Tag: EU

Drafting Europe

The USA is attempting to expand NATO responsibilities in order to force the European nations to fight China.

NATO is set to adopt a guidance that lays out plans for a scenario in which member states find themselves fighting on the home front and beyond the borders of the alliance at the same time, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. This comes as the US increasingly shifts its priorities to confronting China.

The classified document is to be discussed and signed off on by NATO defense ministers during a two-day summit in Brussels that starts on Tuesday, the news outlet reported. Members will be asked to prepare national plans for future military engagements.

The guidance will map out ways for NATO to engage in a “high-intensity so-called Article 5 conflict” – defending a NATO nation attacked by a foreign party under the treaty’s mutual defense provision – and “an out-of-area, non-Article 5 event.” The contents of the guideline were revealed to Bloomberg by “people familiar with the matter.”

I think we are going to witness the end of NATO sooner rather than later. The Europeans are already on the verge of surrender and they haven’t even started fighting Russia yet. What on Earth is Estonia or Austria going to do with regards to China, except possibly get wiped off the map?

Meanwhile, India appears to be aligning itself with the Sino-Russian alliance.

Moscow is ready to provide technology for India’s new tanks, Vladimir Drozhzhov, the deputy director of the Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS), said on Tuesday. According to Drozhzhov, Russia can share its advanced Armata modular tracked platform with India.

The USA Attacked Germany

Seymour Hersh delivers the damning evidence: the USA not only destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines, but it was a premeditated attack that was planned even before the beginning of the Russian Special Military Operation in the Donbas.

Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.

Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.

Asked for comment, Adrienne Watson, a White House spokesperson, said in an email, “This is false and complete fiction.” Tammy Thorp, a spokesperson for the Central Intelligence Agency, similarly wrote: “This claim is completely and utterly false.”

Biden’s decision to sabotage the pipelines came after more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to best achieve that goal. For much of that time, the issue was not whether to do the mission, but how to get it done with no overt clue as to who was responsible.

There was a vital bureaucratic reason for relying on the graduates of the center’s hardcore diving school in Panama City. The divers were Navy only, and not members of America’s Special Operations Command, whose covert operations must be reported to Congress and briefed in advance to the Senate and House leadership—the so-called Gang of Eight. The Biden Administration was doing everything possible to avoid leaks as the planning took place late in 2021 and into the first months of 2022…

In December of 2021, two months before the first Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Jake Sullivan convened a meeting of a newly formed task force—men and women from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and the State and Treasury Departments—and asked for recommendations about how to respond to Putin’s impending invasion.

It would be the first of a series of top-secret meetings, in a secure room on a top floor of the Old Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, that was also the home of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). There was the usual back and forth chatter that eventually led to a crucial preliminary question: Would the recommendation forwarded by the group to the President be reversible—such as another layer of sanctions and currency restrictions—or irreversible—that is, kinetic actions, which could not be undone?

What became clear to participants, according to the source with direct knowledge of the process, is that Sullivan intended for the group to come up with a plan for the destruction of the two Nord Stream pipelines—and that he was delivering on the desires of the President.

Over the next several meetings, the participants debated options for an attack. The Navy proposed using a newly commissioned submarine to assault the pipeline directly. The Air Force discussed dropping bombs with delayed fuses that could be set off remotely. The CIA argued that whatever was done, it would have to be covert. Everyone involved understood the stakes. “This is not kiddie stuff,” the source said. If the attack were traceable to the United States, “It’s an act of war.”

At the time, the CIA was directed by William Burns, a mild-mannered former ambassador to Russia who had served as deputy secretary of state in the Obama Administration. Burns quickly authorized an Agency working group whose ad hoc members included—by chance—someone who was familiar with the capabilities of the Navy’s deep-sea divers in Panama City. Over the next few weeks, members of the CIA’s working group began to craft a plan for a covert operation that would use deep-sea divers to trigger an explosion along the pipeline.

If you’ve still got any vestige of belief that the USA are the good guys, this proof of the neocons in Washington ordering the US military to attack its own allies should suffice to destroy it. This isn’t even remotely a surprise; I assumed the US military was responsible for the destruction of the pipelines from the start. But even I am a little taken aback at how brazen and premeditated it was.

It’s 100-percent certain that the pipelines were destroyed on the orders of the US government, and most likely, by US military forces.

Vox Day, 29 September 2022

It will be interesting to see how the European slave-governments attempt to spin away the fact that it is the USA, not Russia, that is quite literally engaging in acts of war against the European nations.

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No Part of It

Croatia very sensibly wants no part of NATO’s war on Russia:

Commenting on the German foreign minister’s declaration that Europe is “fighting a war against Russia,” Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Thursday that this was news to him, and wished Berlin better luck than in WWII. Croatia “should in no way help” Ukraine militarily, Milanovic said…

“Now the German foreign minister says we must be united, because I quote, we are at war with Russia. I didn’t know that. Maybe Germany is at war with Russia, but then, good luck, maybe this time it turns out better than 70-odd years ago.”

Neither, apparently, does France.

Decisions by the US, Germany and several other countries to supply main battle tanks to Ukraine do not mean NATO is at war with Moscow, the French Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The comments from Quai d’Orsay come after a controversial speech by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in the European Parliament earlier this week. “We are not at war with Russia and none of our partners are,” ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said on Thursday, according to AFP. “The delivery of military equipment… does not constitute co-belligerence.”

But while it takes two to tango, it only takes one to war. And Russia is now “at war with NATO and the West” thanks to the neocons’ successful escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia is now at ‘war against NATO and the West’ and has taken the invasion of Ukraine to a ‘different stage’, a senior EU official has admitted, raising the terrifying spectre of a global conflict.

The Asian and Arab nations have already taken Russia’s side. The African nations don’t really matter, but they will do so as well. I expect that more than a few European nations will follow suit once it becomes abundantly clear to even the most casual observer that NATO has zero chance of winning the war. And when I say zero, I mean ZERO. None whatsoever.

Based on a comparison of the technological and industrial capacities, the United States and the UK have about the same chance of defeating the Sino-Russian alliance as Japan had of defeating the US/UK alliance in WWII. Which is just one reason why no American or European should lift a finger, let alone risk his life, for Clown World and its wicked disorder.

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War Plan Zero

NATO’s plan to defend the European countries that are actively taking part in its war against Russia is to hope that Russia doesn’t attack them.

NATO countries are not in danger of being attacked by Russia, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a regular press briefing, Kirby was asked whether the US-led military alliance has enough troops to repel a possible Russian strike on its eastern flank in case of a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict.

“All I can tell you is we’ve seen absolutely no indication that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has designs on striking NATO territory,” the spokesman said

While I have no doubt that Russia has no desire to invade and occupy Western Europe, I wouldn’t be so certain that the military with the best hypersonic missiles in the world is going to permit the European nations to wage war against them without holding them accountable for it.

It’s a bold plan. We’ll see how it works out for them.

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Germany Declares War on Russia

UPDATE: This isn’t an exaggeration. While it is an informal declaration of war, it is a material one by the relevant government minister that will be taken at face value by Russia, whether the moronic woman realizes it or not.

I have said already in the last days, we have to do more on Ukraine. Yes, we have to do more on tanks. But the most important part, and the crucial part, is that we do it together and that we do not do the blame game in Europe, because we are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other.

– Annalena Baerbock, Foreign Minister, Federal Republic of Germany, 25 January 2023

The German politicians caved, presumably after being shown their blackmail files, and agreed to formally take part in the NATO war against Russia by sending German tanks to Ukraine. The Russians have made it very clear that a) they are not fooled and b) there will be consequences for Germany getting directly involved in the war in Ukraine.

Russia branded the move a ‘blatant provocation’, with Moscow officials warning the new Nato supplies will ‘burn like all the rest’, while one raging Putin mouthpiece called for the German parliament to be destroyed.

Around 30 M1 Abrams tanks will be sent from the US, while Berlin will initially supply 14 Leopard 2 tanks and permit other Nato nations to send their own. Russian storage facilities have around 10,200 tanks, while an estimated 3,300 have been deployed in Ukraine, with 1,640 destroyed.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s officials hailed the move as a ‘punching fist’ for democracy, while Russia had warned it would cause a ‘global catastrophe’ and escalate the war beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘I am certain that many experts understand the absurdity of this idea. The plan is disastrous in terms of technology,’ he said.

‘But above all, it overestimates the potential it will add to the Ukrainian army. These tanks burn just like all the others.’

Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the Moscow Institute of the Middle East, told Waldman-LINE channel that nuclear tipped missiles should be used on the centre of German democracy.

He said: ‘German tanks with crosses on their armour will again march across Ukraine attacking Russian soldiers. I have a natural reaction to this – the Soviet Union bombed Berlin in 1941. And to me this is a signal that the Reichstag, or Bundestag, which now replaces the Reichstag, simply should not remain standing any longer. Flat, slightly radioactive, melted-down ground [will remain in its place].’

Meanwhile Putin’s favourite propagandist Vladimir Solovyov also ranted over the tank move which he plainly sees as a significant blow to Putin while also being proof in Russian eyes that Germany has directly joined the war.

‘It’s time to send a clear, resolute message that we now consider Germany a direct party to the conflict, rekindling memories of WW2. German tanks appearing will definitely mean we consider German territory, military bases and other sites as legitimate targets. NATO wants to fight in this cunning way, pretending that it’s not fighting.’

At this point, it’s fairly obvious that the Trotskyite Clown Worlders now ensconced in the USA are primarily waging war against Europeans by forcing Russians to kill them. The NATO-Russian war is something of a Xanatos Gambit; while Clown World hoped to use Ukraine and NATO to defeat Russia, their primary enemy, they’ll happily settle for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, Poles, and Germans, all of whom they hate nearly as much as they hate the Russians.

But while the Europeans haven’t figured this out yet because they’re all post-Christians steeped to their eyeballs in Clown World propaganda, the Russians, the Chinese, and most of all, the Arab world are very well aware of who is responsible. Which means that it may not just be government buildings in Germany that experience hypersonic missile attention when the Russians launch their offensive.

As with how the Gamma male who hides behind redefinitions and contorted reasoning to disguise his attacks on others is educated by a punch in the face, it appears the Germans are soon going to be administered an important lesson in how word magic is no defense against material reality.

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Germany Implodes

The economic engine of Europe is rapidly approaching crisis and economics depression:

The real estate sector in Germany dropped in the last three months of 2022 due to the surging costs of financing and to record inflation in Europe’s largest economy, a report published on Monday by BNP Paribas showed.

Investments in the country’s commercial property sector slumped by 50% from October to December, compared to the five-year average for the period, and reached just €9.9 billion ($10.6 billion).

The sector took a strong hit as investors shied away from deals due to rising interest rates and an overall worsening economic environment in Germany, the survey results revealed.

One of the fascinating things about Clown World is the way that it simultaneously manages to destroy economies while placing a nominal emphasis on economic growth uber alles. The collapse of the Germany economy should be followed, in relatively short order, by the collapse of the European Union.

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Polish Regulars in Ukraine

This news of large numbers of Polish regulars replacing Ukrainians and foreign mercenaries on the front is as-yet unconfirmed, but it won’t be very surprising if it is confirmed soon. It will, however, be a significant step toward transforming what had been a simple border dispute into a regional conflict.

There are no more Ukrainians on the front. There are only Polish there, Polish regular soldiers. And my war correspondents know that. What does this mean? This means that we are already at war with a NATO country. Directly. There are now fifteen thousand Polish regular soldiers there. What if there are hundreds of thousands; won’t we attack Poland; If they push us from there? The situation is evolving before our eyes. We are now at war with the Polish Regular Army and we already know that.

The war was always between Russia and NATO, but if the reports of Polish regulars on the front are true, that will mean that NATO plans to fight on even after the Ukrainian army has been rendered hors de combat.

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The Economics of Clown World

Michael Hudson explains the basic operation of what passes for Clown World’s economic system in an interview:

MEGA Radio: In your new book The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism, or Socialism you state that the world economy is now fracturing between two parts, the United States and Europe is the dollarized part. And this Western neoliberal unit is driving Eurasia and most of the Global South into a separate group. You just stated this in an interview from November. Could you explain this for our outlet?

Michael Hudson: The split is not only geographic but above all reflects the conflict between Western neoliberalism and the traditional logic of industrial capitalism. The West has deindustrialized its economies by replacing industrial capitalism with finance capitalism, initially in an attempt to keep its wages down by moving abroad to employ foreign labor, and then to try and establish monopoly privileges and captive markets or arms (and now oil) and high-technology essentials, becoming rentier economies.

A century ago, industrial capitalism was expected to evolve into industrial socialism, with governments providing subsidized basic infrastructure services (such as health care, education, communication, research and development) to minimize their cost of living and doing business. That is how the United States, Germany and other countries built up their industrial power, and it also is how China and other Eurasian countries have done so more recently.

But the West’s choice to privatize and financialize its basic infrastructure, dismantling the role of government and shifting planning to Wall Street, London and other financial centers, has left it with little to offer other countries – except or the promise not to bomb them or treat them as enemies if they seek to keep their wealth in their own hands instead of transferring it to U.S. investors and corporations.

The result is that when China and other countries build up their economies in the same way that the United States did from the end of its Civil War to World War II, they are treated as enemies. It is as if U.S. diplomats see that the game is lost, and that their economy has become so debt-ridden, privatized and high-cost that it cannot compete, that it simply hopes to keep making other countries dependent tributaries for as long as it can until the game finally is over.

If the U.S. succeeds in imposing financial neoliberalism on the world, then other countries will end up with the same problems that the United States is experiencing.

Read the whole thing. It’s really good and it even references Crusader Kings. And Hudson points out that the cruelest thing Russia can do to Europe is not to invade it, but rather, to abandon it to the rapacious rule of the US financial elite.

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EVs Are Not the Answer

Switzerland contemplates banning electric vehicles this winter.

Switzerland may become the first country to limit the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in a bid to ensure energy security this winter, German daily Der Spiegel reported on Thursday. Under the proposed action plan, which is yet to be adopted, the use of EVs in the country could be banned except in cases of “absolutely necessary journeys.” The government also plans a stricter speed limit on the highways. The harsh restrictions are being discussed as the government fears a power shortage in the coming months, due to the country’s high dependence on imports.

And for good reason. Electric vehicles already cost more to operate than internal combustion engines, even though gasoline is heavily taxed in Europe and electric vehicles are subsidized.

“Due to rising energy prices, in some cases, refueling an electric car is more expensive than a traditional one. And if you are recharging not at home but at a public rapid station, the prices would be even higher,” the report stated.

Experts have calculated that the previous cost of charging an electric car in the country was 50-70% lower than for refueling gasoline or diesel models. Now, a full battery of a ‘green car’ can cost more than a full tank of petrol.

The study highlighted that, for small B-segment cars, gasoline for a mileage of 1,000 kilometers would cost the owner €83 ($83). For a diesel car, the cost would be €71 ($71). Meanwhile, with an electric motor, it would cost €85 ($85) to drive the same distance, even though it was only €33 ($33) just a year ago.

It’s time for Europe to surrender to Russia. This is an economic war the EU cannot win.

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Winds of Change

I don’t think The Scorpions will be writing any ballads if the rumors that Germany is attempting to break free of US hegemony are true:

Solid German business sources completely contradict the “message” delivered by the German Council on Foreign Relations on the trip to China. According to these sources, the Scholz caravan went to Beijing to essentially lay down the preparatory steps for working out a peace deal with Russia, with China as privileged messenger.

This is – literally – as explosive, geopolitically and geoeconomically, as it gets. As I pointed out in one of my previous columns, Berlin and Moscow were keeping a secret communication back channel – via business interlocutors – right to the minute the usual suspects, in desperation, decided to blow up the Nord Streams.

Cue to the now-notorious SMS from Liz Truss’s iPhone to Tony Blinken, one minute after the explosions: “It’s done.”

There’s more: the Scholz caravan may be trying to start a long and convoluted process of eventually replacing the US with China as a key ally. One should never forget that the top BRI trade/connectivity terminal in the EU is Germany (the Ruhr valley).

According to one of the sources, “if this effort is successful, then Germany, China and Russia can ally themselves together and drive the US out of Europe.”

Another source provided the cherry on the cake: “Olaf Scholz is being accompanied on this trip by German industrialists who actually control Germany and are not going to sit back watching themselves being destroyed.”

The borders of the Great Bifurcation may not be what the rulers of the neo-liberal world order believe they are going to be. They’ve already discovered that 87 percent of the global population are on the other side of the fence, and that 87 percent may be growing as Europeans realize that their US-imposed “freedom and democracy” is actually nothing more than a long-term societal suicide pact.

The remarkable truth of the matter is that it would probably be less economically painful for Europe to cut ties with the USA than with both Russian and China. So, the real question would appear to be how intent is China on undercutting the global dominance of the USA.

I wish it were needless to say that a peaceful transition to a bifurcated global economy would be a much better outcome than Europe needing the Sino-Russian Alliance to militarily defeat the USA in order to remove Europe’s subordination to the globalist elite. But history suggests that at least some amount of direct war between the forces of the Nationalist Alliance and the US military in service to the Neo-Liberal Empire will be necessary before the latter accepts the situation.

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