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| Ah, Europe! |
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| Broke At Last! Americans need to visit....... |
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This is Dark Cloud on Wednesday, June 13, 2012. One of the annoying themes that has permeated America's progressives, socialists, and Democrats is that America's military, periodically upgraded to Imperial War Machine, sometimes hidden under the title 'American hegemony', has been an oppressive, threatening presence that has caused more war and destruction than if it did not exist. There is evidence towards that, but today as our blurry eyes again try to focus on a European crisis, it is an observation that needs to be updated. Not stricken from view or discussion, but updated. Europe, and today especially Spain, is on the brink of losing not only the Euro but the sense and reality of the European Union that had been growing and blooming since the Second World War. Spain's banks need a bailout, and even then would have to go through a period of austerity that would seem to threaten faith in their government. It is, yes, mostly their fault but it is also, yes, something that the huge American financial institutions encouraged for their own short term profits. With the same upstream backing Greece went broke financing their Olympics within the decade, and Ireland is next, and all this after Iceland and all this before the true horror of corrupt Italy going belly up. American libertarians, who at least have consistency to their incorrect conclusions, and other American conservatives who do not have found comfort simply accusing Europe of socialism or at least socialist tendencies and point to the incredibly successful Germany, which has managed to unite a former communist half with a conservative capitalist half and explode into the highly functioning and competent nation it always should have been. Germany's success is viewed as a bitch slap to the failing nations of Europe. It isn't just white racists who extol the fact that Nordic and German northern Europe is doing so well compared to the basket cases in the South, home of Greece, Spain, and Italy. Iceland's Viking heritage gets small coverage here, and when it does it serves as an illustrative example of hard headed Protestant work ethic that admits error and confronts it. The suicide rate isn't discussed, though. Ireland is somehow excluded, although that housing boom among the bogs is in a contracting vortex of financial horror as well. When Yugoslavia broke up, and Croatia and Bosnia became separate nations, the area was riddled by religious ethnic cleansing masquerading as nationalism. Who among you was impressed with the response of the rest of Europe? Did mighty Germany bitch slap the yapping thugs and announce if they wanted a fight, a United Europe would give them one? No. Did France and Italy realize that another damned thing in the Balkans could ignite yet another major European land war and so unite to preclude it? No. It came down to Britain and the greatest military power in Europe, which is the United States. Whatever good has come out of the Bosnian horrors, including genocidal sadists up before the Hague, it was the overwhelming military power of the US and Great Britain that allowed that to happen without further action on land. Hundred forty thousand dead, of course, but hey! It's the Balkans. Given that idiot Russia yet again moved to protect its Slavic distant cousins and fellow Orthodox, and fascist elements across Europe moved to support the Croatian Catholics and virtually nobody outside the US and Britain made any move of help to the Muslims in Bosnia, I remain totally unimpressed with the assumption Europe has cast aside the past to move forward together towards unity and increased freedoms and franchise expansion with a common currency and, eventually, interlaced governments. If those horrid US bases that cost us so much were not there, who knows what an idiot tribal chieftain might have pulled off. Even with us there, look what idiot tribal chieftains DID pull off. And this is the group who we're led to believe will unite to protect the European Union, the Euro, and a brief but moving period of no war between nations in the geologic cage match that is Europe? It bailed out Greece, sorta. Spain? Ireland? Italy? Well. Maybe. And weird as it sounds, a relentlessly competent, pacific, and sharp Germany might finally achieve what its idiot Kaisers and Fuhrers could not: make a potent Germany the premiere nation of Europe. But if the US military had not precluded the need for Europe to maintain militaries in the sizes they used to, who knows where we'd be today. Truthfully? I suspect at war in Europe. |
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