From US USSR bipolarism to financial and proxy conflicts

Analysis of foreign and economic policy, relations between states by the journalist Melinda Miceli

After the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as two superpowers, through the so-called Cold War or the Third World War, led to the establishment of a world governed by bipolarism which had far-reaching implications for politics and global economy, whose impact remains very strong today more than ever. The arms race between the two nations defined the era as divided into two opposing camps, with the United States at the head of a bloc of capitalist democratic nations and the USSR at the head of the communist bloc. The expression "cold war" was coined by the American journalist Lippman to indicate an ideological conflict and a political clash that never resulted in a declared war. The Cold War was a period of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted over four decades and was characterized by a global struggle for power and influence, with both superpowers vying for control over resources, economies and political systems of the world. According to some historians, the Cold War ended in 1953, with the death of Stalin. This power dynamic has always created tension between the two nations and divided the world into two opposing blocs. The Truman Doctrine was a policy of containment, which aimed to prevent the spread of communism. The Marshall Plan Marshall was a plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. They were two policies that shaped the reasons of state of the Cold War. However, the arms race and nuclear proliferation were equally significant consequences of the Cold War that generated a sense of mutual deterrence. Therefore, proxy wars and covert military operations were used to advance their national interests. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet-Afghan War were all proxy wars fought during the Cold War. On 15 August 1971, with the Smithsonian Agreement, the USA abolished the convertibility of the dollar into gold, effectively decreeing the death of the gold system and the birth of the floating system. The introduction of the euro was the response to the end of the convertibility of the dollar in 1971 and the response to German reunification. In practice, Germany was asked to give up the mark, or rather the dominant currency in Europe: no longer a German Europe, but a European Germany. The euro was born a long time ago, or, in a nutshell, from the birth of NATO, with American influence from the beginning of the post-World War II period. In 1989 the fall of the Berlin Wall was the emblematic event of the end of the Cold War. The fall of the communist regimes of the East, peacefully in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and with a violent insurrection in Romania, was followed by the collapse of the USSR between 1990 and 1991. Subsequently a single currency forced compete Europe through the efficiency of country systems and product and process innovation: it forces us to improve competitiveness and not to exploit the reduction in labor costs; forces us to no longer exploit competitive devaluations with obvious problems for Italy. The birth of the Gold exchange standard came from the Bretton Woods agreements of 1944. The introduction of the euro took place on 1 January 1999, but cash only entered into circulation on 1 January 2002. Analyzing the Maastricht Treaty and the so-called convergence criteria: economic parameters that countries had to respect in order to move on to the introduction and the adoption of the euro. Deficit/GDP criterion, the public deficit had to tend towards 3% of GDP; debt/GDP criterion, public debt had to tend towards 60% of GDP; inflation criterion, the inflation rate must not exceed the average inflation in the three countries with the lowest rate of increase in prices by 1.5 percentage points; long-term rate criterion, the nominal long-term interest rate must not exceed the average rate in the three countries with the lowest inflation by 2 percentage points; criterion of monetary stability, the country's currency had to demonstrate stability on the markets for at least two years. Systems that are difficult to sustain with fragile balances supported to date by the ECB's quantitative easing. Unfortunately there is not yet a form of sharing of economic and fiscal sovereignty and a form of single European federal government appears necessary. The conflict between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has deep roots in the historical framework of Ukraine-Russia relations. In fact, if we examine the historiographical context, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991, after which it gained independence but since then tensions between the two countries have been high as Russia considers time Ukraine as part of its sphere of influence. The current conflict began in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, prompting international condemnation and sanctions from the US against Russia, which was also accused of supporting separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, causing ongoing violence and unrest in the area. Domestic politics also played a role in shaping the conflict, with nationalist sentiment in Ukraine fueling a desire to resist Russian influence and maintain its independence. Putin's strategy in the conflict has been characterized by the use of hybrid warfare tactics, including disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks that have been sowing discord and confusion in Ukraine, as well as in the international community. The motivations for Putin's involvement in Ukraine include a desire to prevent Ukraine from moving closer to the West. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have included negotiations with Russia and international mediation, such as the Minsk Agreements. Military action has also been taken against separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, with mixed success. While implementing political and economic reforms aimed at strengthening Ukraine's position in the conflict, including anti-corruption measures and efforts to improve the economy, the conflict remains equally unresolved. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to simmer and perpetuate the historical line of conflict between West and East. However, the removal of some of the harshness of the US nationalist rhetoric of the years in which George Bush was president seemed to have made the relations between these two great powers less tense and conflictual, alongside the European countries in the UN orbit that support the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. Redefining global governance? Political analysts from all over the world agree on the fact that the subversion of the world order born in Bretton Woods passes through the expansion of the BRICS initiatives, the de-dollarization and the control of critical raw materials, as well as the combination pandemic- war, epochal plague. The logical context, however, is broader and includes the expansion of China and cryptocurrencies. It should also be highlighted that in the context of international relations, the expression "new world order" instead refers to a new period following important events. in history; in the 20th and 21st centuries various statesmen have used it, such as Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev, George H. W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, and Gordon Brown, to refer to a new period in history as it was after the Second World War or the Cold War. However, this use has been interpreted by conspiracy theorists as alleged proof of the desire to impose a totalitarian government. Great efforts are needed on the part of the two blocs USA and Russia to put an end to the war through diplomacy and dialogue on the basis of the independence and integrity of the territories, respecting the global economies that are always in the balance and in visible suffering, sometimes even speculative . “We are the only animal species that makes war”: said Erasmus of Rotterdam, more than five hundred years ago. After decades of a culture of peace, a large part of the Western world is now being asked to get used to accepting contemporary scenarios of death and destruction. In this regard I quote an explanatory phrase from the Nobel Prize winner for Literature Svetlana Aleksevic "war has always been and still is one of the great mysteries of humanity" and it still creeps into our time in which man has touched the highest peaks of scientific, cultural, human development but with respect for its contradictions, even the deepest abysses of primitive abjection. Dr. Melinda Miceli journalist