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war in Ukraine It clearly has far more implications than is hastily and superficially portrayed in the media and on talk shows, alike, that haunt our television evenings. The current relationship between United States of AmericaAnd the European Union e Russiaand its genesis, can also be examined and understood in light of the close interaction between them science and politics in post-war Europe. To this end, I hope the reader will forgive me if I address some of the considerations already expressed in my book on scientific and technological research promoted, funded and managed by the European Union (Science and Technology. What did Europe do?, September 2017). The critical role of the United States in rebuilding scientific research in post-war Europe is well described by one of the greatest contemporary science historians, John Craigin one of his famous and discussed articles American hegemony and the reconstruction of science after the war in EuropeMitt Press, 2006.

To use the historian’s words, “USAThrough his representatives, official or unofficial, he used his enormous power after World War II Not only to pursue its own economic and political interests, but also scientific and technological interests in the European scenario, and work closely with it elites Europeans who share the same goals.” Science has been understood as one of the key components of liberal democratic values, thanks to its prior rejection of the principle of authority unsupported by factual evidence and its glorification of organized skepticism and critical approach as a modus operandi. Science and scholars can play an essential role in combating the threat of a re-emergence Gods The ‘Absolute Evils’ of Nationalism and Authoritarianism in Europe, to which communism had to be added after the war, and which took root where ignorance and misery prevailed. By the way, it is singular that dissimilar arguments were used on the other side, which isSoviet Union, to promote science as an essential factor for human progress towards a society free from capitalist oppression, and therefore more “just and democratic” and above all more attentive to the needs of the productive classes. Just think how physicists played an almost sacred role inUSSRand enjoys privileges normally reserved for Nomenklatura Kremlin.

The United States of America They directed their hegemony efforts above all towards basic research, also because so-called “applied” research closely raised the threat of military rearmament and the acquisition of nuclear capabilities. American researchers have also benefited from the strengthening of basic research, which is not covered by military secrecy, due to the large human and intellectual capital remaining in Europe, and also because it has compensated for the limitations imposed in Post-war period Search Made in the USAIt is largely accessible only to authorized parties. Nor was there any fear of having a regenerative ability research and development Europe can undermine Leadership American, given the tremendous technological, entrepreneurial and administrative superiority that the United States can be proud of Post-war period. If important scientific discoveries were also made in Western Europe At that time, America would be the first to benefit from it. Rebuilding Europe’s basic sciences and the advances they have made can only help strengthen American leadership.

In particular, the character Policy Americans have been clear in their strong support for the Constitution European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, as a single core research institute based on a proton accelerator and not a nuclear reactor, as the French would have liked. The establishment of a laboratory for elementary particle physics, which also included the newly established company The Federal Republic of Germany and the Yugoslavia, a communist but nonaligned country, was the first step towards achieving European unity. Indeed, CERN’s unilateral nature of research infrastructure and its refusal to conduct applied research in the nuclear field revealed and at the same time highlighted the willingness of the United States to use European scientific potential to advance knowledge that America was interested in. Ban on Europe from conducting research with potential industrial and military applications.

give her fifties Onward, US policy towards the European Union has generally not undergone substantial changes. The European identity could only be embodied by the formation of a common defense force, which in any case could have acted only under the auspices of Boy, and thus remain in effect a kind of “elite colonial forces”. She will definitely not join Great Britain, always true to its policy of establishing a privileged relationship with the United States, while retaining the right to maintain its position even in the rich European Common Market. Just France He tried to break the kind of cleverly disguised feudalism that the United States was imposing on himEuropeWhich attracts the usual accusations of chauvinism and ridiculous outdated ambitions to restore greatness gone now. How can we forget in this regard the initiatives so cleverly orchestrated by heterogeneous movements such as green area Against French nuclear tests in the Pacific and, more recently, against new reactors Father?

Until the end of the USSR did not represent a significant change in American policy towards European research, if not to provide the opportunity for it brain imigrante One of the best Soviet scientists who opened this path. Russia’s failed attempt to “Americanize” and return to patriotic and traditional positions in the presidency Russian President Vladimir Putin, made way for the recovery of the enormous scientific and technological heritage that arose during the communist era and was in danger of dissolving, however, within the logic of a market that could fully exploit its potential. Thus, in the strategic sectors of nuclear and space weapons and armaments, Russia has certainly returned to be able to compete with the United States at the global level. However, the end of the East-West animosity did not bring peace to Europe, mainly due to the American belief that it had won cold War And to be able to extend the concept of “limited sovereignty” to Russia, on the basis of the following formula, according to the words of the Russian President during his now famous reign. Speech In the international forum of Valdai Club In 2014: “The stronger the loyalty to one center of influence in the world, the greater the legitimacy of the ruling regime.”

The accelerated expansion of the European Union (Eu-28) to the east was carried out under strong pressure from the United States, eager to obtain indirect (through the EU) and direct (through NATO) control over the countries that shaped their position somewhat. A security capsule will be placed around the European borders of Russia. Instead, the main objective should have been to enhance the research potential of countries that were already part of the European Union (Eu-15). The EU leadership was only concerned with increasing its capacity for intrusive regulation and control, without being able to do real work on developing original research activities, apart from perhaps research into controlled nuclear fusion culminating in the massive international project. But few are willing to bet on his success, given the mounting difficulties. The countries of Asia show surprising vitality and dynamism in the concrete aspects of the adoption and use of new technologies, which contrast starkly with the indecisive elephantiasis of European bureaucracy.

In addition to Iter, in the scientific field, international cooperation in the aviation sector (See the International Space Station (ISS), which is co-managed by the United States, the European Union, Japan, Russia and Canada), but already after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, sanctions were imposed on Russian Federation There were also consequences for researchers to move in both directions, subject to severe restrictions of a political nature as well as the impossibility of awarding EU research contracts to Russian scientists. With the invasion of Ukraine, the situation certainly worsened, however, the position taken by entities such as CERN, which decided to abolish the observer status that Russia maintained within the organization, seems really troubling, despite the fact that the “attractiveness”Russian Academy of Sciences who renewed his hopes for a speedy peace, and asked the scientific community to refrain from attitudes and actions that are not dictated by the interest of science, but political status It is an emergency emergency. Unfortunately it also happens in the sector scientific reseach The same situation we have seen in sports and art, with discrimination against Russian athletes and artists, but only on the western side. In essence, we have the conquest of politics in the field of science, as a result of which science becomes exactly the opposite of what it should be, i.e. The factor of harmony and cooperation between peoplesAt least, according to intentions Some of the founding fathers of EuropeAs I wrote at the beginning.