Europe’s burning burden
Analysis: Visually, political cartoonist Liu Rui depicts Europe staggering beneath a fiery, crushing weight of surging fuel and energy costs—an “energy shock” ignited by the eight-month US-Israel military campaign against Iran and ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz (Global Times, People’s Daily Online). Anchored by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s admission that higher energy prices from the Iran conflict have cost Europe over €100 billion in eight months (Global Times Cartoon Archive), the cartoon advances Beijing’s strategic narrative that European alignment with Washington’s military interventions is economically self-destructive. It underscores how energy insecurity and inflation are fueling widespread cost-of-living protests across Europe while deepening transatlantic rifts (People’s Daily Online).