tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post7658974579145040706..comments2024-01-08T04:16:25.601-08:00Comments on Ché (What You Call Your) Pasa: Frau Merkel's German Europe ProjektChé Pasahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-47118422542475445062012-06-23T05:53:19.613-07:002012-06-23T05:53:19.613-07:00I read Ames's article, and I thought his skewe...I read Ames's article, and I thought his skewering of the ACLU was priceless. I've had to deal with them on occasion, and it's been quite striking how... <i>narrow</i> their charge has become. Labor rights? Huh. What's that? It's as if they never heard of it. <br /><br />Thanks to Ames, it's now clear why.<br /><br />Sad that so many self-proclaimed progressives still hold them up as paragons of progressive virtue. <br /><br />Well, I guess it all depends on the definition of terms, doesn't it?Ché Pasahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-74110924974278596742012-06-21T15:24:12.852-07:002012-06-21T15:24:12.852-07:00Right, I understand that Merkel's idea is Germ...Right, I understand that Merkel's idea is German domination of Europe. However, the form of the domination is the issue. We aren't talking cultural domination, military domination, settler extermination/domination or things like that. No, more like Germany will have the only functioning economy in the New Europe, and how can that work? Selling to China? Eventually China will be buying from China. Selling to our United States basket case economy? I just don't think it's good for Germany in the (relatively short) long run. If the United States were in better shape, we'd be ready to reap a windfall of talented Europeans about now. Unfortunately I'm not sure we'd know what to do with them if they came right now. (They'll be heading here either way, I think, unless Australia or someplace is a more attractive option.)<br /><br />Oh, and I hate Germany (my family got forced out by that damned Bismark) so I'd love to see them pushed out of the EU and isolated.<br /><br />Michael Hudson calls the Socialist parties in most of Europe "Social Fascists" because they abandoned socialism a long time ago for some variant of Blairism. Of course, I'm hardly an expert on modern European socialism, but I am kind of disgusted by "Socialists for Austerity." Seems like TINA was a political pronouncement by Thatcher referring to the other side.<br /><br />Oh, have you seen Ames article today:<br /><br /><a href="http://thedailybanter.com/2012/06/the-quiet-extermination-of-labor-rights-from-human-rights/" rel="nofollow">The Quiet Extermination Of Labor Rights From Human Rights</a><br /><br />It's US-centic but it seems to be on the nose as far as this kind of thing is concerned. It reminds me of Microsoft's old mantra, "embrace, extend, extinguish" applied to rival political organizations as opposed to rival software companies.vampyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14660319794133128873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-19113028220423623632012-06-21T12:50:07.945-07:002012-06-21T12:50:07.945-07:00Though there is much cruelty in Merkel's posit...Though there is much cruelty in Merkel's position vis a vis the Periphery -- and she isn't shy about declaring it, either -- her Plan, if there is one, doesn't follow previous models of extermination and <i>lebensraum</i>. But nobody thought Hitler was really pushing for that, either. <br /><br />She does seem to be pushing European unification under German terms if not under the German flag, and that's where I see Kaletsky's advice hitting the mark. German terms mean economic disaster for everyone else; the correct response at this point is to give an ultimatum to Germany, and force Germany out of the Eurozone if Merkel refuses.<br /><br />Of course doing that can have unintended consequences as well.<br /><br />And that's where no one seems to be thinking anything through at all. If there really is a 25 year or long term outlook, I don't see it. But then, Europeans themselves seem to be both cowed and cautious. They keep voting in rightist governments when facing existential peril. And if I'm reading the information I get correctly, they know what's really going on, and they're terrified.<br /><br />Which of course is to Merkel's advantage.<br /><br />Just prior to the Nazi attack on Poland, almost all the governments of Europe were outright fascist or rightist. The conflict in Europe was between varieties of fascists/rightists, not between Socialists or Communists and the Nazi/Fascists. Which is one reason why Europe surrendered so quickly to the German advance. The Germans were not seen as an existential peril by most of the other governments of Europe. <br /><br />I suspect something along those lines is taking place again as one after another European parliament shifts to the right, including Greece -- which is under the greatest threat and peril. <br /><br />France is the apparent anomaly, but in so much of Europe, the Socialists have been discredited as sell outs. For some reason, that hasn't happened in France -- yet. Or maybe it has!Ché Pasahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-54527882908813419542012-06-21T10:11:52.534-07:002012-06-21T10:11:52.534-07:00This is less like Hitler and more like the Schlief...This is less like Hitler and more like the Schlieffen plan. Hitler was undone by ideology in the end, but starting out he was pretty brilliant. His problem was one of satiety, he kept going until Germany was destroyed. (Remember, Nevile Chamberlain is much reviled for "peace in our time," but he probably just underestimated Hitler's ambition. What if his conquests to that point had been enough for Hitler? He'd have been a large powerful state in Europe, and likely seen as a useful counterweight to Stalin by Britain and the United States. Neither country being too concerned at the disposition of Jews or Gypsies at the time.)<br /><br />The Schlieffen plan, on the other hand, was a really brilliant war plan which failed to even ask the question "And then what?" because that would have been seen as the equivalent of questioning the plan.<br /><br />Well, "And then what?" proved to be long years of trench warfare finally ending in German defeat. However, it's not Germany's defeat that makes me compare their present course to the Schlieffen plan. No, it's that this hasn't really be thought through beyond the economic domination of Europe.<br /><br />For example, if this were the first step of a plan for political domination of Europe, and single European state with a capitol in Berlin, I have to believe that utterly destroying all the other economies in Europe wouldn't be the plan. I think most of Europe, at this point, given the option of integrating into a European state that provided some prosperity to the future would at least consider it, even with Germany firmly in charge. After which, keeping the rest of economy whole would be important to compete with other superstates like China and the United States. (Right now the United States is beset with internal problems and incompetently managed, but I'm talking about preparing for the future.) <br /><br />But this is just madness. Unlike Germany under Hitler, I don't think Merkel wants to exterminate other European populations to make room for German settlers but her policies will have the effect of depopulating much of Europe none-the-less.vampyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14660319794133128873noreply@blogger.com