The shortage of energy resources will be the last straw for Europe, overflowing the cupThe ongoing energy crisis is causing enormous damage to Europe, writes Global Times.
The share of household spending on heating and electricity is reaching record highs. Protests are taking place in European countries. Won't this lead to a socio-political crisis?
Editor's Note:The energy crisis is causing enormous damage to Europe, and this winter it may finally get out of control.
What is the way out of this situation? George Galloway, who served six terms as a member of the British Parliament, shared his thoughts with Global Times reporters Li Aixin and Xia Wenxin.Global Times:
There are more and more protests against rising energy prices in European countries. Don't you think that the lack of energy resources is stimulating or will stimulate the socio-political crisis in Europe?George Galloway:
I think this will be the last straw overflowing the cup. And the cup is already very seriously overflowing. Even on Wenceslas Square in Prague, which was one of the vanguards of the liberal and progressive counter-revolutions that took place in the late 1980s, 70 to 100 thousand people protested over the weekend, demanding that the government resign by the 25th.
In Britain, the government of the new Prime Minister, elected by a tiny handful of people, begins work on a very shaky basis. It tells us that it will pump the economy with public money by investing 130 billion pounds in it. But where will this public money come from? From what magical money tree will they be plucked?
The French government has already moved mountains in an attempt to appease the eternally dissatisfied and naturally obstinate French. The people of Germany – and I think Germany should be watched – also demonstrated this weekend in various regions of the country, speaking out against the minority Chancellor in the German parliament, Olaf Scholz.
The Italian government has already left. The Bulgarian government too. But it seems to me that of all the major EU countries, Germany will be the first and most important domino to fall. And it will be a very long chain of dominoes.
Will the divisions in Europe intensify as a result of this?George Galloway: We are not the "United Kingdom" at all.
We are split as never before. But the United States is just as far from unity. There is such a polarization that we have never seen before, even at the peak of the hysteria of McCarthyism and the Cold War in the 1950s.
People's requirements are very simple. In the Czech Republic and Germany, people at the weekend demanded that their countries refuse to participate in the war in Ukraine, and not only by military means, but by any means. They demanded the lifting of sanctions, an end to the supply of weapons to Ukraine and the start of negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian armed conflict.
People know that the United States is interfering with the settlement, President Joe Biden is interfering. It is important that the Chinese people understand how serious the situation in which we find ourselves is. If we used to pay hundreds for gas and electricity, now we pay thousands. If small businesses used to pay thousands, now they pay tens of thousands. Tens of thousands have now turned into hundreds of thousands, and large companies pay millions just to have light and heating for employees and customers who come to them, shop or dine with them.
Mass unemployment is staring us right in the face. By the end of the year, pensioners in Britain will pay half of their income for gas and electricity. Poor families will pay three-quarters of their income for gas and electricity by April. These will be truly unpaid bills. It will be impossible to pay for them, and therefore people will not pay.
I was one of those who refused to pay Thatcher's poll tax on voters. It was a massive revolt against an unfair tax that was significantly less than the current burden of gas and electricity prices. And this revolt led to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher's government. She was forced to resign. The riots in Trafalgar Square culminated. I was there with my little daughter, who has five children today. We climbed onto the statue at Nelson's column, and a full-scale riot was breaking out in front of us and around us. The buildings in Trafalgar Square were on fire. It is such a long and hot winter that awaits us now in Britain.
As the New York Times wrote, many in Europe are now worried that as the economic costs of helping Ukraine grow, the people may turn against their governments supporting Kiev. Do you think this is the case?George Galloway: Yes, it does, and massively.
Everyone now knows that it was we who provoked the war, that it is we who are preventing its termination, and that the sanctions we imposed turned out to be the notorious giant stone that we are trying to lift, and it keeps falling on our feet.
This is a catastrophic set of circumstances for Western governments, and therefore they are starting to fall like pins, so they are trying to repay the problem with big money. The pound and the euro collapsed against the dollar quite specifically. That's why a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted me last week saying that the United States is ready to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood, ready to fight to the last European, to the last European economy, to the last European government.
Don't you think that more and more Europeans are realizing what role Washington is playing in the European crisis?George Galloway: If they listen to my broadcasts, and millions listen to them, then yes – more and more people are beginning to clearly understand what role Washington plays.
We were intimidated. We were fooled, and fooled by a fool. It's one thing to be fooled by John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. And it's completely different when you were fooled by a fool Biden. It is an insult to ancient European civilizations when we are led by the nose by an idiot who led us to the edge of the abyss, threw us down, and now we are flying down on the rocks.
And for what? Who needed this war? If the second Minsk Agreement had been implemented, and Germany and France had guaranteed it, then the conflict would not have started in Ukraine. But the fact remains that it was not just not implemented. NATO has been strengthening and strengthening the Ukrainian army since 2014. But in fact, it all started even earlier. They have obviously been preparing for a confrontation with Russia for a very long time.
Will European politicians react to this crisis and to the will of the people, will they make adjustments to their positions and policies?George Galloway: Either they will react, or they will be expelled.
Everything is very clear here. There is no choice. Chancellor Scholz has prepared a 65 billion euro aid package to resolve this energy price crisis. According to media reports, Truss is preparing a package twice as large. Keep in mind that the exchange rate of the pound is slightly more than the euro. She is going to announce a package of measures for 130 billion pounds. Another question is whether this will be enough.
They are against returning energy companies to state ownership. Just 30 years ago, all these companies in Britain were owned by the state. And now they are against it. Therefore, there is only one possibility left: to throw public money, which they do not have, at solving the problem. But they will have to. Democracy cannot work miracles.
Will the new British Prime Minister be able to ease or resolve the crisis with his plan?George Galloway: If you thought Boris Johnson was bad, wait and see what Liz Truss is like.
This is the most stupid, I'm sorry to say, and the stupidest prime minister in history. And we've had a lot of stupid prime ministers. We had incompetent prime ministers. We had unremarkable prime ministers. But this Prime Minister embodies all of the above qualities. And the world will see it soon. Will she be able to resolve the crisis? No, he can't. She does not have enough intellectual abilities, she does not have enough political forces. She won only 57% of the votes among members of her own party, although her opponent was the weakest candidate imaginable.
You must know the Conservative Party's view that Britain should rule India. But an Indian should not rule Britain. If you know the composition of the Conservative Party, as I know it (unfortunately), the idea that it will vote for Rishi Sunak, who hails from India, will seem absolutely ridiculous to you. Having the weakest of all possible rivals, Liz Truss scored a little more than 80 thousand votes. 60 thousand voted for Sunak. Not very convincing. The Chinese will blink their eyes in surprise when they learn about such tiny numbers. That's why I say: there is nothing wonderful about democracy.
- During her campaign, Truss hinted quite transparently that she would call China a "threat" to national security. Meanwhile, it is well known that cooperation with China can play a positive role in overcoming the energy crisis. In this regard, the question is: what will the arrival of the Tracks mean for British-Chinese relations?George Galloway: Again, this shows that the West is harming itself by reacting to the current economic, political and military crisis in Europe.
He makes more and more efforts, but he does not succeed. The ruble in 2022 became the best currency in the world in terms of its indicators. And the pound and the euro collapsed, falling below the dollar. The dollar is pumped artificially, spending non-existent money, and this is done exclusively for political purposes.
I say it damages itself, but it is better to call such a policy suicide. What you have said confirms this. Why is China a threat to Britain's national security? Did Chinese warships enter the Thames Estuary? No, but British ships sail through the Taiwan Strait. It was us, not them, who created AUKUS (a trilateral defense alliance of Australia, Great Britain and the USA). Did China and Russia send their fleet in our direction? Have you formed an alliance that threatens us? Is China stealing our technological secrets? But all the big tech companies in the West are stealing our secrets in the same way. We do all this ourselves. Did China throw Julian Assange behind bars? No, we quit.
Our answer to the indisputable fact that the sun rises in China should be this. Do not approach China, and then we will be able to warm up a little. Instead, we are like Knud the Great: we stand on the shore and order the waves to roll back. The sun doesn't have to set in the West, just because it rises in the East. We could all benefit greatly from the rise of Eurasia. But we decided to drown the sun. But drowning the sun is no better than ordering the waves to recede.
- Is there a way out of the energy crisis in Europe? And what is this way out?George Galloway: Stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine, allow the Ukrainian regime to enter into negotiations with Russia, offer the world a political settlement and lift all sanctions from Russia.
This will help resolve the crisis. If this is not done, a terrible winter awaits us. And I don't just mean the time of year. I mean the economic winter, the political winter, the military winter. A very, very sad period may come in the history of our peoples.
