Bear with me, I'm thinking this through as I write. My initial thoughts on a multi-polar world were negative, because my first thought is that if Chirac is advocating for it, it must be a stupid, French idea.
However, I believe China has a history of being peaceful since WWII. They are expanding their influence right now, almost exclusively through financial warfare, because they are growing into an economic might and they want to continue that trend. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just perceived as a bad thing because the U.S. is worried about their communist roots, and we are being beaten at our own economic game right now. I actually welcome a China willing to flex its muscle to bring countries like North Korea to bear. And I welcome an economically competitive China, because that will force Americans to get off their hedonistic, lazy asses, and start getting lean, educated, and competitive again. Right now, we're fat, culturally backsliding, wealthy to the point of complacency, and power-corrupt. We need a good counterweight to get us back to our roots.
In Europe, I don't think we have much to fear of a new Europe with economic and military might. Despite the rift now, we have way too much in common in the way we like to live our lives.
Anyway, I'll have to think about this some more. Like I said, I haven't fully fleshed out my thoughts yet on this subject. |
