WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY News Journal Update - (en) Italy, UCADI #179: Europe adrift (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The European Union is in disarray, increasingly inert on the

international stage, while the crisis areas around the continent
multiply, the war in Ukraine drags on more and more wearily and the
positions of the various countries differ, feeling the progressive
reduction of support of public opinion, the Kosovo crisis explodes
again, the Middle East is at war. ---- And to say that, when at the end
of the Second World War the Europeanists conceived the idea of a united
Europe, they hoped that the union of the peoples of the old continent
would allow the overcoming of the States and above all of the very
concept of nation that so many mourning has caused the populations,
against each other armies, by the economic and profit interests of the
economic-financial and political powers that govern the States. The
ruins and millions of deaths brought about by the war were then there
for all to see, alive in people's memories and therefore it seemed easy
to make them understand the opportunity and convenience of proceeding to
overcome national states in the name of a common belonging to a
continent that shares values developed on the basis of common experiences.
Already then, we anarchist communists looked favorably on the ideas of
Altiero Spinelli and the other European federalists because, although
aware that the Europe which was being created was a capitalist
construction, a sort of super State, we saw in the creation of a space
common for the European peoples, a way to overcome the patriotic
nationalism that over the centuries has seen the peoples of the
continent pitted against each other, slaughtering each other,
defenseless of the economic and financial interests of this or that
group of masters, who have invented both homelands and nations, to grab
a greater share of wealth. We were and are tired of seeing all human
beings divide and succumb in the name of the supremacy of religious and
linguistic affiliations, of habits and customs, of different traditions,
passed off as incompatible and unbridgeable identity differences to
justify the war, and through them, the perpetuation of economic and
power wage slavery.
It is certainly true that even in recent years nationalistic selfishness
has not been lacking in those countries that had been champions of the
idea of nation, such as France, which recognized itself in the
hypothesis of a Europe of States that would have to impose itself on the
idea of a federal Europe, capable of implementing a further synthesis of
values and giving life to institutional relationships that would take it
away from identification with a people, a language, the role of a
hegemonic national culture. It was not a question of abolishing
diversity or suppressing identities, but only, and this is no small
thing, of accustoming different subjects to getting to know each other
and living together: in other words, to accept coexistence in diversity.
Even though with a thousand contradictions, the European reconstruction
project went ahead and allowed its citizens for 75 years to have the
impression of living in a situation of peace, even if the German-led
European Union - or if you prefer Franco-Rhine traction - had no qualms
about promoting the Yugoslav crisis and the Balkan wars, in which it
intervened under the NATO umbrella. Belgrade was bombed by the Italians
themselves with the NATO insignia and the horrendous massacres in
Bosnia, the ethnic cleansing in the Crajne, have rekindled hatred and
created the Kosovar entity, sanctioning the violability of the borders
and jurisdiction of the States, as they have been formed after World War
II. Now - with the Russian invasion of Ukraine - the fruits of that
operation are being reaped which had the aim of fragmenting the
formation of a possible aggregation center around the former Yugoslavia
to make Brussels the only point of reference for a United Europe.
Once the principle of the inviolability of borders had been overcome,
Russia considered it its right to defend itself from a policy of
penetration into its space of economic-political influence and the right
to invade Ukraine in defense of the Russki mir (Russian world).
It's true, the breaking of the status quo has allowed the European Union
to grow and expand, but just when the project seemed about to be
realized, reaching the entire continent and the various Balkan countries
were preparing to "mature" the criteria for membership, absorbing and
conforming to the principles of the community aequis, patiently waiting
to join the Union, Great Britain, which had forcibly joined, decided to
restore its traditional policy towards the continent under the banner of
the ancient "divide and conquer" brocade and Brexit was launched.

The rediscovery of empires

In a world still committed to experiencing the globalization of
economies, actors nostalgic for past empires appeared. The English
conservatives planned Brexit[1]as the first step for the reconstruction
of a political-economic area of the North Atlantic which, in
anticipation of a shift of trade from the Mediterranean to the North
Sea, thanks to climate change and the opening of polar for the traffic
of goods to and from the Pacific area, they should give centrality to
the maritime traffic of the Barents Sea. The accessions of Sweden,
Norway and Finland to NATO, in close coordination with Great Britain,
must be read in this perspective, and not only as consequences of the
war in Ukraine, as they are aimed at controlling the Northern Sea routes
for an anti-Russian function. and Chinese: these two countries have in
fact invested huge capital in the construction of ports and
infrastructure on the "Northern Passage" through the Barnes Sea. The
creation of an "exclusive Anglo-Saxon space" is the dream underlying
England's exit from Europe, hoping, albeit in the long term, to recover
relations with the scattered members of what was the British Empire , to
make it the reference point of the world order. The English were aware
that the project required a weakening of the continental European Union
and therefore they worked to put the Union's economy in crisis and, at
the same time, to divide the different countries of the continent,
committing them to direct their resources into a bottomless pit that
would further weaken them: war. They therefore identified the low-cost
energy available to European industries - thanks to the partnership with
Russia - as the weak link in the continental European economies.

The rewriting of history and the Ukrainian war

In order to sever this relationship and put them in crisis, they decided
to support the United States in the destabilization of Ukraine which
Russia considered an integral part of the Russki mir, siding alongside
the Ukrainian political and business circles. The latter, heirs of the
kulaks who at the time had been an expression of Ukrainian nationalism,
aspired to regain ownership of the lands put up for sale by the
Ukrainian Government and, at the same time, to rewrite the narrative of
the country's history in a nationalistic key. For these reasons they
needed a war that would dig a furrow of unbridgeable hatred between the
Ukrainian and Russian people, cutting the umbilical and sentimental cord
that binds (but, it would be more accurate to say, tied) the two peoples
in a thousand ways.
Therefore, taking advantage of the crisis of the Ukrainian industrial
apparatus, caused by the opening of the country to the Western market
and the consequent demands for independence in the eastern regions of
the country, damaged by what was happening because the industrial area
of the country was mainly located in their territories , they took
advantage of this to start a guerrilla war, conducted by paramilitary
formations and central government troops, to start a civil war that
would act as a fuse for a future open battle with Russia, acting as
bearers of the requests of the owner oligarchs of lands in the western
area of the country. The latter aimed to integrate Ukraine into the
Union's economy, counting on being able to benefit from the structure of
the common agricultural policy to find capital and markets to develop
the country's agricultural profits which needed investments and further
markets.
Alerted by what was happening, the Russian Government restored its
jurisdiction over Crimea, administratively ceded to Ukraine in 1954, and
decided to support the secessionists of the Donbas oblasts, preparing
for war. The reaction to this project by the Ukrainian central
government would not have been possible without the Ukrainian secret
services and army having been supported by the British ones, as we
learned from a NATO source after the outbreak of the war; the beginning
of political-military relations between the two parties dates back to
then. Strengthened by these relationships, British politicians
implemented Brexit under the pretext of wanting to avoid subordinating
British national law to EU law, a choice which - in their opinion -
would have violated the country's sovereignty. they regained full
autonomy of action for their country.

Russia - affected in its historical and strategic interests, trusting in
the non-intervention of the European Union, believing that the economic
interests deriving from the energy partnership would prevail and
underestimating the Ukrainian reaction, launched "special operation" Z
and invaded the country, finding unexpected resistance. On the other
hand, NATO and the European Union, although not intervening with their
own troops. they decided to support Ukraine, arming it and taking on the
maintenance of the state apparatus, covering the country's budget
expenses: healthcare, schools, social services, infrastructure, energy,
etc. In essence, today Ukraine is a failed state, whose budget is
entirely supported by European funds which provide for the payment of
all its needs: a portion of these resources are obviously taken away
from the needs of the peoples of the various European states, unaware,
and the very rapacious Ukrainian oligarchs benefit from these resources,
so much so that Zelensky has had to hit at least some of them several
times and remove them for corruption.
In exchange for the massacre of its population, Ukraine has earned the
promise of a privileged path to membership of the European Union,
despite not possessing the requirements, inviting European companies and
capital, called to share the agricultural and mineral resources, as well
as energy resources of the country. All this without considering that
the investment risks being very bad, because, if it is true that the
total ownership of the land is gradually passing to the multinationals
who aspired to take it over, the territory is today ruined, it is
polluted by war events, when the two warring parties were not spared the
ecological disaster, consisting of the widespread dissemination of
explosive devices, the hydrological and geological instability, such as
that caused by the rupture of the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric
power station in the Kherson oblast, the pollution from enriched uranium
for the use of projectiles that use this highly polluting material and
whatnot: a bad deal!
Now, after a year and a half of war, the Ukrainian general staff
realizes that the war against Russia cannot be won, due to the enormous
differences between the two countries in the availability of men and
women to sacrifice at the front and to employ in the war effort: only
Zelensky, in love with the role he has built for himself, hedonistically
persists in refusing any negotiation, declaring that he has unshakable
faith in victory like the egocentric histrionic man that he is.
The fact remains that Great Britain and the United States are the only
subjects to have achieved their objectives, making Europe pay a heavy
price. England, in turn, is paying, at least in the short term, an
equally high price for its strategic choices, consisting of the growing
crisis that is gripping its economy, due to the loss of relations with
the continental European market.

For a new world order

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict draws the attention of public
opinion and worries the various powers operating on the world stage in a
piecemeal war lucidly identified and described by the reigning Pontiff,
the Ukrainian war passes quietly, forgotten, and the The European Union
remains immobile, paralyzed and helpless, victim of its political
inability and its contradictions, while:

The competitiveness of European goods on the world market has been
significantly reduced, due to the increase in production costs as a
consequence of energy costs;
The European Union has invested economic and military resources in the
conflict, bleeding its own economy and using enormous capital in the war
effort and in economic support for a now non-existent budget of the
Ukrainian state, whose economy it has been supporting for two years;
The players that the various countries of the Union have identified to
make up for the energy supplies that have failed from Russia, either
charge higher prices or are close allies of Russia who have economic,
political, commercial and product triangulation relationships with it
energy;
The sanctions issued by the European Union of Western countries against
Russia have had the effect of making the country's economy grow, of
developing autarkic self-production, replacing goods that are no longer
importable, of redirecting economic and financial relations of Russia
towards the East and the rest of the world;
They have strengthened, in emerging countries, resentment and distrust
towards a West that uses double standards with respect to the war in
Ukraine and the many wars taking place in the world;

They have allowed the growth of an alternative role to the G7 and G8
wanted by the BRICS West; in fact, membership of the Brics is growing
and they are working to carry out their attack on the dollar-based
economy by agreeing to trade using their respective currencies;
They left room, as Great Britain wanted, for attempts to reconstruct the
empires, with the growth of the political and strategic influence of
Turkey which aspires to reconstruct the economic and political space
that belonged to the Ottoman Empire; of Russia which aspires to do the
same in relation to what was the USSR.
In this new context, the economic and political space in the European
Union is increasingly narrow and the problems have grown;
The process of accession to the Union of countries that have been
preparing their entry into the Union for decades, struggling to adapt to
community parameters, has been blocked, as has happened with the Balkan
countries which are left waiting, while a privileged path seems to be
created for Ukraine which is further away than ever from respecting the
community aequis and which is one of the most corrupt countries in the
world. Add to this the fact that, as a country at war, it cannot enter
the Union, regardless of any promises made by a European leadership,
incapable of understanding, made up of obtuse bureaucrats;
European countries are divided by growing populisms, with difficulty
contained here and there in their attack on the institutions of the
liberal state, while the Union is facing an electoral confrontation that
will see the leadership strongly called into question
of the community building;
The risk is becoming increasingly concrete that the vision of a federal
and united Europe will be replaced by the Europe of homelands and
nationalisms, longed for by de Gaulle, which now seemed to be over;
The European Union is besieged by the migration of populations afflicted
by wars, climate disruption, poverty and hunger and must face a
significant migratory flow which it both needs due to demographic
decline and which, at the same time, it fears of not being able and
unable to integrate;
The unresolved problem of economic and political migrants not only
divides and scares the populations of the continent, but leads several
countries to restrict free movement within it, depriving citizens of one
of the essential tools of integration and progress: freedom of movement;
If that were not enough, the war in Ukraine has increased the prestige
and international role of Turkey which today looks with ever greater
interest at the Balkans, which have always been considered an area of
expansion of its economic and political influence; this especially after
the recent successes of expansion in Syria at the expense of the Kurds
and the increased political influence in the Caucasus, with the issue of
Nogorno Karabach and after the prominence claimed by it in the
Israeli-Palestinian war.
Unless the next European elections give the possibility of establishing
a strong Commission, capable of giving the Union a secure leadership,
based on a project shared by the States which, as a first step allows
the Union to take decisions by overcoming the criterion of unanimity,
and equip itself with a program to strengthen community institutions. To
achieve this program it is essential that we renounce the entry of
Ukraine which would accentuate the institutional destabilization of the
Union.

[1]Happy birthday, Brexit, Political Growth Newsletter, 30 January 2022
No. 155; Brexit: the accounts without the innkeeper, Newsletter Crescita
Politica, 1 January 2019, No. 114; Brexit seen from the United Kingdom,
Newsletter Crescita Politica, 1 May 2018, N.106; The stabilization of
the European Union after Brexit, Newsletter Crescita Politica, 1
February 2018 N.103; Class struggle in Great Britain, Political Growth
Newsletter, Published on 21 October 2023, No.174.

G.C.

https://www.ucadi.org/2023/11/26/leuropa-alla-deriva/
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