After Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956, a joint British-French armada of six aircraft carriers destroyed Egypt's air force, while Israeli troops smashed Egyptian tanks in the sands of the Sinai Peninsula. Within less than a week of war, Nasser had lost his strategic forces and Egypt seemed helpless before the overwhelming might of that massive imperial juggernaut.
It wasn't until Whitmarsh had been herded into the main hall that he grasped what he'd signed up for: 'a geopolitical event, not an intellectual one,' as he put it, with hosts including Greece and China's ministries of culture.
Stop invoking 'rules-based international order' as though it still functions as advertised. Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry, where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.
A horse does not make the most of its strength alone, but by pulling the cart together with others. Only when we in Germany and Europe are united, strong and competitive can we build a balanced partnership with China. We want our partnership with China to be balanced, reliable, regulated and fair.
The four countries said in a joint statement that they were establishing the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, aimed at collaborating on securing and diversifying supply chains.
