by VICTOR GROSSMAN
For good people these are times to weep, rage and, above all, to fight back! But sometimes we may allow ourselves a laugh. Such a time arrived this past weekend in Brussels and at the Security Conference in Munich. Though the big shots present were in no laughing mood—but in shock!
The reason for an all too rare happy moment for some like me was strangely due to the words of two men I have absolutely no love for, JD Vance and his colleague, for whom probably nobody has any love, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Nor do I have a grain of affection for their fearsome boss back home—or should I say two bosses?
How could one stop grinding teeth—and laugh? Despite many complexities, one thing has been clear in recent years; the main ruling powers in Europe, most menacingly its strongest, Germany, have shown a greed, indeed a craving, for military adventurism, for spending ever more euro-billions on armaments, frightful air power, naval maneuvers in all surrounding waters, Baltic outposts. All are based on eastward expansion, with one declared enemy, whose ruler is denounced, derided, and demonized daily in most of the media. Hardly a page or newscast fails to warn that Russia, if it wins out in the Ukraine, is an awful threat not only to Poland, the Baltic countries, all its neighbors but even to “our Germany” which, though without a common border, seems to somehow want to feel equally threatened. The result: calls for a new military draft, even for women, for air-raid shelters, school air-raid drills and for strengthened bridges and highways if leading eastwards. Almost audible is the hand-rubbing and heel-clicking among the generals, nationalists, and imperialists generally. Hardly less audible; the clinking of champagne glasses at offices of armament firms like Rheinmetall, which are already raking in armament billions like never before, all paid for with money stolen from the living standards of most German and European civilians. And they want more!
This “readiness for war” demanded by Germany’s bloodthirsty Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and backed by the equally belligerent Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (whose declared aim is to “ruin Russia”) was carried out under the aegis of the USA, the great protector of “rule-based international order”, democracy and anti-authoritarianism (also called anti-totalitarianism). Therefore: weapons for Zelenskyy, bigger, stronger, further-reaching missiles, the Ukrainians must be aided until all territories are regained (or all Ukrainians dead). And Washington demanded 2% more of the budget, then 3.5%, maybe 5%.
Then suddenly an unloved vice-president and even more repugnant Secretary of Defense came to Europe with the news that Trump had telephoned with Putin and the two wanted to negotiate on peace in the Ukraine. The greatest danger to Europe, they were told, was not Russia, not China, but the “danger from within.”
The shock was visible in their faces. What? Peace? Has the USA gone completely off its rocker? How can we justify our build-up? Our strategies? Our maneuvers? To make matters worse, Vance not only threatened with peace, but criticized the European countries for repressing oppositional ideas. True, the object of his concern and support was the far-rightist Alternative for Germany (AfD), with whom Musk has become so chummy. For its own reasons, the AfD also supports a swift end to the Ukraine war. Though Musk chose a nasty object for his affection (and open intervention in a foreign election campaign), it is true that many German leaders do want to get the AfD verboten—not because of its antagonism toward all “foreigners,” which they increasingly echo, but because it is polling in second place, at over 20%. There is indeed increasing repression of dissent in Germany and Europe. It is directed against any criticism of Netanyahu’s Israel and its fearful annihilation in Gaza, killing up to a hundred thousand Palestinians. No, Vance wasn’t against that! But thus far mention of any form of repression in “our freedom-loving Germany” has been mostly leftist, hence taboo. But now suddenly from our Big Brother! Unheard of! That is why those who want peace above all, from whatever quarter, could laugh at those stony faces and enjoy their consternation when their bellicosity and hypocrisy were so suddenly exposed, like never before. Our joy fits the word “Schadenfreude”!
Of course, they hastened to shape up a counter-attack! In Paris the worried leaders of Europe sought ways to put a spoke in the peace wheel. “No negotiations without us!” they cried. “We must also be involved! Oh yes, with Zelenskyy too of course!”, they recalled.
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