風蕭蕭_Frank
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歐洲如今已淪為戰爭項目
歐洲滑向戰爭販子的經濟學——以及我們現在的責任！
2025年6月13日 作者：亞尼斯·瓦魯法基斯
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2025/06/13/the-economics-of-europes-descent-into-warmongering-and-our-duty-now/
2025年6月10日星期二，我與傑弗裏·薩克斯和朱塞佩·孔特一起，在歐洲議會參加了一場由左翼黨和五星運動歐洲分部聯合舉辦的會議，主題為“和平的經濟條件”。我的演講視頻和文字版可在此處觀看和閱讀。
[引言]
一年前，我會以哀歎歐盟從一個和平項目轉變為一個戰爭項目這種前所未有的轉變作為演講的開篇。但今天，情況已截然不同。
過去一年，好戰情緒已滲透到歐盟的方方麵麵，滲透到每一項政策，浸透了所有塑造歐洲主流敘事和信條的智庫。
因此，今天，哀歎一個既成事實毫無意義：歐盟如今已是一個徹頭徹尾的戰爭項目——一個要麽將我們拖入永久戰爭，要麽讓我們進一步破產，或者兩者兼而有之的項目！
我將論證，歐洲的軍事凱恩斯主義注定會讓歐洲更加不安全、更加不平等、更加虛弱。
現在隻剩下兩個值得深思的問題：
歐洲為何走上這條道路？既然歐洲已踏上這條戰爭之路，我們對人民、對歐洲人、對和平應盡的責任是什麽？讓我從頭開始。
【歐盟的設計初衷就是為了服從美國】
冒著惹惱那些相信自己“創世神話”的歐洲主義者的風險，我必須明確指出：歐盟（從其最初的歐洲煤鋼共同體開始）是美國一手締造的——是美國全球計劃的一部分，該計劃還包括布雷頓森林體係、杜魯門主義，當然還有北約。
沒錯，大多數歐洲人渴望不再有戰爭，不再有極權主義。但歐盟的設計卻出自華盛頓特區。而且，它的設計目的並非為了建立一個競爭性市場，而是為了建立一個由一個缺乏民主的官僚機構（即歐盟委員會）運營的大型商業卡特爾，而這個機構的所在地恰好與北約總部近在咫尺，這絕非巧合。
從1950年起，歐盟就受到美國的扶持，並與其利益保持一致——這對於歐洲那些自以為是的統治者和唐納德·特朗普來說，都是一個令人不快的現實。
回顧歐盟的曆史，一條貫穿始終的主線是：它對美國的全麵經濟依賴。最初，歐盟嚴重依賴於其作為美元區成員的地位。隨後，從1971年起，它又嚴重依賴於美國的貿易逆差。
因此，無論如何，歐洲對美國的深度依賴已經根深蒂固地融入了其體製結構之中。因此，僅僅依靠口頭聲明——或者花費數千億歐元購買武器——是遠遠不夠的，無法擺脫歐洲對美國的內在依賴。
歐盟從一開始就被塑造成一個大型商業卡特爾，這正是歐盟需要固定匯率的原因：匯率波動會破壞任何卡特爾的穩定，使其難以維持成員生產商之間必要的合謀水平。
從1950年到1971年，美國替歐洲解決了這個問題。隻要歐洲對美國存在貿易逆差，其卡特爾就牢牢地依附於美元區——其貨幣與美元掛鉤。但大約在1969年，當歐洲（以及日本）開始對美國出現貿易順差時，一切都結束了。
1971年8月15日，當時的“唐納德·特朗普”——美國總統理查德·尼克鬆——將歐洲逐出了美元區。他的財政部長冷嘲熱諷地告訴目瞪口呆的歐洲人：“從今天起，美元是我們的貨幣，但這是你們的問題！”
接下來發生了兩件事。
首先，為了挽救其龐大的商業卡特爾，歐洲人爭先恐後地建立自己的固定匯率製度。他們嚐試了各種方案：歐元區、歐洲貨幣體係、歐洲匯率機製。但這些方案都被證明是脆弱的，投機者輕而易舉地將其摧毀。於是，在絕望之下，他們創造了人類精神所能創造出的最有害的貨幣——歐元。
第二個發展是，隨著美國預算和貿易赤字的擴大，歐元區逐漸演變成一個以德國為主導的淨出口機器，其總需求被外包給了美國。
實際上，美國的雙重赤字就像一個巨大的吸塵器，將歐洲的淨出口以及歐洲出口商的利潤都吸進了美國，而這些利潤隨後被投資於美國國債、美國股票和美國房地產。這就是為什麽一旦被逐出美元區，歐洲就對美國的赤字產生了依賴。
這就是尼克鬆衝擊的作用：它將歐洲對美元區的完全依賴轉變為對美國赤字的更大依賴。
[從不放過任何錯失良機的機會]
在布魯塞爾，人們喜歡用“歐洲從一個危機走向另一個危機”來形容歐洲的發展曆程。
這又是一場錯覺。
2008年的危機是我們讓歐盟重獲新生、擺脫對美國深度依賴的最佳契機。
法國和德國的銀行破產了。
歐元區那些不切實際的規則土崩瓦解。
從希臘開始的多米諾骨牌效應，正使我們各國政府陷入破產。
這本是將歐盟從一個本質上依賴美國提供總需求的“大企業卡特爾”轉變為一個運轉良好、內部平衡的聯邦的絕佳機會。
然而，歐洲的激進中間派（包括中右翼和中左翼）卻決定改變一切，以確保一切照舊。為此，他們做了最糟糕的事情：對大多數人實行全民緊縮，同時瘋狂印鈔，讓金融家和大企業獲利。
當你壓榨大多數人的收入，卻把數萬億美元拱手讓給極少數人時，會發生什麽？
由於許多人窮得買不起高附加值商品，企業停止對生產性資本的投資——而富人則利用這些自由支配的資金，將房價、股價、比特幣價格、藝術品價格以及所有資產價格推高到令人咋舌的地步。
其必然結果是令人窒息的不平等和民眾的深切不滿。
人們感到絕望。他們甚至投票支持像我這樣的激進進步人士加入歐元集團！然後，布魯塞爾和法蘭克福驚恐萬分地推翻了我們，或者說，迫使齊普拉斯先生推翻了他自己的政府。他們沒有像1967年在希臘那樣動用坦克，而是動用了銀行——其實差別不大！政變就是政變。
【兩種共生式的威權主義】
猜猜接下來發生了什麽：就像二戰中期一樣，仇外的極右翼分子又冒了出來。
對於那些令人震驚地不受歡迎的激進中間派來說，這簡直是天賜良機，他們的政客們現在可以對選民說：不是我們就是他們！
但對於極右翼來說，這同樣也是天賜良機，他們需要激進中間派來推行緊縮政策，而正是這些政策引發了不滿，助長了憤怒，最終為極右翼贏得了選票。
換句話說，如果馬克龍和勒龐還有一絲理智，他們應該在床頭櫃上放一張對方的照片，每晚睡前都以他們憎恨的對手的名義默默祈禱。
【障眼法】
自由主義極權主義和極右翼排外極權主義是同謀，它們互相扶持。
與此同時，對大多數人實施緊縮政策，而對少數人則大肆印鈔，這正在耗盡歐洲的生產基礎、社會結構和目標感。
這就是歐盟在公眾眼中失去所有合法性的原因。
意識到這一點，掌權的自由主義極權主義者們接連炮製出一個又一個失敗的宏偉計劃。誰能忘記那早已被人遺忘的容克投資計劃、銀行業聯盟、綠色協議，以及如今也一同被掃進曆史垃圾堆的德拉吉報告？
他們宣布了一係列令人印象深刻的數字，但遺憾的是，這些數字最終都未能實現。這是必然的。隻要我們的統治者對能夠支撐發行真正具有宏觀經濟意義的歐元債券的政治聯盟說“不”，那麽用於必要投資的資金就永遠無法到位。即便在疫情期間，他們最終發行了共同債務，結果也隻是背負了共同的債務，卻沒有共同的目標。
每一項曾經宣布的宏偉計劃都是一場與失敗的博弈，是用來掩蓋歐洲赤裸裸的真相的障眼法。結果如何？
在經曆了十五年零淨生產性投資之後，
德國正在快速去工業化，東歐、中歐、奧地利和意大利北部也步其後塵。
財政壓力加劇了政治癱瘓。
新法西斯主義和仇外情緒在各地抬頭。
在唐納德·特朗普將歐洲邊緣化之際，歐洲對美國的依賴卻日益加深。
世界其他國家將歐洲視為一個令人惋惜的失敗案例，一個令人惱火的無關緊要的存在。
在這種悲哀的背景下，我們偉大而優秀的領導人又提出了一個糟糕的宏偉計劃：既然綠色協議已經胎死腹中，複蘇基金也已耗盡，何不嚐試一下軍事凱恩斯主義呢？
【軍事凱恩斯主義的愚昧】
女士們、先生們：
軍事凱恩斯主義在美國行之有效，是因為美國擁有聯邦機構、貨幣主權、財政權力、技術基礎設施以及統一的采購流程，這些都是實施軍事凱恩斯主義所必需的。歐洲既不具備這些，也沒有願意獲取這些資源的領導人。這就是為什麽軍事凱恩斯主義在歐洲行不通的原因。
謝天謝地，它行不通！因為如果它行得通，歐洲就不得不效仿美國，每年發動戰爭，以便消耗大量的彈藥、導彈等物資，從而為維持軍事凱恩斯主義所需的大規模新訂單提供正當理由。
然而，盡管歐洲的軍事凱恩斯主義行不通，也不應該行得通，但它仍然有其存在的意義——
這或許可以算作一種解決方案，比如針對大眾汽車：既然大眾汽車已經賣不出車了，它就把整條生產線都交給萊茵金屬公司生產豹式坦克，馮德萊恩強迫希臘和意大利購買這些坦克，盡管我們既不需要也不想買。
沒錯，軍事凱恩斯主義最終會給歐洲帶來沉重打擊，但在此之前，它會進一步拖垮我們的國家，並火上澆油，讓烏克蘭的殺戮戰場上燃燒的生命和夢想化為灰燼。
所以，坦白地說：
任何真正對歐洲構成威脅的敵人，都不會因為看到一個停滯不前、負債累累的歐洲投入數十億美元用於武器而感到不安。恰恰相反！
軍事凱恩斯主義最終會成為歐洲大多數人的新緊縮政策，以及少數人的新搖錢樹。
它會削弱歐洲，同時以一種不利於支持烏克蘭這一既定目標的方式延長烏克蘭戰爭。
【歐洲向北約投降，以及其在烏克蘭的角色】
此時，媒體席上將會響起憤怒的叫喊聲。難道你聽不到他們在質問：“俄羅斯難道不是在緊逼嗎？”“歐洲難道不是身處險境嗎？”“歐洲難道不應該繼續毫無防備嗎？尤其是在特朗普拋棄歐洲的當下？”
我的答案很明確：通過軍事凱恩斯主義——即所謂的新緊縮政策——削弱自身經濟，隻會讓歐洲進一步衰落，這絕不是增強歐洲實力的正確途徑！
別忘了，歐洲已有150萬軍人，而過去十年，我們在國防上花費了2.7萬億歐元——與此同時，我們的淨生產性投資卻為零！現在，北約要求我們增加三倍的軍費開支——考慮到這2.7萬億歐元的浪費程度，這簡直是瘋了。
因此，將我們的外交和國防政策拱手讓給北約，為了滿足特朗普總統增加軍費開支的要求而背負更多不可持續的債務，無疑是讓歐洲更加依賴、更加不安全、更加醜陋、更加悲哀的最有效途徑。
在這種背景下，布魯塞爾的當權者們正焦急地散布謊言，聲稱北約擴張是為了遏製俄羅斯的侵略，以此來保住自己的職位並增加預算——而事實恰恰相反。反過來說：北約就像黑手黨一樣，擴張是為了製造不安全感，從而向我們兜售所謂的“保護”！
這是否意味著普京入侵烏克蘭是正確的？當然不是。這說明北約和普京是同謀——他們需要彼此才能共同發動對抗，從而增強雙方實力——而這一切都以歐洲的利益為代價。
這也意味著，任何真正關心歐洲安全與繁榮的人
必須打破俄羅斯即將入侵我們的謊言——即使它想，也做不到
必須不懈努力，扼殺歐洲的軍事凱恩斯主義
必須致力於推動歐洲和平進程，將俄羅斯沒收的資金用於購買更多無用的豹式坦克和萊昂納多導彈，而不是作為結束烏克蘭戰爭的籌碼，最終達成一項全麵的歐盟-俄羅斯和平條約。
至於那些不達目的誓不罷休的政客們，我想對他們說：他們：
如果你真的想削弱俄羅斯，讓俄羅斯屈服，你就應該努力讓俄羅斯加入……歐元區。歐元一舉就能摧毀俄羅斯的生產基礎，讓俄羅斯人民和國家債台高築，迫使俄羅斯領導人手捧乞討的碗，奔赴布魯塞爾和法蘭克福！
你以為我在開玩笑。但這玩笑裏卻藏著太多令人不安的真相！
總而言之，歐洲的經濟停滯是其完全依賴美國赤字的結果。這種依賴導致歐洲與美國長達十年的挑起烏克蘭戰爭的計劃沆瀣一氣。
如今，美國正在脫鉤，而我們的統治者——如同被斬首的雞——卻像沒了腦袋的雞一樣四處亂竄，絞盡腦汁地想方設法繼續阻撓烏克蘭和平進程，以便利用軍費來支撐搖搖欲墜的歐洲大企業集團。
[什麽？]歐洲道德淪喪的根源：加沙與極權主義
女士們、先生們，就在我們今天在此發言之際，歐洲正一頭栽進另一個道德深淵：成為巴勒斯坦種族滅絕的共犯。
這不僅僅是令人尷尬的事情，也不僅僅是烏爾蘇拉·馮德萊恩女士在以色列種族滅絕軍隊入侵加沙前幾個小時，像啦啦隊長一樣站在坦克前擺拍那麽簡單。
不，歐盟的共犯並非僅僅因為我們對美國的屈從。不，歐盟還在縱容，實際上是在資助這些戰爭罪犯。直接地。冷酷地。毫無悔意地。
法國巴黎銀行和安聯集團承銷以色列政府債券，這些債券為以色列在巴勒斯坦被占領土上的“絞肉機”提供資金。
馬士基是加沙軍事機器的主要運輸商。
自2007年，歐盟投入了20億歐元的研究基金。
以色列實體生產的手段被用來對巴勒斯坦人進行種族清洗、迫害、謀殺和致殘。
但還有更可怕的事情正在發生：我們的一些頂級機構在經濟上依賴於支持以色列的種族滅絕。如果歐洲履行其職責，製裁以色列，慕尼黑工業大學將損失歐盟“地平線”計劃提供的1.954億歐元資金，該計劃資助該大學與以色列機構開展聯合研究。
女士們、先生們，
歐洲背負著巨大的罪責。針對猶太人的種族屠殺始於歐洲。歐洲人在非洲、美洲和澳大利亞犯下了種族滅絕罪行。我們通過組建歐盟，將其視為一個和平項目，聲稱有機會彌補歐洲過去的種族滅絕罪行。
然而，我們對美國的依賴以及統治階級從帝國主義中牟利的傾向，使得這一切成為不可能——因此，歐洲的雙手再次沾滿了無辜者的鮮血，在加沙、烏克蘭、蘇丹、利比亞、也門、敘利亞。
這也讓極權主義死灰複燃，在歐洲本土死灰複燃。當德國當局以我與德國猶太人共同組織了一場以“中東公正和平”為主題的會議為由，禁止我入境德國時，他們其實是在表明一個立場：
對他們而言，任由巴勒斯坦人的鮮血肆意流淌，就意味著他們有機會洗清自己對納粹大屠殺、對德國在納米比亞犯下的種族滅絕罪行、對比利時在剛果犯下的反人類罪行的罪責……
因此，這無疑是對我們發出的一個明確警告：經濟停滯滋生戰爭，戰爭又會助長歐洲白人殖民者的心態。
歐洲已經深陷道德泥潭，難以自拔。
十年前，我們在希臘親身經曆了歐洲自由主義極權主義的恐怖，如今它已無處不在——並且正為仇外極右極權主義敞開大門，使其步步逼近。
現在正是我們奮起反抗這兩種極權主義的時候。為了歐洲人民！
【我們必須做什麽？】
那麽，我們必須做什麽？首先，讓我們明白：
實現和平的經濟條件是使歐洲經濟與美國的戰爭脫鉤！
但要做到這一點，我們必須徹底結束歐洲對美國的依賴。
這意味著要結束歐洲對淨出口的依賴。
這意味著通過以下方式重新平衡歐洲的內部經濟：
新的生產性綠色投資；
結束結構性緊縮；
結束充斥著壟斷集團的電力“市場”的瘋狂局麵；
建立新的貨幣公域，以結束銀行家對支付的壟斷，並為所有人提供個人紅利；
達成一項新的歐盟-中國協議，使我們擺脫美國以犧牲我們為代價，加劇毫無意義的新冷戰的議程。
隻有通過改革歐洲的政治經濟，我們才能結束永無休止的分裂，這種分裂滋生戰爭、極權主義，並讓我們擺脫被像烏爾蘇拉·馮德萊恩和卡婭·卡拉斯這樣鼓吹種族滅絕和與俄羅斯永久戰爭的啦啦隊長領導的尷尬局麵。
我們如何才能做到這一點？有兩種方法。
首先，我們需要一個值得為之奮鬥的、可信的歐洲計劃。
其次，我們必須在各自國家，甚至可能在歐洲理事會組織一場公民和政府不服從運動，直到我們的“歐洲計劃”獲得機會。
我們，DiEM25，十年來一直致力於這項計劃——我們的“歐洲綠色新政”——並樂於與你們分享，以便你們能夠完善、修訂和調整它。
你們，5S運動以及其他渴望參與的歐洲各政黨，擁有我們所缺乏的組織能力，因此，我們可以與MERA25跨國政黨攜手，共同組織這場公民和政府不服從運動。沒有這場運動，一切都不會改變，一切都無法阻止歐洲、意大利、希臘乃至德國的長期衰落。
【結論】
總之，歐盟七十五年的曆史告訴我們，我們麵臨著一個嚴峻的選擇。
一個依賴美國、好戰、停滯不前的歐洲。或者，一個獨立、不結盟、繁榮、綠色的歐洲。
我們麵臨的選擇是：要麽建立一個馮德萊恩式的委員會，為種族滅絕開綠燈，阻礙和平，非法刪除她與輝瑞的聊天記錄，為洛克希德·馬丁公司遊說，並借貸我們無力償還的資金購買我們並不需要的武器——同時將人民和地球推向貧困的深淵；要麽建立一個優化到不以權力為導向、以共同繁榮為目標的歐洲機構。
我們麵臨的選擇是：要麽聽命於萊茵金屬、萊昂納多和輝瑞的董事會，對戰爭利潤和稅務欺詐藏匿的避稅天堂視而不見，而我們的海岸警衛隊卻將難民變成屍體；要麽建立一個理性的、甚至是激進的人道主義的歐洲。
為了擁有這樣的選擇，我們眼下的任務必須是結束戰爭，結束種族滅絕，並在為時已晚之前終止名為“軍事凱恩斯主義”的新緊縮政策。
Europe is war project now
The Economics of Europe's Descent into Warmongering – and our duty now!
[INTRODUCTION]
A year ago, I would have started this speech with a lament about the hitherto unimaginable conversion of the European Union from a Peace to a War Project. Not so today.
Over the past year, warmongering has seeped into the very fabric of the Union, it has trickled into every policy, it has soaked every one of the thinktanks that generate Europe’s dominant narratives and creeds.
Today, therefore, it makes no sense to lament what is now a fact: The EU is now a fully-fledged War Project – a project that will either land us in permanent war, or it will bankrupt us further, or probably both!
Europe’s military Keynesianism, I shall be arguing, is guaranteed to make Europe less safe, more unequal, weaker.
Only two interesting questions remain:
Why has Europe taken this road? And, now that Europe is on this war path, what is our duty to our people, to Europeans, to Peace? Let me begin at the very beginning.
[THE EU WAS DESIGNED TO BE SUBSERVIENT TO THE UNITED STATES]
At the risk of irking Europeanists who believe in their own creation myth, let me be clear: The European Union (from its beginnings as the European Communities of Coal & Steel) was an American Construction – a part of a US Global Plan that also comprised the Bretton Woods System, the Truman Doctrine and, of course, NATO.
Yes, most Europeans hankered for no more war and no more totalitarianism. But the EU was designed in Washington DC. And it was designed specifically not as a competitive market but as a Big Business Cartel run by a democracy-free bureaucracy (also known as the European Commission) not coincidentally located a stone’s throw from NATO’s headquarters.
From 1950 on, the EU was nurtured by and in tune with the interests of the United States – an inconvenient fact both for Europe’s self-important rulers and for Donald Trump.
Looking back, a common thread runs through the entire history of the EU: its total economic dependence on the United States. Initially, the EU was deeply dependent on being part of the Dollar Zone. Then, from 1971 onwards, it was deeply dependent on the American trade deficit.
So, one way or another, Europe’s deep dependence on the US was ingrained into its architecture. It will thus take much more than mere pronouncements – or a few hundred billion borrowed euros spent on weaponry – to shed Europe’s in-built dependence on the United States.
The fact that the EU was, from the beginning, fashioned as a Big Business Cartel is the reason why the EU needed fixed exchange rates: Currency fluctuations destabilise any cartel, making it hard to maintain the necessary levels of collusion between its participating producers.
From 1950 to 1971, the US took care of this problem on Europe’s behalf. As long as it was running a trade deficit with the United States, Europe’s cartel was embedded in the dollar zone – its currencies tied to the dollar But, when around 1969 Europe (and Japan) started running a trade surplus with the United States, it was game over.
On 15th August 1971, the Donald Trump of that era, President Richard Nixon, jettisoned Europe from the dollar zone, his Treasury Secretary cynically telling the dumbfounded Europeans: “From today the dollar is our currency but it is your problem!”
Two things happened next.
First, to save their Big Business Cartel the Europeans scrambled to create their own fixed exchange rate regime. They tried everything: The Snake. The European Monetary System. The European Exchange Rate Mechanism. They all proved flimsy designs that speculators had no trouble crushing. So, in desperation, they created the most noxious currency the human spirit could fashion – the euro.
The second development was that, as America expanded its budget and trade deficits, the Eurozone morphed into a German-led net exporting machine whose aggregate demand was subcontracted to the United States.
In effect, America’s twin deficits operated like a huge vacuum cleaner that sucked into America Europe’s net exports as well as the European exporters’ profits which were thus invested in US Treasuries, US shares and US real estate. That’s how, once it was expelled from the dollar zone, Europe became addicted to the US deficits.
That was what the Nixon Shock did: It converted Europe’s utter reliance on living within the dollar zone into an even greater dependence on the US deficits.
[NEVER MISSING A CHANCE TO MISS AN OPPORTUNITY]
Here in Brussels they love the expression that Europe progresses from crisis to crisis. That’s another delusion.
The crisis of 2008 was our greatest opportunity to render the European Union viable, and to end its deep dependence on the United States.
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The French and German banks went bankrupt.
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The Eurozone’s impossible rules were in tatters.
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A domino effect, beginning with Greece, was bankrupting our governments.
It was the perfect opportunity to transform the EU from a Big Business Cartel, inherently reliant on the US for its aggregate demand, into a functional, internally balanced federation.
Instead, Europe’s radical centre (both the centre right and the centre left) decided that they would change everything so as to ensure that nothing changes. In this vein, they did their worst: Universal austerity for the many. And frantic money printing for the financiers and Big Business.
What happens when you crush the incomes of the many and hand over trillions to the very few?
Since the many are too poor to buy high value added goods, business stops investing in productive capital –– while the rich use the free cash to push through the roof house prices, share prices, Bitcoin prices, art, asset prices in general.
The natural result is soul-crushing levels of inequality and deep popular discontent.
The people got desperate. They even voted for radical progressives like me to enter the Eurogroup! Then, in horror, Brussels and Frankfurt overthrew us, or made Mr Tsipras overthrow his own government, using not the tanks, as they did in Greece in 1967, but the banks – not that much of a difference really! A coup d’ état is a coup d’ état.
[TWO SYMBIOTIC AUTHORITARIANISMS]
Guess what happened next: Just as in the mid-war period, xenophobic ultra-rightists rose up from the woodwork.
They proved a godsent for the shockingly unpopular radical centre whose politicians could now say to voters: It is us or them!
But it was equally a godsent for the ultra-right who needed the radical centre to impose the austerity policies which created the discontent which fuelled the anger that delivered the ultra-right votes.
To put it differently, if Macron and Le Pen had any sense, they would each keep a framed picture of the other on their bedside tables, saying a little prayer in their hated opponent’s name every night before going to sleep.
[SMOKE AND MIRRORS]
Liberal Totalitarianism and Ultra-Right-Xenophobic Totalitarianism are accomplices, they feed off each other.
Meanwhile, austerity for the many and money printing for the few depletes Europe’s productive foundations, its social fabric, its sense of purpose.
That’s how the European Union lost any legitimacy it had in the eyes of the public.
Sensing this, the Liberal Totalitarians in charge came up with one failed Grand Initiative after another. Who can forget the eminently forgettable Juncker investment plan, the Banking Union, the Green Deal, or the Draghi Report that has now joined them in History’s Dustbin?
Impressive numbers were announced that, alas, dependably failed to materialise. It was inevitable. As long as our rulers said NO to the political union that could sustain a proper, macroeconomically significant, eurobond, the money to fund the necessary investment could never materialise. Even when they – finally – during the pandemic – did issue common debt, they ended up with common liabilities but no common purpose.
Every Grand Initiative ever announced was a dance with failure, smoke and mirrors by which they disguised Europe’s nakedness. The result?
After fifteen years of ZERO NET PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENT,
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Germany is deindustrialising fast, and along with it Eastern and Central Europe, Austria, Northern Italy
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Political paralysis grows on the back of fiscal pressures
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Neofascism and xenophobia are rising up everywhere
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Europe’s dependence on the United States grows stronger at the time Donald Trump is cutting Europe loose
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The Rest of the World looks at Europe as a sad case of what could have been, an irritating irrelevance.
In this sad context, our great and good leaders had another woeful idea for a Grand Initiative: Now that the Green Deal is dead-in-the-water and the Recovery Fund is spent, why not try Military Keynesianism?
[THE FOLLY OF MILITARY KEYNESIANISM]
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Military Keynesianism works in the United States because America has the federal institutions, the monetary sovereignty, the fiscal power, the technostructure, and the common procurement process that are essential in implementing Military Keynesianism. Europe has none of that, nor does it have leaders interested in acquiring any of that. This is why Military Keynesianism cannot work in Europe.
Thank goodness it can’t work, I say! For if it could work, Europe would have to emulate the United States in starting a war every year so that the stocks of ammunition, missiles et al could be depleted sufficiently to justify the new colossal orders necessary to maintain Military Keynesianism.
Nevertheless, while Europe’s Military Keynesianism cannot and should not work, it serves a purpose – it is a kind of a solution for, say, Volkswagen: Now that Volkswagen can no longer sell its cars, it hands over whole production lines to Rheinmetall to produce Leopard tanks which von der Leyen makes Greece and Italy buy even though we neither want nor need them.
Yes, Military Keynesianism will fail Europe badly, but not before it further bankrupts our states and throws more fuel onto the fire burning down lives and dreams in Ukraine’s killing fields.
So, let me be frank:
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No really-existing enemy of Europe shakes in his boots watching a stagnating, heavily indebted Europe, invest billions in weaponry. Quite the opposite!
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Military Keynesianism will end up as Europe’s New Austerity for the many and a new money spinner for the few.
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It will make Europe weaker while prolonging the Ukraine War in a manner that is detrimental to the stated aim of supporting Ukraine.
[EUROPE’S SURRENDER TO NATO, ITS ROLE IN UKRAINE]
It is at this point that angry yelps will rise up from the press gallery. Can’t you hear them ask: ““Is Russia not ante portas?” “Is Europe not in danger?” “Should Europe remain defenceless, especially now that Trump is abandoning Europe?”
My answer is clear: Weakening ourselves economically through a Military Keynesianism that constitutes the New Austerity which will, with mathematical precision, diminish Europe further is no way to make Europe stronger!
And lest we forget, Europe already has 1.5m men and women in uniform while, over the past decade, we spent €2.7 trillion on defence – a period during which our net productive investment was zero! Now, NATO demands that we spend three times as much – which is totally insane, given how wastefully that €2.7 trillion was spent.
In this light, surrendering our foreign and defence policies to NATO, and sinking further in unsustainable debt just to satisfy President Trump’s demands for more military spending, is the surest way of making Europe more dependent, less secure, uglier and sadder.
In this context, the powers-that-be here in Brussels are anxiously trying to keep their jobs and boost their budgets by spreading the lie that NATO had to expand in order to deter Russian aggression – when it is exactly the other way round: Like the Mafia, NATO expanded to create insecurity in order to sell us protection!
Does this mean that Putin was right to invade the Ukraine? Of course not. What it means is that NATO and Putin are accomplices – that they needed one another in their joint bid for a confrontation that strengthened both – at Europe’s expense.
It also means that anyone truly interested in Europe’s security and prosperity
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must dispel the lie that Russia is about to invade us – it can’t even if it wants to
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must work tirelessly to kill Europe’s Military Keynesianism, and
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must work toward a European Peace Process which uses Russia’s confiscated monies not as a piggybank for more useless Leopard tanks and Leonardo missiles but as a bargaining chip to end the Ukraine War in the context of a comprehensive EU-Russia Peace Treaty.
As for the politicians in this town who will not rest until they see Russia on its knees, I have this to say to them:
If you really wanted to weaken Russia, to bring Russia to its knees, you should have worked hard to admit Russia into the… Eurozone. In one fell swoop the euro would have wrecked Russia’s productive basis, it would have indebted its people and its state, it would have made its leaders rush to Brussels and to Frankfurt with begging bowl in hand!
You think I am joking. But there is too much truth in this joke for comfort!
To sum up my argument so far, Europe’s economic stagnation was the product of its total dependence on the American deficits. This dependence yielded Europe’s complicity with the decade-long American project of inciting a war in Ukraine.
And now that the US is decoupling, our rulers – resembling decapitated chickens – are running around without their heads screwed on, struggling to find ways of continuing to impede Peace in Ukraine so as to use military funds to prop up Europe’s faltering Big Business Cartel.
[WHAT’S BEHIND EUROPE’S ETHICAL DECAY: GAZA, TOTALITARIANISM]
Ladies and Gentlemen, as we speak here today, Europe is falling headlong into another ethical void: complicity in the Palestinian genocide.
It is not just the embarrassment, also known as Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, posing like a cheerleader of Israel’s genocidal army in front of its tanks hours before they stormed Gaza.
No, the European Union is not merely complicit due to our subservience to the United States. No, the European Union is also enabling, it is in fact funding, the war criminals of its own accord. Directly. Cynically. With no compunction.
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BNP PARIBAS and ALLIANZ underwrite the issues of the Israeli government bonds that fund the Israeli meatgrinder in the Palestinian Occupied Territories
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MAERSK is the prime transporter of the military machine at work in Gaza
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Since 2007, the European Union has channelled €2 billion of research funding to Israeli entities producing the means by which Palestinians are ethnically cleansed, targeted, murdered and maimed.
But there is something even scarier going on: Some of our top institutions depend financially on backing Israel’s genocide. If Europe were to do its duty and sanction Israel, the Technical University of Munich stands to lose €195.4 million from the EU’s HORIZON program which funds the University to carry out joint research with Israeli institutions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Europe carries an enormous guilt. The pogroms against the Jews started here, in Europe. Europeans carried out genocides across Africa, in the Americas, in Australia. By forming the EU as a Peace Project, we claimed a chance to make amends for Europe’s past genocides.
However, our dependence on the US and our ruling class’s penchant to profit from imperialism have made this impossible – and so Europe’s hands are, again, covered in the blood of innocents, in Gaza, in Ukraine, in the Sudan, in Libya, in Yemen, in Syria.
It has also brought totalitarianism back into our midst, here in Europe. When the German authorities banned me from entering Germany for the crime of co-organising with German Jews a conference on the theme of ‘A Just Peace in the Middle East’, they were making a point:
To them, letting the rivers of Palestinian blood flow unimpeded represented their chance of washing off their hands the guilt over the Holocaust, over the other German genocide in Namibia, of Belgium’s crimes against humanity in the Congo…
It is, therefore, a clear warning to us: Economic stagnation begets warmongering which begets a revived European white settler mentality.
This Europe has fallen so far into a moral crevice that it cannot easily climb out of it.
Europe’s Liberal Totalitarianism, which we in Greece experienced in all its horror ten years ago, is now everywhere – and it is throwing wide open the gates through which Xenophobic Ultra-Right Totalitarianism arrives to darken our doorstep.
The time to rise up against both forms of totalitarianism is now. On behalf of the peoples of Europe.
[WHAT MUST WE DO?]
So, what must we do? Let us begin by grasping that:
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The economic condition for Peace is to de-couple Europe’s economy from America’s wars!
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But for that we must end, once and for all, Europe’s dependence on the United States.
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This entails ending Europe’s dependence on net exports to
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Which means rebalancing Europe’s internal economy through
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new productive green investments,
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an end to structural austerity
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an end to the madness of cartel-infested electricity ‘markets’
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a new monetary commons by which to end the bankers’ monopoly over payments and to institute a personal dividend for all
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a new EU-China deal that liberates us from America’s agenda of intensifying a pointless New Cold War at our expense.
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