LCynicism is a precarious policy. Because it is seemingly logical and easy to understand, it stimulates anger and fosters suspicion. It generally leads to this conclusion: we do not govern with good feelings. However, and this summer proves it to us, empathy, which we believed to be a discounted value, demonstrates its strength. This is good news for humanity, but not only. The West is reconstituting itself thanks to it. Because its culture is mainly Greek and Christian in inspiration, it reconnects with its nature. Spontaneously, its people reject monstrosity and no longer want to hear of alliances with countries whose leaders are inhuman.
A few years ago, the situation was different. Vladimir Putin passed for an authoritarian man, sometimes an assassin, and yet he appeared as a credible partner, an alternative to arrogant America. Since the invasion of Ukraine, politicians have continued to defend him, explaining that it was more complicated than that, that he was responding to NATO provocations. They were, during the presidential election, sanctioned and dismissed. Because China supported Russia, those nostalgic for communism, who had been repeating for forty years that they preferred Mao’s cultural revolution to Bush’s war in Iraq, were discreet. The United States perceived, let’s not say foreseen, this upheaval in public opinion following Vladimir Putin’s offensive.
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Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan, and a few weeks later a congressional delegation from Washington did the same. Jean-Luc Mélenchon was indignant at this American “provocation”, put forward the idea that there was only one China, causing the embarrassment of part of his political group, but also visibly of his constituents. Multilateralism was nevertheless a doctrine of General de Gaulle, a discourse to which the French were naturally sensitive. Many thought, rightly or wrongly, that so-called “realistic” diplomacy was preferable to principled diplomacy. This can be summed up in the sentence: France speaks to States, not to political regimes. In other words: she follows her interests. Well, those days seem to be over.
Presumption of decency
The most famous authoritarian regimes on the planet, China and Russia, enjoyed a presumption of decency. In the name of difference and well-understood interest, it was necessary to go beyond. Since then, China has exterminated the Uighurs, Russia has invaded a sovereign country, and both repeat that their values are not those of democracy. Which is a pity insofar as the humanism at the origin of liberal regimes is perhaps their only certain virtue, the only point on which, from right to left, we agree. The abuses of its opponents do not make the United States sympathetic. After all, they invaded Iraq and occupied Afghanistan. This interference would be intolerable. They withdrew from Afghanistan and gave way to the Taliban. Since then, women no longer have any rights and this country is sinking into barbarism. In France, there is general indignation: the Taliban must be fought. The same people, fifteen years ago, found it intolerable for the West to meddle in other people’s affairs in the name of a variable-geometry universalism. The contradiction of these views is obvious; as is the sterility of a politics that wants democracy everywhere without imposing it anywhere. Finally, what about the activists in favor of wearing the veil in Paris, but not in Kabul?
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Humanity does not escape his recognition. Opportunistic politicians and intellectuals have bet on authoritarian regimes as alternatives to a supposedly decadent liberalism of which the European Union was, among other examples, the avatar. Surprising effect of their crusade: it is precisely in the name of what they hate most that the reunion of the West has taken place. Humanism, empathy, or what in a civilized society is called kindness. If there are doubts about the future of democracy, there are no longer any about its nature or its effects.