself as decolonization, critical race theory, gender theory, and any number of other forms of postmodern nonsense. It was easy to laugh at the absurdity of it until professors and students began celebrating Hamas’s recent slaughter of Israeli civilians as a supposed act of resistance against colonialism.
The disturbing pro-Hamas demonstrations and vandalism that have occurred throughout the West have been encouraged through social media. And, curiously, Osama bin Laden’s anti-American, anti-Western propaganda suddenly resurfaced on TikTok, and young people made videos praising his insight, garnering millions upon millions of views.
Western leaders are going to have to get a lot more serious about the threats before us. The holiday from history is over, and we cannot keep coasting on the expectation that we are invulnerable and have no enemies
Welcome to the New Cold War.
