So finally the EU got together. After making various threats about “consequences” or even sanctions all the EU could produce was an amazingly asinine resolution which achieved only one thing: showing that the Old Continent has become the Senile Continent. Like an old man with geriatric dementia the EU just barely manages to rehash some vague threats mixed with some empty words (we are at a crossroads). If that is the best the EU could come up with, its just goes to show that Putin is correct when he stated in his interview with ARD that “Russia will have to discuss European matters not with the EU, but with Washington”.
The UK comes across as particularly pathetic in all this. After having Tony Blair as “Bush’s poodle” we know see Gordon Brown trying hard to be “Bush’s rottweiler” but coming across more like some nasty but harmless yorkshie. It is simply baffling to see how a country with a long and highly sophisticated diplomatic tradition like the UK is now simply ridiculing itself over and over again.
Speaking of countries in trouble – the Empire is now over-playing its hand in the Ukraine. The Western stooge Iushchenko immediately a virulently anti-Russian position (he even threatened not to let the Black Sea fleet vessels back into Sevastopol) only to find himself so isolated in the Ukrainian Parliament that he could not even show up there to defend the viciously anti-Russian resolution he wants the Parliament to adopt. Even his own coalition partners (such as Iulia Timoshenko) are rejecting his stance while the opposition, lead by Viktor Ianukovich, is supporting an officially “neutral”, but in reality rather pro-Russian, position. It appears that the war in South Ossetia is polarizing the political scene in the Ukraine and, considering how unpopular Iushchenko (or NATO for that matter) is, it is becoming increasingly likely that the Ukraine will gradually slip away from the Imperial control it is currently held in. How will the Empire respond? It is hard to say, but keep an eye open for a possible violent crackdown on the Ukrainian opposition parties.
Like the neocons noted, there are two Europes: Old and New. The New is enthusiastically pro-US (having the Soviet experience too fresh in their memories, they still don’t know that the US is really, like Latin Americans do), while the Old is more independent and favours better and closer relations with Russia. Of course, the UK is the weird country in Old Europe, behaving like one of New.
Now we see that the poorest and weakest countries, New Europe, have taken control over the EU. First it was Poland vetoing a new agreement with Russia; now we have such an absurdity like this statement: “The European Council is gravely concerned by the open conflict which has broken out in
Georgia, by the resulting violence and by the disproportionate reaction of Russia. This
conflict has led to great suffering on both sides. Military action of this kind is not a solution
and is not acceptable. The European Council deplores the loss of human life, the suffering
inflicted on the population, the number of displaced persons and refugees, and the
considerable material damage.” Of course, no one dares to recognize the undeniable fact that it was Georgia who began the war, who attacked civilians and ruined an entire town, and that the Russian reaction was indeed very careful and limited (just compare to what NATO did to Serbia in 1999…) But at least it seems that Old Europe managed to prevent sanctions against Russia, at least by now.
Any chance of the European Union becoming a geopolitical check on the US ended when we agreed to enlargement. Carlo is absolutely right; countries like Poland and the Baltics are viscerally hostile to Russia and see both the EU and NATO as a means of getting revenge.
Britain supported enlargement because it knew these countries would be free market allies. In the late Eighties and early Nineties France and Germany were pushing for a federal Europe based on the Rhineland model of capitalism which is much more progressive than the Anglo American free market system (free as in employers and the rich have a free hand to exploit their workers – laissez faire has always meant a free for all and the Devil take the hindmost)
Enlargement for London was pure poitical opportunism. It new that the eastern countries would be fiercely nationalist and would support market fundamentalism as a reaction against the communism they’d just escaped.
Paris and Berlin should never have allowed the east to join until the new federal Europe had been set up based on the Rhineland model. Then it could have insisted that Poland and the rest joined on their terms. Unfortunately Britain won the battle and enlargement went ahead with the old Brussels institutions, which could just about work with only twelve members. But now we have twenty seven states the result is gridlock. There is no chance of a united EU foreign policy. The Eastern states have provoked conflict between the EU and Russia while denying the EU the means to operate effectively.
De Gaulle was right. Britain should never have been allowed to join the EU. It has been an American Trojan Horse from the start.
Europe is potentially a stronger economy than the US with a currency to rival the dollar. But politically it is a pygmy and will remain so. It is China, India and Russia that will bring down the Empire while the Europeans remain irrelevant.
“it is becoming increasingly likely that the Ukraine will gradually slip away…”
I would be interested in sources on this. Russia and Ukraine should be neighbors like the US and Canada. If Ukraine decides it is time to be a neighbor to both Europe and Russia it would likely neutralize US attempts to isolate Russia.
I know my wife (now a US citizen) considers herself more Russian than Ukrainian. Eastern Ukraine could become a “breakaway” if Lushchenko continues.
Here we go: the bovine excreta has hit the fan:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7595667.stm
Cheney will of course ignore the opposition and promise another billion dollars to “support their democracy”. More humanitarian missiles no doubt. And another colored “revolution” maybe?
Here’s another article on the same topic:
Ukraine coalition collapses under Russian pressure
-AA