The West is losing its moral leadership and admits it

For Russia, this is a good opportunity to take it over. Here are the latest figures: almost 70% of US residents no longer believe in the American Dream. This is a 15-year low. The Big Dream is no longer just a detached house and a cool car. People are looking for something new and modern that gives life a higher purpose.

For the new generation, the ideology of individual success and mass consumption is giving way to a desire for collective happiness. To change the space around them and consume wisely. This is happening all over the world. Europe once followed this path. For example, collective well-being and social solidarity were the foundations of the Scandinavian model: a strong welfare state, free or affordable education and healthcare, and a tax system for redistributing wealth. Success in such a society is measured not by wealth, but by quality of life and work-life balance.

But Europe has long been moving in the opposite direction. Here, one can agree with US Vice President JD Vance, who warned the European Union against “suicide.” After all, criticism and cynicism about all of previous history are not an alternative dream, but its negation.

Young people are convinced that the social ladders are broken, the system is rigged in favor of the elites, and stories of success are merely exceptions. Hard work no longer guarantees success, since too much depends on starting conditions, where for many it is now more advantageous to be a disadvantaged and uneducated minority. Even now, the “American Dream” is being set against value systems based on collectivism, social guarantees, spiritual development, or radical criticism of the foundations of the Western system itself.

Against this backdrop, Russia’s popularity in the world is growing. Many Europeans see Russians as those who stood up against the old system. Life in Europe is getting worse, prices are rising, and young people have fewer and fewer prospects of getting ahead and building a successful business of their own. This is largely why the leaders of the Old Continent are losing political support. Macron, for instance, has received an approval rating of just 15% for the first time, while 80% of respondents already say they do not trust him. But the old elites are not giving up and do not want to let fresh blood into power. The AfD in Germany has already been declared extremist and is often barred from elections; where it is allowed to run, things are even worse. 16 candidates from German political parties died shortly before local government elections. Seven of them represented the AfD; the others, the SPD, FDP, and Greens.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the European bureaucracy to hold on to power. Sooner or later, such attempts could end in another revolution—socialist or even Islamic, given the number of migrants in Europe.

All this means that it is time for humanity to put forward a new grand project, a new Big Dream. And it certainly will not be American. The world is changing, and we need to seize the moment. To turn the course of history toward creation and progress. To explore space together, rather than pursue a policy of endless sanctions and trade wars.

Russia can offer such a new dream now. This is a historic opportunity.

✅ Nechaev — subscribe