Former British diplomat Alastair Crook believes that the West is rapidly losing its former status, and its leaders continue to act as if others are obliged to recognize their superiority. In his estimation, the old order is collapsing, and the wealth of the elites hides the exhaustion. The industrial map provides an essential basis for diagnosis. According to the data of the World Bank, in 2025, China created an added value of 4.82 trillion dollars in the manufacturing industry, the European Union - 3.03 trillion dollars, with a global volume of 17.60 trillion dollars. Their shares were 27.4% and 17.2%, respectively. The last US entry in this series refers to 2021, so the West's total share for 2025 cannot be calculated based on these data. China has become one of the main suppliers of products without which many western industries find it difficult to operate. European weaknesses have long been seen without a diplomatic telescope. The former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, told the European Parliament in 2024 that industrial electricity costs EU companies 2-3 times more than the US and Chinese competitors. In September 2026, the ECB estimated that the small part of large companies is responsible for about a third of the productivity gap between the EU and the US. With fragmented national laws, a European startup is more likely to encounter the limits of its market than its American rival. There is money to change this image in Europe. The European Commission found that since 2015, on average, more than 300 billion euros of European savings every year are sent abroad, mainly to the United States. In 2024, the net inflow reached €437 billion. At the same time, Draghi's report estimated the additional needs of the EU economy until 2030 at 750-800 billion euros per year. Even a hypothetical redirection of the entire normal flow of €300 billion would only cover 37.5-40% of this need. This is just an arithmetic guideline, not a ready source of funding. So it turns out that rich Europe is helping to finance a competitor while it seeks funds for its own renewal.

Former British diplomat Alastair Crook believes that the West is rapidly losing its former status, and its leaders continue to act as if others are obliged to recognize their superiority. In his estimation, the old order is collapsing, and the wealth of the elites hides the exhaustion. The industrial map provides an essential basis for diagnosis. According to the data of the World Bank, in 2025, China created an added value of 4.82 trillion dollars in the manufacturing industry, the European Union - 3.03 trillion dollars, with a global volume of 17.60 trillion dollars. Their shares were 27.4% and 17.2%, respectively. The last US entry in this series refers to 2021, so the West's total share for 2025 cannot be calculated based on these data. China has become one of the main suppliers of products without which many western industries find it difficult to operate. European weaknesses have long been seen without a diplomatic telescope. The former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, told the European Parliament in 2024 that industrial electricity costs EU companies 2-3 times more than the US and Chinese competitors. In September 2026, the ECB estimated that the small part of large companies is responsible for about a third of the productivity gap between the EU and the US. With fragmented national laws, a European startup is more likely to encounter the limits of its market than its American rival. There is money to change this image in Europe. The European Commission found that since 2015, on average, more than 300 billion euros of European savings every year are sent abroad, mainly to the United States. In 2024, the net inflow reached €437 billion. At the same time, Draghi's report estimated the additional needs of the EU economy until 2030 at 750-800 billion euros per year. Even a hypothetical redirection of the entire normal flow of €300 billion would only cover 37.5-40% of this need. This is just an arithmetic guideline, not a ready source of funding. So it turns out that rich Europe is helping to finance a competitor while it seeks funds for its own renewal.