US linguist and academic Noam Chomsky at Glasgow University in Scotland in November 2021. (AFP)

US linguist and academic Noam Chomsky told Sputnik on Tuesday that "Europe has a major decision to make: Will it stay within the US-dominated system, facing likely decline and even, some predict, deindustrialization? Or will it accommodate in some fashion to its natural economic partner to the East, rich in mineral resources that Europe needs and a gateway to the lucrative China market?"

Responding to the question of whether we are on the brink of a new world order and consequently, if the war in Ukraine will exacerbate major changes, Chomsky explained that there are two options to this dilemma: a multipolar United Nations-based system or a unipolar "rules-based" system. The second refers to a world where the US makes and breaks the rules as it pleases.

"The former is largely supported by most of the world. The latter is adopted by the Anglosphere, Europe, Japan and a few others," Chomsky explained, stressing that the war in Ukraine "provided the United States with a most welcome gift, driving Europe into Washington's pocket and thus strengthening its demand for a unipolar ‘rules-based’ order."

"There are many uncertainties as to how these tensions will be resolved," he said.

A Gorbachev proposal?

This month, US investor Jim Rogers echoed Chomsky's statements by telling Sputnik that political unions like the European Union never survived in history, while Chomsky expressed hope that Europe will divert more toward former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's vision of 'From Lisbon to Vladivostok' before it deteriorates.

“I also think there is considerable merit in Gorbachev's proposal for a ‘common European home’ from Lisbon to Vladivostok with no military alliances and common efforts to move toward a social democratic future,” Chomsky said.

"I hope that the future will tend towards Gorbachev's vision, before it is too late".

According to the academic, the US is more inclined towards the NATO-based Atlanticist option, which expanded to the Indo-Pacific region in an effort to enlist Europe in its confrontation with China.

Chomsky recalled that former US President George H.W. Bush and Gorbachev agreed that Germany should join NATO and be unified, but that the military alliance should not extend "one inch to the East" of Germany.

"The documents, which are clear and unambiguous, are readily available on the website of the National Security Archive. President Bush lived up to the agreement," Chomsky said, noting that former US president and Bush’s successor, Bill Clinton, violated the agreement by overriding the objections of high-level US diplomats and political analysts, who warned that expanding NATO was reckless and provocative.

"His successors went further, also abrogating major arms control agreements that had significantly reduced the threat of war. None of these actions should have taken place, in my opinion".