The recent terrorist attacks in Paris are the latest manifestation of one aspect of the remarkably rapid decline of Europe in recent years. After decades of increasing unity, peace and prosperity. Europe has been battered by several phenomena simultaneously:
Demographic decline of the indigenous population, offset by immigration, primarily from Turkey and North Africa, all of it Muslim.
Endemic over-indebtedness and unsustainable social entitlement programs. Although scarcely unique to Europe, the European conundrum is underlined by relative technological stagnation. Europe is no longer in the forefront of innovation. Except for Britain, little Israel outperforms all of Europe put together in high-tech development.
International competitiveness has declined in most of Europe, with the exceptions of England, Ireland and Poland
The emergence of extremist movements and political parties of both the right and the left, which have already taken power in Hungary and which threaten to do very well in a number of elections scheduled for 2015.
Loss not just of momentum but of belief in the process of European integration. The extremist parties mentioned above have as their main planks opposition to the European Union as well as opposition to immigration.
Finally, the inability to absorb the wave of Muslim immigrants, who in most cases do not in fact want to be integrated into European society and culture. A significant percentage in fact want to destroy European civilization and are willing to sacrifice their lives to further that goal.
Is there any solution to all this? Unfortunately it is unlikely. Even if the causes of decline were understood, there is no indication of the will to confront them, which would require not only drastic revision of the European welfare state model, but the willingness to demand that immigrants follow the laws and customs of the host countries or be expelled. No more voluntary ghettoes, no more "no-go zones" for the police and other authorizes, and no more impunity.
For Israel all this means that the pivot to Asia must continue and be strengthened. An example is the recent visit to New Delhi of the Minister of Agriculture promoting Israeli assistance in the modernization of Indian agriculture.
Post-script concerning the Anti-Trust Authority's reversal of its agreement with Delek and Noble Energy with reference to the Leviathan field. The Authority's director, David Gilo, was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying: "This is not a case of intervention against a monopoly just because it is a monopoly, but against a monopoly that was created as the result of an alleged restraint of trade between the parties." Assuming he was quoted correctly, can any of my esteemed readers help this humble economist understand what that sentence means?
Norman A. Bailey, Ph.D., is Adjunct Professor of Economic Statecraft at The Institute of World Politics, Washington, DC, and teaches at the Center for National Security Studies and Geostrategy, University of Haifa.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 22, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015