The globalization of business

The rules of the game have changed, and new criteria will govern international relations. NATO no longer has to defend itself against hypothetical attacks from Russia, since Donald Trump treats Vladimir Putin with the sympathy of a friendly government.

Europe has accepted its defensive inadequacy and is willing to divert large amounts of budgetary funds to rearmament. This is the price that Trump is setting for maintaining the Atlantic Alliance, even if it is in a flat or anorexic state. Washington has decided to abandon Ukraine and also its hegemonic role in the post-war world, Martin Wolf stated in yesterday's Financial Times .

Ukrainian lithium, titanium, graphite and rare earths are more crucial for peace than borders

The reflections of Alex Younger, former head of the British foreign intelligence service MI6, have been circulating on social media since Monday. His thesis is well-founded. He says that international relations will not be determined by multilateral rules or institutions but by strong leaders who will put business above policies that bring people together through commercial, political, cultural and geostrategic pacts.

This is the mentality of Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping, who think more about the lithium, titanium, graphite and rare earths that can be extracted from Ukraine than about a fair and lasting peace with secure borders.

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From Woodrow Wilson to the present day, the United States has enveloped the Pax Americana that dominated much of the world in democratic values. If necessary, it has approved authoritarian regimes that were considered friends if they served the common interest of fighting the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

If I understand correctly the new paradigm that the United States, Russia, China, India and other mid-range powers are pursuing, it will be the fight to conquer space and control new lands where the most valuable minerals of the elements of the periodic table can be extracted.

Faced with this new reality, Europe must defend its social economy, the human dimension of its immigration policies, the care of increasingly older people and promote policies that correct demographic decline. And rebuild devastated Ukraine. All this must be compatible with collective security by spending more on defence.