The New World Ordoliberalism, Part 8: A New MIC Becomes the EU’s New Austerity Loophole. Maybe.
Life on earth really can’t afford another major military industrial complex (MIC). But that’s what’s coming. Or at least the financing is getting worked out as Europe deals reels from the damage already inflicted on the Transatlantic alliance in the open months of the second Trump administration. It’s urgent. A new era of security independence has begun for the European community and there’s no time to spare in getting started on building it. Plans are already taking shape. Plans to dramatically increase EU-wide defense spending by effectively forcing each EU member to achieve at least 3% of GDP on defense spending, well about the 2% NATO minimum. Roughly 650 billion euros in extra defense spending over the next four years. But what about the EU’s strict debt and austerity rules? There’s a plan for that too: extra defense spending will not count towards the EU’s debt and deficit rules. At least for the next four years. And perhaps longer. And yet, all signs indicate that this extra debt will have be repaid eventually. So are we looking at the beginning of a new MIC? Or the largest austerity trap in EU history? Time will tell.
Other plans include 150 billion euros in direct loans from the EU to member states for approved military hardware purchases. Loans that, again, will have to be repaid. But the loans will also be provided at lower-than-market interest rates from funds raised directly by the EU Commission. In other words, jointly-backed bonds, something previously anathema to Germany and the rest of the EU’s wealthier members. Remarkably, Germany isn’t just strongly behind the loan plan but wants it expanded to potentially include loans to non-EU members like Norway, Switzerland, or Turkey. These big spending plans keep getting bigger, with German backing. It’s an historic shift. Beyond that, Germany is already planning an 800 billion euro defense spending splurge of its own over the next decade and calling for the EU’s plan to be extended well beyond the four year proposal. Yes, Germany is backing much higher EU-wide debt levels for the indefinite future. As long as that debt is spent on the military, of course. That’s the incredible story current unfolding. The kind of story that points towards a big new EU MIC, much higher EU debt levels, and, perhaps, the biggest austerity trap in EU history. The devil in the details. Details yet t be hammered out, and possibly not ever hammered out until long after the EU has committed itself to this path and the trap has already been set.
Supplemental Documentation about “The Christian West”
In FTR #1009, we reviewed and updated “Christian West” negotiations to have a Hitler-less Third Reich join with the Western Allies, undertaken by OSS representatives Allen Dulles and William Donovan, networking with Prince Max Egon von Hohenlohe, a proxy for SD officer Walter Schellenberg. In in his 1985 volume American Swastika, the late author Charles Higham provides us with insight into the Christian West concept, revealing the extent to which these SS/OSS negotiations set the template for the post-World War II world, as well as the degree of resonance that key Americans, such as Allen Dulles, had with Nazi ideology, anti-Semitism in particular. The postwar political and economic realities of the Dulles, Hohenlohe, Schellenberg meetings were further solidified when William (Wild Bill) Donovan entered into his “M” Project. Important to note in this context, is the dominant role in world affairs played by cartels, the fundamental element in the industrial and financial axis that was essential to the creation and perpetuation of fascism. Much of the Third Reich’s military industrial complex, the primacy of Germany in the postwar EU, as well as the correlation between postwar Europe as constructed in the Christian West negotiations and long-standing German plans for European domination are derivative of the power of cartels. The Christian West and “M” Projects: 1) Revealed that Allen Dulles’ views resonated with Third Reich anti-Semitism, and that his opinions were shared by other, like-minded American power brokers: ” . . . . He said that it would be unbearable for any decent European to think that the Jews might return someday, and that there must be no toleration of a return of the Jewish power positions. . . . He made the curious assertion that the Americans were only continuing the war to get rid of the Jews and that there were people in America who were intending to send the Jews to Africa. . . .” 2) Set the template for the postwar Federal Republic of Germany and the EU: ” . . . . He [Dulles] reiterated his desire for a greater European political federation–and foresaw the federal Germany that in fact took place. . . . Germany would be set up as the dominating force in industry and agriculture in continental Europe, at the heart of a continental state run by Germany, the U.S.A., and Great Britain as a focus of trade. . . .” 3) Were the vehicle for Allen Dulles to betray much of the Allied military plans for Southern Europe to the Third Reich: “. . . . Dulles now proceeded to supply Hohenlohe with dollops of secret intelligence, announcing that the U.S. Army would not land in Spain but, after conquering Tunisia, would advance from Africa toward the Ploesti oil fields to cut off the German oil supplies. He said it was likely the Allies would land in Sicily to cut off Rommel and control Italy from there, and thus secure the advance in the Balkans. Having given virtually the entire battle plan for Europe, top secret at the time, to one of Germany’s agents, Allen Dulles proceeded to the almost unnecessary rider that he had very good relations with the Vatican. . . .” 4) Directly foreshadowed the confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which became the Cold War. “. . . . In other meetings, Dulles . . . . predicted that ‘the next world war would be between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union.’ . . . .” 5) Were the occasion for Dulles to laud the “genius” of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels: “He . . . . described a recent speech by Dr. Goebbels as ‘a work of genius; I have rarely read a speech with such rational pleasure.’ . . . .”
The New World Ordoliberalism, Part 7: To QE, or Not to QE, That is the Ominous Question
As the European Central Bank (ECB) continues to wrestle with the decision of when and how quickly to wind down its quantitative easing (QE) program while inflation remains stubbornly below the 2 percent target and likely to stay well below 2 percent for the foreseeable future, it’s worth noting that there’s a new nightmare to add to the equation: The euro has surged in value this year, a move that not only depresses exports in recovery economies like Spain and Portugal but also depresses inflation. And one of the things holding down the value of the euro is the ECB’s QE program. So if the ECB tapers off the QE too early and quickly it’s going to make an overly-strong euro even stronger while dragging inflation even lower, potentially derailing fragile recoveries in the austerity-inflicted member states. And that means not sending the wrong signals is a key goal of the ECB is things are going to go smoothly. Guess which signals are being sent.
Strategy of Tension in France? “Third Position” Manifestations? Macron Institutes Broad Crackdown
In FTR #957, we noted that “Golden Boy” Emmanuel Macron was Germany’s choice to lead France. Widely hailed as a herald of political and economic enlightenment, Macron has assumed Napoleonic-like power, implementing policies that are deeply inimical to French democracy. Amnesty International recently condemned the government’s abuse of anti-terrorist emergency powers that restrict freedom of movement and rights to peaceful assembly. “Under the cover of the state of emergency, rights to protest have been stripped away with hundreds of activists, environmentalists, and labor rights campaigners unjustifiably banned from participating in protests,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s researcher on France. In the name of preventing “threats to public order,” the government over a period of 18 months issued 155 decrees banning protests, and 574 measures prohibiting specific individuals from taking part in protests against proposed labor law changes. The latter statistic is particularly notable because Macron plans to issue sweeping decrees to limit the power of unions over working conditions and company firing policies. Such proposals have triggered mass demonstrations and violent clashes with police, in recent months. Macron has been using anti-terror measures taken in response to France’s bloody terror attacks of the last couple of years. It turns out that some of the weaponry used by the terrorists was provided by Claude Hermant (above, right), an apparent agent for the French security forces and a former bodyguard for the fascist National Front, whose defeat at the hands of Macron was bruited about as a “triumph” for enlightenment, democracy, etc. All of the contents of this website as of 12/19/2014–Dave Emory’s 37+ years of research and broadcasting–as well as hours of videotaped lectures are available on a 32GB flash drive. Dave offers his programs and articles for free–your support is very much appreciated.
FTR #957 The National Front and Deep Politics in France, Part 2
With the looming decisive second round in the French elections, there is renewed scrutiny on the National Front and its titular head Marine Le Pen.
Networked with various figures ranging from the milieu of Donald Trump to that of Turkish president Erdogan, the National Front and the Le Pens (father Jean-Marie and daughter Marine) are carrying on the fascist tradition in France.
The second of two shows, this program continues our examination of French deep politics, scrutinizing powerful economic and financial arrangements that determined the Franco-German political dynamic throughout most of the twentieth century and, thus far, through the twenty-first as well.
Critical to our understanding is the dynamic of occupying the high ground on both sides of a political divide. This program underscores how this has placed Germany in a key strategic position on both sides of key political struggles: In the pre-World War II era and postwar era as well; In the right-left political divide in French politics; In the struggle between anti-immigrant/anti-Muslim advocates such as the National Front and Muslim-Brotherhood linked elements in the Islamist community.
Key elements of discussion include:
1. Review of Steve Bannon’s ideological fondness for French anti-Semite and Vichy collaborationist Charles Maurras. Maurras’ Action Francaise is a direct antecedent of the National Front. ” . . . . One of the primary progenitors of the party was the Action Française, founded at the end of the 19th century. . . .”
2. Review of the relationship between former president Francois Mitterand (a socialist) and French Holocaust implementer and Vichy police official Rene Bousquet, who was close to Mitterand and helped to finance his campaign and those of other left-wing French politicians. With financial influence in left-wing parties, Germany can help motivate the French left to band together to defeat the French National Front and its anti-EU, anti-NATO ideology. Potential leftists can also be channelled into an anti-immigrant/anti-Muslim position along that of the National Front. ” . . . . . . . The most damning of all charges against Mitterrand and his right wing connections is probably his long lasting friendship with René Bousquet, ex secrétaire général of the Vichy police. . . . In 1974, René Bousquet gave financial help to François Mitterrand for his presidential campaign against Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. In an interview with Pierre Favier et Michel Martin-Roland Mitterrand claimed that he was not the only left wing politician to benefit from Bousquet’s money, as René Bousquet helped finance all the principal left wing politicians from the 1950s to the beginning of the 1970s, including Pierre Mendès France. . . .”
3. Discussion of Francois Mitterand’s primary role in establishing the Euro, as a prerequisite for German reunification (his alleged “fear” of a reunified Germany should be taken with a grain of salt in light of his collaborationist background and relationship with Rene Bousquet: ” . . . . He [Robert Zoellick] explained his understanding of how Europe got its common currency. . . . it was very clear that European monetary union resulted from French-German tensions before unification and was meant to calm Mitterrand’s fears of an all-too-powerful Germany. According to Zoellick, the euro currency is a by-product of German unification. . . . in strategic terms, Germany’s influence has never been greater. As the continent wants to bank on Germany’s AAA rating, Berlin can now effectively dictate fiscal policy to Athens, Lisbon and Rome – perhaps in the future to Paris, too. . .”
4. More about the Euro (launched with the critically important assistance of Francois Mitterand: “. . . . It [the euro] has turned the Germans into the new rulers of Europe. And it has consigned France to be the weaker partner in the Franco-German relationship. . . .”
5. Analysis of the decisive relationship between French steelmakers belonging to the Comite des Forges and their German counterparts and Ruhr coal producers, one of the foundational elements of the Fifth Column that is antecedent to the National Front: ” . . . . The struggle of the interwar period was not simply a clash between French interests on the one side and German interests on the other. During the development of the Ruhr-Lorraine industrial complex, like-minded industrialists in France and Germany had become directors of jointly owned and jointly controlled financial, industrial, and distributing enterprises. In many cases common views on questions of economic organization, labor policy, social legislation, and attitude toward government had been far more important to the industrialists than differences of nationality or citizenship. . . . ”
6. The economic collaboration between French and German oligarchs worked to the advantage of Germany: ” . . . .It is curious to note that only the French appeared to have this conflict between public policy and private activities. On the German side, complete co-ordination seems to have been preserved between national and private interests; between officials of the German Republic and the leaders of German industry and finance. . . .”
7. Exemplifying the operation of the pro-German Fifth Column in the Ruhr-Lorraine industrial complex is the relationship between the De Wendel and Rochling interests: ” . . . . During World War I the De Wendels, the influential French-German banking and industrial family which headed the French wing of the International Steel Cartel through their Comite des Forges and whose members had sat in the parliaments of both France and Germany, were able to keep the French army from destroying industrial plants belonging to the German enterprises of the Rochling family. . . . . . . . The Rochling family, with their powerful complex of coal, iron, steel and banking enterprises in Germany, has for generations played in close harmony with the de Wendel family. . . .”
8. The De Wendel/Rochling links were so profound that the Rochlings were called upon to help build the French defensive Maginot Line: ” . . . . On the other hand, as far as the French steel makers’ association, the Comite des Forges, and in particular the de Wendels who headed the Comite, were concerned, it was business as usual-or in this case, business as unusual-that prevailed. . . . When it came time for France to build its impregnable Maginot Line, who should be called in to supply steel and technical assistance but the German firm of the brothers Rochling. . . .”
9. After the French capitulation, the Vichy government–to no one’s surprise–exonerated the Rochlings: ” . . . . Now comes the outbreak of World War II. The French army marching into the Saar during the ‘phony war’ period in 1939, received orders not to fire on or damage the plants of the ‘war criminals,’ the brothers Rochling. In 1940 came the blitz and the fall of France. The Vichy government passed a decree exonerating the Rochlings and canceling their forty-year prison sentences. . . .”
10. The Franco-German steel cartel, in turn, belonged to an international steel cartel featuring the Thyssen firm Vereinigte Stahlwerke (later Thyssen A.G.). The Thyssen interests are inextricably linked with the Bormann capital network. The Thyssens’ principal American contacts were the Bush family. ” . . . . They marked the formation of the United Steel Works in Germany, as a combination of the four biggest steel producers Ernst Poensgen, Fritz Thyssen, Otto Wolff, and the others who drew this combine together had managed to get over a hundred million dollars from private investors in the United States. Dillon Read & Company, the New York investment house which brought Clarence Dillon, James V. Forrestal, William H. Draper, Jr., and others into prominence, floated the United Steel Works bonds in the United States . . . . ”
11. During the occupation of France, the Franco-German corporate connection yielded further German capital domination of French firms: ” . . . The Third Republic’s business elite was virtually unchanged after 1940. . . . They regarded the war and Hitler as an unfortunate diversion from their chief mission of preventing a communist revolution in France. Antibolshevism was a common denominator linking these Frenchmen to Germans. . . . The upper-class men who had been superbly trained in finance and administration at one of the two grand corps schools were referred to as France’s permanent ‘wall of money,’ and as professionals they came into their own in 1940. They agreed to the establishment of German subsidiary firms in France and permitted a general buy-in to French companies. . . .
12. The Franco-German corporate links and the domination of that relationship by corporate Germany and the Bormann network continued into the postwar period: ” . . . . Society’s natural survivors, French version, who had served the Third Reich as an extension of German industry, would continue to do so in the period of postwar trials, just as they had survived the war, occupation, and liberation. These were many of the French elite, the well-born, the propertied, the titled, the experts, industrialists, businessmen, bureaucrats, bankers. . . . Economic collaboration in France with the Germans had been so widespread (on all levels of society) that there had to be a realization that an entire nation could not be brought to trial. . . .”
13. Corporate German/Bormann control of French commerce and finance is the determining factor in contemporary French affairs: ” . . . . The understandings arrived at in the power structure of France reach back to prewar days, were continued during the occupation, and have carried over to the present time. [New York Times reporter Flora] Lewis, in her report from Paris, commented further: ‘This hidden control of government and corporations has produced a general unease in Paris.’ Along with the unease, the fact that France has lingering and serious social and political ailments is a residue of World War II and of an economic occupation that was never really terminated with the withdrawal of German troops beyond the Rhine. . . .”
14. The Franco-German corporate Axis facilitated the De Wendel family’s postwar assistance of Friedrich Flick, another of Hitler’s top industrialists.: ” . . . . The understandings arrived at in the power structure of France reach back to prewar days, were continued during the occupation, and have carried over to the present time. Lewis, in her report from Paris, commented further: ‘This hidden control of government and corporations has produced a general unease in Paris.’ Along with the unease, the fact that France has lingering and serious social and political ailments is a residue of World War II and of an economic occupation that was never really terminated with the withdrawal of German troops beyond the Rhine. . . .”
15. The seamless incorporation of the Franco-German corporate axis into the German-dominated EU and EMU has yielded the ability of the Federal Republic to interfere in the French political process: ” . . . . Like Fillon, Macron is considered ‘Germany-compatible’ by a German think tank, whereas all other candidates are viewed as unsuitable for ‘constructive cooperation’ because of their criticism of the EU and/or of NATO. Recently, Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble ostentatiously recommended voting for Macron. Berlin’s interference on behalf of Macron shows once again that German domination of the EU does not stop at national borders, and — according to a well-known EU observer — surpasses by far Russia’s feeble meddling in France. . . .”
The program concludes with rumination about the role of anti-Muslim sentiment in the French and U.S. political process and the presence of Underground Reich-linked elements on both the “anti-immigrant” side and the Islamist/Muslim Brotherhood side.
Program Highlights Include:
1. Review of the Islamist/Muslim Brotherhood Turkish Refah Party (the direct antecedent of Erdogan’s AKP) and its relationship to Ahmed Huber of the Bank Al-Taqwa.
2. Review of the role of Ahmed Huber (later of the Bank Al-Taqwa) in introducing Turkish Muslim Brotherhood’s Necmettin Erbakan with Marine Le Pen’s father: ” . . . . . . . . A second photograph, in which Hitler is talking with Himmler, hangs next to those of Necmettin Erbakan and Jean-Marie Le Pen [leader of the fascist National Front]. Erbakan, head of the Turkish Islamist party, Refah, turned to Achmed Huber for an introduction to the chief of the French party of the far right. Exiting from the meeting . . . . Huber’s two friends supposedly stated that they ‘share the same view of the world’ and expressed ‘their common desire to work together to remove the last racist obstacles that still prevent the union of the Islamist movement with the national right of Europe.’. . .”
3. Review of The Camp of the Saints, a racist, anti-immigrant book valued both by French National Front types and Trump advisor Steve Bannon.
Germany, Greece and Franco’s Blue Division
Wolfgang Schauble (Germany’s Finance Minister) has stated that Germany needn’t repay the billions it stole from Greece during World War II, because a government is not obligated to fulfill the pledges of previous regimes. The fact that Germany continues to pay pensions to veterans of Spain’s Blue Division (which fought on the Eastern Front during World War II) suggests that the German government’s judgments are self-servingly selective. All of the contents of this website as of 12/19/2014–Dave Emory’s 35+ years of research and broadcasting–as well as hours of videotaped lectures are available on a 32GB flash drive. Dave offers his programs and articles for free–your support is very much appreciated.
Analyzing “Clausewitzian Economics”: Greek Politician Compares German Economic Hegemony to WWII
In past programs, we examined the Greek and Eurozone debt crises in the context of the theories of Friedrich List and Carl von Clausewitz, as well as the realization of those theories through successful manipulation of the transnational corporate landscape through both world wars and the “postwars” that followed them. Recently, a the Greek mayor of Corfu encapsulated that development rather succinctly: “What they didn’t manage in World War II they are managing now,” Kostas Nikolouzos, the left-wing mayor of Corfu, said of Germany, voicing a common sentiment. “It may sound extreme, but it’s true.” All of the contents of this website as of 12/19/2014–Dave Emory’s 35+ years of research and broadcasting–as well as hours of videotaped lectures are available on a 32GB flash drive. Dave offers his programs and articles for free–your support is very much appreciated.
FTR #861 Greek Tragedy, Part 4
Continuing our analysis of the Greek economic and political crisis, we begin with review of Greece and the late stages of World War II. The occupying British turned on the partisans who had played a large part in the defeat of Axis occupation forces, setting the stage for a brutal civil war. Much of the program centers on the fire-sale of major Greek infrastructure, including the takeover of 14 regional airports by a German corporation. Much of Greek infrastructure is now up for sale, including infrastructure that is essential for the reconstruction of the economy of Greece. Having figured significantly in the development of Greek debt, a number of German businessmen are now fugitives from Greek justice, seeking to avoid prosecution for corruption charges. After noting that Greek debt is actually LOWER than German debt when calculated using a standard accounting scale, the program notes the proposal to have Greek youth work for free, in order to relieve the massive youth unemployment plaguing that country. Recorded on Labor Day weekend of 2015, the program concludes with rumination concerning the past and future of slavery, scrutinized against the background of recent and future events.
German Company Buys Greek Airports
“. . . In the early 1980s, as Chair of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), [German Finance Minister Wolfgang] Schäuble had organized the first economic initiatives [and not just] toward France. Theodor Veiter, a former Nazi specialist for border subversion, was one of Schäuble’s advisors as chair of the AEBR. . . .” It is against this background that we examine the purchase of Greek regional airports by a German company. All of the contents of this website as of 12/19/2014–Dave Emory’s 35+ years of research and broadcasting–as well as hours of videotaped lectures are available on a 32GB flash drive. Dave offers his programs and articles for free–your support is very much appreciated.
FROM THE LECTURE SERIES
The Future: Technology, Theocracy and the Thousand Year Reich The shape of things to come. Read more »- Spitfire List is licensed under Creative Commons.
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