By Anne Ehart
On Monday, April 3, seats at the Elebash Recital Hall at the CUNY Graduate Center were filled to discuss the question: Is This the End of The West?
Speaker for the event, Pulitzer prize winning author Anne Applebaum, focuses her writing on the state of western political affairs, and currently writes a biweekly foreign affairs column for the Washington Post.
Hosted by the European Union Studies Center at the CUNY Graduate Center, Applebaum was brought to present her views on the future of Western politics and how Russia’s influence is leading to its demise.
Last March, in a Post article titled “Is This the End of the West as We Know It?” Applebaum said “we are two or three bad elections away from the end of NATO, the end of the European Union and maybe the end of the liberal world order as we know it.”
In this discussion just over a year later, Applebaum said we have had those two or three bad elections.
Applebaum described president Donald Trump as “totally uninterested in the West as an idea” as all of his presidential predecessors have valued. Presidents democratic and republican have at least had in common something that is inherently American: the upholding of the western political system.
One of Applebaum’s recent articles cites that Trump has said that he “would not care that much” if Ukraine were admitted to NATO and that European conflicts are not worth American lives, and pulling back from Europe would save millions of dollars annually.
Applebaum’s talk outlined four factors that are contributing to the decline of the EU, NATO, and the West as we know it. These were the Information Age, immigration, economics, and globalization.
Applebaum noted that Russia knows how to use the Information Age to its advantage. Leaking information about an opposing candidate at just the right time, or spreading rumors of false information. For example, the rumor about the Syrian refugee raping a child in Idaho.
A far-right candidate taking office and suspicions of Russia meddling with the election is not only happening in the U.S. French presidential candidate Marie Le Pen of the “far-right” National Front is receiving campaign funding from Russia. Applebaum referred to Le Pen’s campaign as “Make France Great Again.”
Applebaum believes that part of what lead to Trump’s election to office is a “desire for some sort of revolutionary energy” after “eight years of a calm and controlled presidency.” Applebaum cited George Orwell’s review of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which said that people want struggle in government, they are simply not happy with having all their necessities.
There is a feeling of nostalgia among people who are voting for these far-right candidates, thinking “wouldn’t it be great if…” we could go back to a point in time where government was less involved with other countries.
Despite the severity of the matter and the real possibility of a collapsing West, Applebaum still made the occasional joke with the audience, for example the factually incorrect Shakespeare memes her teenage son sees on the Internet.
Following the 30-minute discussion, audience members were welcomed to ask questions. One audience member asked about how deep Russia’s corruption goes. Once Putin is dead or no longer in power, will Russia’s mission carry on?
Applebaum responded that it is not just Putin, that it is a very important part of the Russian foreign and economic policy and is quite deeply rooted.