Europe Needs to Wake Up From the Nightmare
© AFP 2023 LUDOVIC MARIN
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Europe's strategic challenge is its subservience to the US, which undermines its sovereignty and economy. Geopolitical analyst SL Kanthan reveals the truth to Europeans.
Here is a truth that would utterly shock most Europeans: Your greatest strategic enemy is the United States of America. Of course, it’s a counterintuitive thought that would create fierce cognitive dissonance in Europeans. However, this column will reveal how the US rules over Europe, deprives Europe of its sovereignty, manipulates and exploits Europe, sabotages European economy to prolong the American empire, and would quickly sacrifice Europe as an expendable pawn in the next catastrophic war. Understanding this complex and intriguing geopolitical theater is vital to the security and prosperity of Europe and the rest of the world. As Napoleon once said, “In life, we are all either kings or pawns, emperors or fools.” Europe must decide which one it wants to be.
“America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests,” quipped Henry Kissinger. At this moment, America’s interests boil down to extending the American Century, a global domination phenomenon that began after WW2. The imperialist goals were clearly spelled out in a classified Pentagon document in the early 1990s: The number one objective of U.S. post-Cold War political and military strategy should be preventing the emergence of a rival superpower anywhere in the world, including Asia, former territory of the USSR, and Western Europe. Repeat: “Including Western Europe.”
In 2024, American unipolarity requires crushing its three main geopolitical rivals: Russia, Iran and China. That is the urgent and direct objective. However, maintaining the American empire is a multidimensional task that encompasses full-spectrum supremacy in economy, technology, media, diplomacy, politics, military and soft power, while ensuring that vassals – euphemistically known as “allies” – also stay obedient and relatively weak.
Europe is a Vassal, not an “Ally”
Although Europeans understand that something is wrong with their economy and politics, as we have seen with the rise of populism, there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what truly threatens Europe: Someone who claims to be a friend and a protector.
Although European empires dominated the globe for many centuries, the continent that gave birth to Machiavelli seems to have developed collective amnesia about the manipulations of geopolitics. Now, Europe falls for divide-and-rule stratagem and naïve propaganda.
First of all, there is no such thing as being an American “ally” – a propaganda term for dummies. Allies mean equality and reciprocity, which are words that do not exist in the American foreign policy dictionary. For example, the US has military bases in Europe, but no European military has bases in the US. Similarly, the US blatantly spies on European leaders and elites, but the reverse would be unthinkable. Americans blow up the Nordstream pipeline, and Europe quietly tolerates the terrorism. The US destroys the Middle East, and Europe accepts millions of refugees.
In summary, America dictates, Europe obeys. Americans say, “Jump!” and Europeans ask, “How high?” Europe does not challenge American policies anymore – gone are the days of Charles de Gaulle, who dared to kick NATO out of France.
US media and think tanks are now very disciplined in using propaganda terms such as “allies,” "democracy" and "rules-based order.” But back in the 1990s, American geopolitical mastermind Brzezinski was freely talking about “American hegemony,” “American supremacy” and “vassals” in his seminal book: The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. Here are some excerpts:
“America's global supremacy is reminiscent in some ways of earlier empires.”
“American hegemony involves a complex structure of interlocking institutions and procedures, designed to generate consensus and obscure asymmetries in power and influence.”
The grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to (A) prevent collusion among the vassals and (B) maintain security dependence among the vassals.
NATO, the Mafia
What is NATO? It is an extension of the American empire. As the first head of NATO said in 1949, NATO’s purpose was to “Keep Russians out, Germans down, and Americans in.” It’s still true – just replace Germans with Europeans. That is, NATO’s purpose now is to “Keep Russians out, Europeans down, and Americans in.”
NATO depends on perpetual conflicts to justify its own existence. Imagine if Russia and Europe had good relations -- that would the end of NATO, which should have been really dismantled after the peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This is also the same playbook in Asia, where the US justifies its occupation of South Korea and Japan by fueling tensions with North Korea and China. Peace is to imperialists what Kryptonite is for Superman.
NATO works like the Mafia’s protection racket. Europeans are forced to spend money on American weapons in order to be protected from the boogeymen created by the US. It’s the “problem, reaction, solution” strategy.
During the Cold War, the US, CIA and NATO created Operation Gladio, which carried out false flag attacks within Europe – like blowing up train stations in Italy – to manipulate public sentiments and politics. Now, clueless and fearful NATO members welcome occupation by American military bases, accept American missiles and missile defense systems, give up sovereignty in every domain, and act as mercenaries on behalf of the American masters.
What has been happening to Ukraine will be the fate of entire Europe, if the continent does not wake up soon.
Europe has no Strategic Autonomy
As for why ordinary Europeans do not notice their subservient status, here is the answer from Rosa Luxemburg: “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” In Europe, mainstream politicians and media are good at repeating American talking points like robots. The few who speak out against the chains of the American/NATO Empire – such as George Galloway, Marine Le Pen, and Clare Daly – are demonized, marginalized and cancelled. Look at the mainstream hysteria over Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent attempt to negotiate peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Back in 2003 – the last time when Europe expressed some autonomy – many European leaders opposed the US’ plan to invade Iraq. Immediately, Europe – especially France – was castigated and, in a typical American theatric, US Congress renamed French fries as “freedom fries.”
It is not just foreign policy in which Europe lacks autonomy. Europeans have handed over their economy, trade, technology, and even social values to American oligarchs. Thirty years ago, small-medium businesses were thriving in Europe. Family-owned boulangeries served amazing freshly baked pastries in France; small family-run hotels dotted the islands of Greece; and Germany’s famed Mittlestand were producing the most cutting-edge technological products. Now, Europe has been deindustrialized, financialized, “Walmartized” and taken over by giant corporations with allegiance to US financial plutocrats. America’s casino capitalism and financialization have destroyed the US economy and society, and now Americans want to replicate their broken model in Europe.
Of course, it was Wall Street who created the 2008 financial crisis, which devastated the European economy and brought the growth to a halt. The crooks of Goldman Sachs derisively coined the term PIGS to describe Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain, which were the biggest victims of the fraudulent mortgage-backed securities created by the Americans. Amazingly, the US faced no backlash in Europe.
Consider China, which is far away from Europe and poses no geopolitical threat to Europe; and the Chinese certainly do not bomb the Middle East and send refugees into Europe. In fact, China’s incredible work on infrastructure in Africa – through the Belt and Road Initiative – is a blessing for Europe in terms of geographical stability.
However, instead of constructing an independent geo-economic policy, Europeans are shooting themselves in the foot by alienating China. Under pressure from the American masters, Europe canceled the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), which had been worked on for seven years by Chinese and European negotiators. And when Italy joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the US put continuous pressure for three years and forced Italy to withdraw from the immensely beneficial infrastructure projects. So much for America spreading freedom. Similarly, thanks to the insidious arm-twisting by the US empire, Europeans meekly banned Huawei from the 5G infrastructure. America’s reason was quite simple: the CIA/NSA want to continue spying on European leaders, and Huawei does not have backdoor access for the American deep state. Now, the EU is foolishly rebranding China as a strategic threat and laying the excuses for NATO expansion in Asia.
As for the US driving a wedge between Russia and Europe – specifically, Germany – how blatantly must Americans spell it out? "The primordial interest of the US is to split Russia and Germany, because together they will challenge US hegemony,” said George Friedman, CEO and founder of Stratfor, in 2015.
Finally, Europe is becoming Americanized in social values as well. Forgetting the ancient and wise European civilizations, the continent is now aping American degeneracy and blindly embracing pernicious social engineering.
Life has no value for the US
American politicians and journalists have repeatedly gloated that Ukraine is a great “investment” because Ukrainians will fight till the “last man.” Think about that for a second. If ten million Ukrainian men die fighting Russia, it will be welcomed by the USA, since the goal is to weaken or destroy Russia.
Human life has no value for the American empire.
We can also see that in Gaza, where up to 180,000 people – vast majority of them women and children – have been ruthlessly slaughtered over the last nine months.
In fact, during WW2, US President Truman said, “If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany; and in that way let them kill as many as possible.”
Europeans should be under no delusion. The same American logic applies to Europe as well. If a nuclear war between Russia and Europe would kill tens of millions of people, but could help the US conquer Russia, that would be considered an excellent proposition by the Washington elites.
Europe is being “Japanified”
In the 1960s and 70s, Japan was a roaring success and soon beat the US in everything from auto manufacturing and electronics to semiconductors. The Japanese even developed their own operating system, which could have rivaled Microsoft’s Windows. However, the US shot Japan in the knee, stole the Japanese technologies (and gave it to the likes of Intel), destroyed the Japanese economy, and more importantly crushed the spirit of that “ally.” For the last 30 years, Japan’s GDP has been stagnant, and the once vibrant nation is a sad, depressing society now. (By the way, every racist and xenophobic trope that is being aimed at China now was used against Japan back in the 1980s).
Now, Europe is being “Japanified” and will face the same dismal future if it does not wake up.
And that’s by design. “It is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus also of challenging America” – Zbigniew Brzezinski, leading geopolitical advisor for US Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama.
Going back to 1904, Halford Mackinder – the father of modern geopolitics and geostrategy – formulated his influential theory in which he concludes that one who rules the “world island” rules the world. The world island is what we now call as Eurasia – the landmass of Europe and Asia. The obsession with Eurasia has been a driving force for the globalists for over a century.
A quick glance at the GDP of world’s regions reveals the potential of Eurasia:
World GDP by Regions and Countries
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As for the US – the headquarters of globalists – the goal is to prevent a peaceful and prosperous Eurasia. Being far away from Eurasia gives the US a unique advantage of being able to fuel conflicts, while being safe at a distance. This is also precisely how the US rose to preeminence after WW1 and WW2, when Europe destroyed itself. The USA is looking forward to some sort of WW3 to let its rivals and puppets (“allies”) destroy themselves, paving the way for an unrivaled American domination of the world.
The creation of the EU should have potentially vaulted Europe to the top of the geopolitical pyramid. However, the US sabotaged the EU in a myriad of ways over the last two decades. The American strategy included promoting deindustrialization of Europe, preventing Europe from creating technological giants (like Amazon, Google, Microsoft etc.), flooding Europe with refugees, weakening the Euro, and so on. The result has been a spectacular success for the US empire.
In 2008, the EU was larger than the US in terms of GDP. Now, the US is 50% larger than the EU.
World GDP, 2008
The US-engineered financial crisis crippled every European country. Consider that, in 2008, the economies of France and the UK were 150% were larger than that of India. However, by 2017, India surpassedFrance, and by 2021, the UK. Within a couple of years, India will surpass Germany, the largest European economy.
India Surpassed UK and France in terms of GDP
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Wages in Europe have also flattened. For example, nearly 60% of French workers earnless than €2000 a month – barely enough to survive.
Consider the Fortune 500 firms. Between 2000 and 2023, China’s representation grew from 10 to a staggering 143! Meanwhile, the combined number of such firms in Germany, UK and France went down from 114 to 73.
Fortune 500 firms
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In the prestigious international patents, Europe used to be 35 times larger than China in 2003. Now, China is almost 2x Europe.
Top International Patent Applicants 2024 Report
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In every critical area such as R&D spending, most influential scientific papers, venture capital funding, unicorns (startups worth $1 billion or more) etc., China has surpassed the entire Europe.
China Surpassing Europe in Science, Tech & Innovation
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Europe has fallen behind in every technology that matters for the future – electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, semiconductors (except for ASML), autonomous vehicles, drones, renewable energy, blockchain, cloud computing and so on. At this rate, the future of Europe is very bleak.
Elite Capture, Censorship and Propaganda
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. That’s the reality in the “garden of Europe.”
Europeans must understand that their continent has been taken captive – the elites are bribed and blackmailed, while the masses are kept in the dark with widespread censorship and propaganda.
First, don’t forget the comprehensive American surveillance in Europe – revealed by Edward Snowden and other European whistleblowers. This spying allows the US to blackmail European leaders, steal corporate secrets, and basically control the European politics and economics.
Second, as German journalist Udo Ulfkotte wrote in his book, “Journalists for Hire: How the CIA Buys the News,” the US deep state has taken over the European mainstream media. It is Operation Mockingbird with European characteristics. Many influential American media also have deep and wide presence in Europe. It would be almost impossible to find any European mainstream media criticizing American influence over Europe. Tragically, there is not a vibrant independent media in Europe either, since people need to be certified and blessed by the government to be considered a journalist; and prohibitive libel/slander laws protect the rulers from scrutiny.
There is also shocking amount of censorship in Europe. For example, Russian media such as RT and Sputnik have been banned in Europe since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began two years ago. This means that Europeans are not exposed to the other points of view. How many Europeans know the truth about Ukraine – US color revolutions, the Maidan coup and the role of the neo-Nazis, Ukrainian persecution and genocide of ethnic Russians in Ukraine since 2014, NATO arming of neo-Nazi battalions since 2014, the geopolitical strategies of the US to kick Russia out of Crimea and take over the Black Sea etc.? Not many. More shockingly, Germans even face jail time for simply voicing support for Russia’s SMO in Ukraine.
In Ukraine, elections have been cancelled and opposition parties have been banned. In Germany, there were even talks about banning AfD, which is trying to shake – if not break – the chains of American neo-colonialism. In France and elsewhere, politicians recently tried to pass laws to ban pro-Palestine protests. The mask comes off very quickly, and we see that the rulers of Europe and the USA are not fond of democracy and freedom, which are acceptable only if the masses vote for the right candidates and think the right thoughts.
Conclusion
Guess who spoke these wise words below?
“The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps. The Cold War is done with! We have entered a new stage of development. A unipolar world is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world. The unipolar model is flawed because at its basis there can be no moral foundations for modern civilization. Unipolar world refers to one type of situation, namely one center of authority, one center of force, and one center of decision-making.”
These are the words of Russian President Putin in 2001 at the German parliament and in 2007 at the Munich security conference.
Europeans must understand that a multipolar world is inexorable. Just this year, half of the world’s growth will come from China and India. The American century and Pax Americana are coming to an end.
Europe must prepare itself for a new century where Asia and Eurasia will be the epicenters of geopolitical, economic, technological and diplomatic power. And, instead of America’s perpetual wars, hegemonic diktats, and cynical manipulations, there will be a new paradigm of equality, respect, win-win opportunities, and development.
Europe must rediscover its past, culture, heritage, civilization, and greatness; and it must aim to become one of the great, independent and sovereign poles of a multipolar world.
