Afghanistan—Guess Who’s Not Leaving?

Much publicity is being given to the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. As to the strength of commitment to and the true nature of the drawdown, we shall have to wait to see what U.S. plan will emerge in the wake of the recent U.S. presidential elections.

…

Enter Germany.

Barroso: EU Needs New Treaty

While it’s true that further integration (and also the introduction of Eurobonds) will help stem the tide, it is not a permanent solution and is only kicking the proverbial can down the road. In addition, all roads continue to lead to Germany as the main benefactor of the crisis.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called for EU nations to sign a new treaty as he called for “greater unity” within EU, during his first major speech after the summer break, September 1.

His speech comes after reports that Germany has been quietly making the same proposal despite it being opposed by most EU nations.

Speaking at a convention of supreme court judges in The Hague, Barroso said that power at “the European level has yet to be consolidated to such a degree” that the EU can effectively solve its problems.

“We are experiencing a situation in which we need greater unity and coherence between our policies, as well as greater legislative harmonization,” he said. “And, to achieve all this, we need greater institutional integration.”

“The crisis has made it clear that we must not only complete the economic and monetary union, but also pursue greater economic integration and deeper political and democratic union with appropriate mechanisms of accountability,” he explained.

Barroso also brought up one of the great contradictions in this crisis. “We need more integration, and the corollary of more integration has to be more democracy,” he said. This is a common sentiment from Eurocrats. But more integration and more democracy are mutually exclusive: The people of Europe want less integration. To Barroso and his ilk, integration comes first; the people don’t get a say about that. The EU remains a fundamentally undemocratic project.

…

Some, probably many, will opt out of this integration. But Barosso is right, the crisis is forcing Europe to unify, which is exactly what Europe elites designed the crisis to do.

Full article: Barroso: EU Needs New Treaty (The Trumpet)

Camouflage and Deception

There’s war on the European continent once again, and at the moment it’s political/economic. The source? Germany. In this tangled web of European politics at the moment, there are also two parties involved: The blind caught in the snares and the complicit.

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) – Using a deceptive strategy, Berlin seeks to ward off the French President-elect François Hollande’s demand to put an end to the German austerity dictate. Other heads of EU member nations have begun to demand alongside Hollande that the EU return to credit financed stimulus programs, to prevent the complete collapse of several national economies, such as Greece is now confronting. Since the demise of the coalition government in the Netherlands, Berlin has found itself rather isolated and, alongside declarations of not allowing the EU zone to budge from its current austerity course, is resorting to methods to create confusion within the rebelling populations. The government is keeping “a placebo for the Euro partners” on hand, explains the press. The chancellor will most likely adopt some of the terminology used by François Hollande, but with her own interpretations. For example, she will speak of “promotion of growth,” while meaning the imposition of “structural reforms,” as envisaged by the austerity dictates. No new expenditures are planned. This is how the French growth offensive will be verbally ensnared, without having ceded an inch on the essence.

Full article: Camouflage and Deception (German Foreign Policy)