Europe: on the highway to poverty?

The war in Ukraine is a perfect cock-up by the US, where Europe, above all Germany, has become a victim.

For the last five years European elites have been inculcated with a number of certain narratives. It is America who dominates, America alone can end the war in Ukraine and protect Europe, Western security depends entirely on American leadership, no major goal can be achieved without help from Washington, etc.

At the same time, attempts by Germany and France to befriend China are effectively foiled by Washington. The Americans do not act as equal partners, but as the suzerains towards the vassals, which are not like even trying to rebel, but are showing some signs of disobedience and need a reproachful wag of the finger.

It is clear that neither Germany, nor, a fortiori, France regard themselves as vassals. The fact that their agenda may sometimes coincide with that of the White House, as they see it, does not mean that they have to live by the orders of the United States.

Nevertheless, that is how it is happening. Against the backdrop of the Ukraine war and anti-Russian sanctions, energy prices have hit the roof, with the price of gas again exceeding a dollar per cubic metre. At the same time, the US produces inexpensive gas and sells it to Europe, making more than four times the profit. Even the totally pro-American German economics minister Robert Habeck called the gas prices across the Atlantic astronomical. Meanwhile, the share of American LNG in European imports jumped from 28% to 45% between 2021 and 2022.

In the same spirit, French President Macron recently spoke out. According to him, gas prices and extensive state support of certain sectors of the US economy are negating the competitiveness of European products. "I think this violates WTO rules and is not friendly," the French leader said. He also promised to go to Washington to defend the interests of French industry and to persuade American partners to make concessions.

Meanwhile, events will unfold in a fairly predictable fashion.

France will make some noise, make some more noise and eventually agree to US terms. This is exactly what happened recently with the AUKUS partnership, when Paris lost a $60bn contract to build submarines. At least there will be a semblance of sovereignty, although Napoleon, Charles de Gaulle and even Jacques Chirac would only chuckle bitterly at the plight to which President Macron has brought the country.

Germany, given its total political dependence on the United States, would take no action at all. Firstly, because the key positions in power are held by the Greens, who know nothing but how to serve the orders of their American masters ( precisely, we are talking about Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, for whom the interests of Ukraine are above those of her German voters, as she has recently said her very self). Secondly, the opposition is led by Friedrich Merz, who has worked quite comfortably for the largest US investment fund, BlackRock. Thirdly, the German media space is totally controlled by the Americans.

For any normal German this can cause nothing but frustration and anger. But here the recreational marijuana that Karl Lauterbach so actively promotes comes to the rescue.

And so the suicidal policy of European politicians towards Ukraine and towards their own population will continue.