Antonio Navalón
The 20th-anniversary commemoration ceremony on September 11 was a very sad event. Not only because of what it evoked, because of the memory of pain, because of the treacherous memory, or because of the conditions in which it was carried out, but because, in addition to all this, the commemoration was made in the middle of a lost war. When one looks at the world today, one realizes the speed and dynamics of changes that seem to have no end. Although it can be said that it was always like this, the difference lies in the fact that before, we did not have a notary in the form of an electronic device that would count – moment by moment, emotion by emotion, and destruction by destruction – everything that it was happening in our environment and the rest of the world.
At present and above all things, the United States is alone. The little prestige that Donald Trump left for his position and his way of handling international politics – both in the diplomatic and military spheres – evaporated in the hands of the brilliant team surrounding President Biden. Now it does not matter if Biden wanted him or not since what is certain is that in the end, he will be the pagan of one of the greatest modern catastrophes in the short but intense history of the life of the country. In a country where everything that happens affects the whole world. Before, Americans were not loved in many places. In other countries, they were the example to follow. They were the ones who kept Montesquieu’s example and teachings alive. But the most important thing is that before, above all things, Americans were feared everywhere. Now they are followed but not loved in many places, and that lack of affection has flooded inside them like the Cainism virus, which is another type of pandemic. Furthermore, Americans are no longer loved in many places, but above all, they are not feared.
I never thought that I would see the destructive elements of one party against another. I still remember when in the 1980s Republicans and Democrats could fight, but in the end, being part of the American political and social fabric made these fights have limits. It is difficult to pin down where and when this cannibalism began between them. Some place it on the day when Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America took away the majority in the House of Representatives from Bill Clinton and began to make alive the image that the Republicans were an excluding party and did not seek cooperation. From there, its appearance was forged as a kind of enemy in which the worst ways and forms of the American Civil War are regrowing.
It was difficult to imagine that while what was happening in the White House with Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton, the United States was descending into the ninth hell. On the one hand, there was the failure of the intelligence and defense services, which their recent failure can only surpass. And, on the other hand, there was the rise of Cainism between the two parties. From then on, it was not that the parties competed, but rather that they struggled to destroy each other.
What happened in the Capitol on January 6 may be the way to announce a new system and a new way of doing politics that consists of disagreeing and rejecting yourself until the end. And the others? The rest of us look, the rest of us also have our problems, and the rest of us are also subjected to this era in which the problem is not about who has the most nuclear warheads or who is in charge. The problem lies in the lack of initiative for solutions and tools to ensure the development of the world.
We are witnessing such a drastic transformation that there are countries that have seen that their forces of evil, with previously occupied territories by the so-called organized crime, have evolved to such a degree that they have been able to win elections. I do not know to what extent you can act free when you have a Kalashnikov rifle pointed at you,. Still, thetruth is that the elections held this year in many states of Mexico gave something that the drug cartels or the crime syndicate did not have, that is: the democratic experience. We do not know precisely how far this expansion in national life will go, but what is more worrying is knowing who will maintain legality from here on and what that legality is supposed to mean.
For the above and other reasons, the dialogue held in Washington on September 9 was so meaningful. For the first time since 2016, a meeting in which the most relevant economic actors from the United States and Mexico met intending to promote mutual economic development and growth. The High-Level Economic Dialogue had, on the one hand, Mexico exposing its dreams, its poetry, its economic development programs for Central America and the South of the country. If successful, programs could prevent the abandonment of dreams and homes, ensuring that Central Americans remain in their country of origin and thus mitigate the severe existing migration crisis. On the other hand, the United States was dismayed by issues related to one of its main priorities: security and territorial preservation. That includes everything related to cybersecurity, cyberterrorism, the alignment of all the new control procedures, and allocating military resources to prevent Central Americans and other nationalities from crossing the Rio Grande and complying with the objective of having a global intelligence plan that allows defense. Of course, all under the understanding that who decides what is defensible are the Americans.
The Mexicans were caught with a changing pace. The meeting was not only to discuss the breaches or crashes that exist in the way of understanding the USMCA, but it was also about showing and putting on the table the fact that the debate on the numbers had ended and that now it would be in terms of drones. From now on they were going to focus on knowing everything and controlling access and exchanges between the two countries as much as possible. As we are building the wall of misunderstanding, as we are placing ourselves on our backs, problems continue to grow and need solutions.
The changes can be for the better, although it is necessary to work and put the tools required to achieve it. At the moment, our neighbors and partners do not have time to develop new political structures, although perhaps they should. Right now, they only have time to know that they have lost the only war they could not lose and that now the blows and attacks can come in many ways. They can come in the form of a coalition, a structure for large waves of migration, or even some terrorist representation.
Language is the total domain of communications. That is why, with each passing day, the relationship with China is becoming more and more important. It is because the United States is seeking to ensure that there is no one capable of competing either closely or far with the reserve of what it considers its territory and natural security perimeter. No matter how much they have to offer, as long as they do not add to their security, others may even be considered enemies and all that that entails.
In the middle of the strategic defense and power fight between China and the United States, 5G and everything related to it seems to have passed away. First, because there is no order or system capable of incorporating the different fields for this technology to work. And second, because once we are in the world we are in, it is better to see what the technological possibilities are so that we can truly find a compatible way to have so much information, so much technological creativity and at the same time take care of what is part of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and which is called the “Pursuit of Happiness, Life, and Freedom.”
Any change in the history of humanity must seek progress. Considering how things are and how everything is developing, I miss the debates that affect the true usefulness of our children’s careers or academic training. Those discussions were accompanied by proposals that sought to prepare better the next generations to face the world. It is not possible that we are such an insane civilization capable of building the Internet of Things but cannot offer a better future. And amid so much confusion, so much Cainism, crisis, and pandemic, it seems that we have forgotten everything we have learned. We have suffered from some kind of amnesia, and now every proposal is nothing more than a kind of simple change without end.
