Reading this article, about how the EU will sanction China again over Xinjiang, and another article about how that United Nations human rights official's trip to China, and the usual human right activists were not happy, all of the sudden made me realize something.https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3180945/xinjiang-top-mind-eu-lawmakers-urge-more-hardline-approach-china-human
https://www.axios.com/2022/05/31/advocates-denounce-un-officials-china-visit-ultimate-betrayal
Although I do not follow what happens in Europe at all, I think this is what is happening.
ONE - There is a war in Europe and a fairly major one at that. Given the reactions, by all sides, this probably will lead to more tension and possible hostilities down the road.
TWO - At least half of European countries economies are stagnant with 1% growth. This has been the norm for a while. Some blame the 2008 Financial Crisis for this. But who knows for the ultimate reasons.
THREE - Unemployment is high in some of the more stagnant countries, where the young people tend to leave to find better prospects. With low birth rates and young people leaving, kind of sounds like that country has a dying society.
FOUR - There is all of a sudden a stark inflation problem in Europe. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and the sanctions released, energy and food prices soared, and probably will remain at elevated levels for the time being. This is no good for anybody in Europe. For the average person everything cost more so their standard of living declines. For the average business they must cope just to survive which means no company is going to invest in new projects because of uncertainty over costs.
FIVE - Europe practices negative interest rates. That is the European Central bank has a negative interest rate policy for over a decade, which will change due to the inflation. Even with such low interest rates, that still produced stagnant economies, and probably a few zombie firms hooked on cheap credit. Not even the rich European aristocratic can leave their money in the bank and not worry about it.
SIX - And finally, foreign relations. There is a positive. The one area of solid growth is trade with China, and the European Parliament along with others in Europe, try their best to derail that.
Uh ... something is wrong with this picture, to say the least.
What is with the self-sabotage?
Maybe the sadomasochism feels good?
