May 6, 2015

“US has no choice but try to conquer Europe” — Fort Russ review

by Systematic

Fort Russ’s J. Hawk reviews Russian commentator Alex Leshy’s opinion piece The sources of US aggressiveness lie in the EU:

Leshy makes a compelling argument that the US actions in Ukraine are to a large extent motivated by the desire to overcome its systemic economic crisis by “cannibalizing” its EU partner. Leshy goes so far as to compare the signing of the TTIP, in terms of importance, to the hoisting of the Red Banner above the Reichstag, because it would signify a total (though not necessarily final) victory in the quest to transform the EU from a partner into a vassal, trapped in a neocolonial cycle of dependency. The reasons for it are prosaic: there are no more “emerging markets” to expand into. China and Russia are too powerful to succumb to domination, and everyone who’s weak enough for the US to dominate is too poor for that domination to be of much use. Needless to say, most European leaders (especially in France and Germany) understand it, hence the resistance to US pressure to take a harder line. Those European leaders who pretend not to understand it merely hope to gain a promotion within the imperial hierarchy in return for their support of the US agenda. So in many respects the situation resembles that of 1914 too closely for comfort, because the Great Powers of Western Europe turned on each other only when they ran out of the rest of the planet to colonize, when the only means of expansion was through attacking their neighboring imperial power. Except now instead of a two-way stalemate between the Central Powers and the Entente, there’s a three-way one between the Anglo-Saxon powers, the Continental Powers (certain morons russophobic minor European countries excepting), and Russia. Plus, to make things more interesting, a similar scenario is unfolding in the Middle East and Asia.