© Feng Li/Pool/Getty ImagesChinese President Xi Jinping
It's time to buckle up, because the post-WW2 and Cold War systems no longer suit the global order...
Humanity has been gripped by a frenzy. The political and military crisis in Europe has captured everyone's attention, but in global terms it's only part of a larger picture. The tensions over Ukraine, and even the wider conflict concerning post-Cold War European security, are elements
(but not the core reasons) behind a major shift.When Chinese President Xi Jinping parted company with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, it was no coincidence that he remarked that the changes now taking place are the biggest in a century. A hundred years ago, the old world was fast disappearing. Empires were crumbling, the structure of societies was changing, and old ideologies were being radicalized in an attempt to meet people's needs or point them in the right direction. Two World Wars, a global economic crisis, the resurgence of all sorts of local conflicts, and social experiments - that were generally very costly for the people - were all signs of the very changes the Chinese leader was recalling.
No one wants to go through that again. Still, there is hope that certain constraints have emerged in recent decades that will prevent extremes - from nuclear weapons to the ability to respond more flexibly to socio-economic upheavals.
In recent days, the news has seemed to confirm the seriousness of the tensions.
Germany saw its biggest strike for decades, with transport workers protesting against worsening conditions.
France is on fire after the government decided to raise the retirement age, bypassing a parliamentary vote as the reform failed to win a majority.
In Israel, a violent confrontation has erupted over the cabinet's intention to curb the powers of the judiciary, which its opponents see as a coup attempt.
It is clear that each of these events has its own circumstances and that there is no direct link between them.
What they have in common is that they are all manifestations of a painful socio-political transformation.
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