The invasion of Ukraine has violently shifted the world’s geostrategic axis. With a focus on the dispute between the USA and China over world hegemony, a smaller yet hugely destabilising power has crept in the back door. All Western efforts to engage Russia in democracy and a cooperative vision of international politics have been in vain. Putin’s regime has proven violent and warmongering towards its neighbours and its own population as it moves towards increasingly dictatorial behaviour. The big question remains which role China wants to play in the new order and the true extent of its cooperation with Russia.

Beyond the outcome of the war in Ukraine, an urgent debate has opened up in Europe regarding its energy sufficiency. Dependence on Russian gas has put major economies and the wellbeing of millions of households across the continent at risk. We have realised that our quality of life and the competitiveness of our economies depend on a factor over which we have no control, and sufficient supplies of which are becoming increasingly problematic. Policymakers are beginning to talk about unprecedented issues such as energy rationing and many are wondering how the ambitious decarbonisation targets set before the war in Ukraine can be maintained.

The West is no longer defined by a geographical position but by a shared strategy against global risks, as demonstrated by the support of countries such as Japan and Australia for sanctions against Russia. The electoral cycle that began in the region a few years ago has led to a clear predominance of new leftist governments that are questioning traditional institutions of regional cooperation such as the OAS. Meanwhile, the U.S. has stopped looking at the region only for its migration agenda. Ibero-America is now acquiring a new leading role in the emerging strategic balance.

Cybersecurity is a key element in developing the digital society of the twenty-first century: mass digitisation of society and the economy is not possible and unviable without robust cybersecurity. Therefore, when it comes to digitising the entire economy, it makes increasingly less sense to differentiate between security and cybersecurity, since both will integrate and complement each other. In this context, the growing threats, the sophistication of cybercriminals and their increasingly diverse motivations are putting governments and companies in check. Cybersecurity is part of the geostrategic agenda of the twenty-first century while China and the US continue to compete for technological supremacy. If this was obvious before the war in Ukraine, today it is an unmistakeable urgency with the new pressing challenges both Europe-wide and globally.

This year, we have experienced inflation rates not seen for decades. This spike in inflation, caused mainly by the energy crisis but also by supply chain problems, has set off alarm bells in economies that had not yet managed to recover from the shock waves of the pandemic. The US Federal Reserve initiated a policy of rate hikes months ago and the ECB followed suit shortly afterwards. The main responsibility for combating inflation lies with the central banks, which are torn between orthodox monetary policies and the fear of a new global recession.

The sanctions imposed against Russia are unprecedented and will lead to the Russian economy being cut off from international trade in capital, goods and services. This follows growing concerns about China's aggressive trade and supply chain issues following the end of the pandemic. Global supply chains are no longer governed by efficiency but by security. All this uncertainty has led some observers to announce the end of globalisation as we have known it for the past 30 years, while the more optimistic talk of reinventing it.

The war in Ukraine has given a definite impetus to the challenge of European defence within the framework of a renewed Atlantic Alliance, which has also renewed its strength and cooperation. Putin's warmongering has forced European countries to urgently take up the long-delayed idea of a Defensive Europe and the economic commitments that this entails. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's radical U-turn, announcing a massive armed forces modernisation programme, is the best example of Europe's new strategic priority, which goes hand in hand with NATO's increased deployment on its eastern flank.