Leading from the Center

BERLIN (Own report) – The Berlin office of an EU-wide think tank, is warning of how the “frustration over German dominance” is growing among EU member countries. Over the past ten years, the Federal Republic of Germany has become the EU’s undisputed strongest power, according to a recent analysis of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). The “EU partners” must now “decide how to handle Germany’s power.” Some have expressed resentment; others have “centered their EU strategies around Germany,” and look for “ways to influence Berlin’s policy machinery.” None of this leaves any doubt that “Germany’s political class” continues to see the EU as “the best available framework for the articulation of its national interest.” Whereas the ECFR’s analysis concentrates its attention primarily on the political establishment of the other EU countries, the supplementary question to be raised in how to deal with German dominance is becoming increasingly urgent. Berlin is impelling the militarization of foreign policy as well as domestic surveillance and repression, measures, serving the preparation for war – a concern of everyone.

‘The Fourth Reich’: What Some Europeans See When They Look at Germany

People today are understandably confused when they hear “Fourth Reich” and Germany combined in the same sentence. They cannot put two and two together because they continue to look for Nazis running the country. There are none.

The Fourth Reich of today is economic dominance and subjugation of the European continent which will later turn the landscape into a United States of Europe — the only way for the Euro, or single currency bloc to survive. The only solution is further integration, and further integration means destroying national sovereignty from country to country and doing things the hegemon’s way.

Along with an upcoming United States of Europe will be a European Army, thanks in part to the suicide of the United States and Russian threats from the East. Many may not see it, but it’s going in that direction step by step. Whether one chooses to believe it or not doesn’t change the fact that it in fact is happening, albeit at a slow pace, before their very eyes.

If you’re still looking for Nazis, you’re 70-plus years late to the party.

 

 

 

Following World War II, a German return to dominance in Europe seemed an impossibility. But the euro crisis has transformed the country into a reluctant hegemon and comparisons with the Nazis have become rampant. Are they fair?

May 30, 1941 was the day when Manolis Glezos made a fool of Adolf Hitler. He and a friend snuck up to a flag pole on the Acropolis in Athens on which a gigantic swastika flag was flying. The Germans had raised the banner four weeks earlier when they occupied the country, but Glezos took down the hated flag and ripped it up. The deed turned both him and his friend into heroes.

Back then, Glezos was a resistance fighter. Today, the soon-to-be 93-year-old is a member of the European Parliament for the Greek governing party Syriza. Sitting in his Brussels office on the third floor of the Willy Brandt Building, he is telling the story of his fight against the Nazis of old and about his current fight against the Germans of today. Glezos’ white hair is wild and unkempt, making him look like an aging Che Guevara; his wrinkled face carries the traces of a European century.

Teutonic Arrogance

ATHENS/BERLIN (Own report) – German politicians are reacting to the Greek government’s call for a partial remission of its debts and its throwing the EU-Troika out of the country, with ultimatums. “Tsipras had better cease his attacks on Angela Merkel,” threatened the European Parliament’s President Martin Schulz (SPD). “Beating up on the Germans” is “shortsighted.” State-financed German media organs are castigating Greece’s newly elected head of state as “obstinate” and complaining that he “is jeering,” “Germany is only one country among others.” US experts warn that in the EU’s crisis countries, the German austerity dictate has resulted in “a level of misery” “that surpasses the limits of tolerance for a democratic society,” and suggest that Greece be dealt with pragmatically – a partial debt remission along the lines of the London Debt Conference 1952/1953 model. Two years ago, Greece’s new Minister of Finance Giannis Varoufakis had already called on Germany to shift from an “authoritarian” to a “hegemonic policy” that would not use its economic power to hold the EU countries down, but to allow them to participate in the hegemonic benefits, as Washington had once done for the Federal Republic of Germany with its Marshall Plan. Varoufakis wrote explicitly, “Europe” does not need an “authoritarian” but “a hegemonic Germany.”

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)

It’s too late for other Europeans to be as efficient as Germans

While some see China or Russia becoming the next dominant world super power(s), the core of what drives Europe (Germany) is more likely poised to take the stage. People have disdain for cheap quality Chinese products flooding the world, and also being a health issue (lead contaminants). After the middle east, Russia is mainly a leading energy provider in gas and oil as well as a weapons salesman/proliferator to enemies of the west. There is also a large distrust of Chinese and Russian intentions globally in general. After China, Germany is the second largest exporter and represents one of the top five largest economies in the world

To put in perspective how far their reach goes product-wise, here are some examples:

Audi, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Lufthansa, Adidas, Puma, Boss, FC Bayern Munich, Dr. Oetker, Siemens, SAP, T-Mobile, MAN, Nutella, Nivea, Bayer, Bosch, Persil, Maggi.

Germany has the manufacturing capacity. Germany has the technology. Germany has well known and trusted brands throughout the world. Germany is the most populous country in Europe, thus having largest labor force. Germany is currently also dominating Europe, dictating terms to neighboring countries in economic plight and restructuring the continent to it’s vision. For many, Germany taking the leading role in the world might be a surprise, but not for those that follow current European events.

You know the old euro-joke about heaven and hell. Heaven is where the British do the policing, the Italians are the lovers, the French are the cooks and the Germans do the engineering. Hell is where the British are the cooks, the Germans are the lovers, the French are the engineers and the Italians run the place. Yes? There are all sorts of variants being chortled over in the bars of Brussels, but that is the gist.

Well, the European set-up is heavenly at least in the sense that the Germans are unquestionably the engineers. In this celestial world we currently occupy, the cars are German, the washing-machines are German, the fibre-optics are German, the high-value medical scanners are German and the machine-tools are German. The only thing is that the result is very far from heavenly for most of the economies of Europe. In fact, the whole experiment is looking more hellish by the day.

Full article: It’s too late for other Europeans to be as efficient as Germans (The Telegraph)