European Outlook # 9 September 2014

Child Abuse in Rotherham

The sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham happened with the knowledge of the police and the Labour council. They were repeatedly warned by local campaigners but they allowed children to be abused rather than risk being accused of “racism”. They must not be allowed to get away with an apology. In her report professor Alexis Jay found that there was a "collective failure" by both the police and the local council to stop the abuse. They should be charged with criminal negligence. The taboo attached to race and immigration is no excuse for cowardice. It is the legal and moral obligation of every citizen to protect children. Ignoring crime out of political correctness does nothing for race relations. 

100 Years Later

                                            Gavrilo Princip

One hundred years ago Serbian student Gavrilo Princep shot dead Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and started the First World War. It destroyed the empires of Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia and Turkey and fatally undermined France and Britain. It also created the states of Iraq, Syria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Ukraine. All of them have since disintegrated due to nationalism and outside interference. They did not fail because they were comprised of different tribes; Switzerland accommodates Germans, French and Italians with no problems and England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are still together.  The Austro-Hungarian Empire failed because it was shelled and starved into submission by the Allied powers; and the same was true of Germany and Turkey. It was not their imperialism that broke them up but the hostility of their neighbours. The Slavs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire united under the flag of Yugoslavia and lived together amicably until a bloodbath of petty nationalism divided them into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo. And with national and racial hatred came religious hatred. A century ago it was the Armenians being slaughtered by the Turks; thirty years later it was Jews at the hands of the Nazis and today it’s the Palestinians being slaughtered by the Israelis, and almost everyone by the sectarian fanatics of Syria and Iraq.  We are at peace in Western Europe but very little has changed in the Balkans and the Middle East.

Nothing Lasts Forever

The state of Israel was not established until 1948 but it was created by the Balfour Declaration that brought America into the First World War. Britain gave Palestine to the Jews who promptly drove out the native population. Today the remaining Palestinians are confined to the West Bank and Gaza. They have no army, navy or air force. Their only way of fighting back against Israeli occupation is with their homemade rockets. They are not very effective but they cost Israel thousands of dollars each time they use their Iron Dome anti-missile system. Their campaign can therefore be seen as economic warfare. The Israelis claim to be defending themselves but their annihilation of Gaza is an act of mass murder that can only be compared to the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Any criticism of Israel is labelled anti-Semitism, even when it comes from decent Jews like Gerald Kaufmann MP who denounces Zionism and calls for an arms embargo. When the Israelis bomb densely populated areas of Gaza they claim to be targeting military installations but they are really trying to kill as many Palestinians as possible.

The news coverage from Palestine is much improved in the UK. A few years ago Israeli propaganda was faithfully regurgitated by the British media. But satellite broadcasting and the Internet have changed things. Some newspapers like the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail are slavishly pro-Zionists but the Guardian and the Independent have reported Israeli atrocities, and so has Channel 4. For the first time the truth is coming out.

This writer rejects the idea that anti-Semitism is synonymous with anti-Zionism. I believe that Israel/Palestine should be a multi-ethnic secular state with a representative government of all the people. I accept that this may be some way off but who forecast the sudden disappearance of the Soviet Union, or the collapse of the Apartheid state in South Africa? History shows us that cruel and repressive regimes do not last forever.

The structural cracks in the Zionist state run deep. The Arab population of Israel now stands at 21%. They have an estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants including 60,000 black Africans. This is in addition to 130,000 black Jews from Ethiopia and 3.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. At the moment the Israelis can count on the support of the United States but domestic oil and gas production is making the Middle East less important to America. The concentration camps are fading into history and Mexican immigrants pouring over the border are not burdened with the European guilt complex about the Jews and will not be willing to support Israel with their tax dollars. Demographic, historic and economic factors are undermining the state of Israel. The Zionist must understand that nothing lasts forever; including the patience of the world and their defence budget.

When America Stood up to Israel

Blogger Michael Santomauro has posted an open letter to Barack Obama quoting from Congressman Paul Findlay's book "They Dare to Speak Out". It is posted on his website: http://michaelsantomauro.blogspot.co.uk/  

"When Israel's invasion of Egypt began on October 29 1956, Eisenhower immediately cancelled all aid to Israel. He permitted only the delivery of food already in transit, stopping all other forms of assistance, both economic and military. These measures created such pressure that Israel halted its attack....But Eisenhower's problems with Israel were far from over. Even after the invasion was halted, Israel decided to keep occupying forces in the Gaza Strip...Eisenhower considered the issue vital. He summoned the bipartisan leadership of Congress to the White House to request their support. Unwilling to tangle with the pro-Israel activists, the group refused. That night the president wrote in his diary: "As I reflected on the pettiness of the discussion of the morning, I found it somewhat dismaying that partisan considerations would enter so much into life-or-death, peace-or-war decisions". A determined president took his case to the American people in a televised address in the Spring of 1957: 'Should a nation which attacks and occupies foreign territory in the face of the United Nations disapproval be allowed to impose conditions on its own withdrawal? If we agreed that armed attack can properly achieve the purposes of the assailant, then I fear we will have turned back the clock of international order.'  Letters and telegrams poured into the White House...90 percent supporting Israel's position...Eisenhower persisted, declaring that the United States would support a UN resolution imposing sanctions if Israel did not withdraw from Gaza and threatening to take away the tax privilege enjoyed by donors to Israeli causes. Faced with that prospect, Israel finally capitulated and withdrew from the occupied territory."

Europe and America

In 1967 Charles de Gaulle vetoed Britain’s bid to join the fledgling EU for the second time. He thought that we were too close to America and had “a deep-seated hostility to European construction”. Today, Britain is still too close to America and France under Francois Holland is just as bad. The EU is supporting America’s anti-Russian campaign despite the fact that economic sanctions will hurt them as much as the Russians. This is not a reason to join Ukip and call for the destruction of the EU from the saloon bar of the Red Lion. But it shows that we need a leader capable of uniting Europe and forming an independent foreign policy. Angela Merkel would fit the bill if she had some support but the leaders of Britain and France are committed to American hegemony.

                                                      

                                           Vladimir Putin

Since American industry was mobilized for the Second World War the enormous profits generated have been vital to their economy. Peace would not be welcomed by American industrialists who are enthusiastic warmongers. The Cold War was based on anti-communism but they are just as hostile to Russia under the democratic government of Vladimir Putin. They helped to install Saddam Hussein in Iraq and then started two wars to depose him. They encouraged the break-up of Yugoslavia and bombed Serbia into submission in support of Kosovo separatists. But now they are threatening Russia because Russian separatists in Ukraine are demanding autonomy. There is no rhyme or reason to their foreign policy apart from making money.

German industry and Russian gas and oil are meant for each other. It would be madness for Europe to turn her back on plentiful fuel supplies just to please Washington. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union NATO has been redundant. The European states should co-ordinate their armed forces but there is no need for US military bases this side of the Atlantic. We should sign a non-aggression pact with the Russians, thank the Americans for their help and bid them farewell. The “special relationship” between Britain and America was only a propaganda exercise. We will always have ties of friendship with America but we cannot tolerate their relentless warmongering.

Britain, Germany and France are well able to defend themselves. We ruled the greatest Empire the world has ever seen with a relatively small army and a magnificent navy. Napoleon Bonaparte marched his Grande Armee from Paris to the gates of Moscow, and the Germans fought a war on two fronts twice in the twentieth century. Europe united could never be defeated.

The Global Economy

The global economy is so integrated that a downturn in China affects us in Europe. A crop failure in the Yangtze valley might hit Scotch whisky imports and a slowdown at Shanghai Automotive might reduce Chinese participation in Swiss reinsurance that will drive up shipping costs making New Zealand lamb more expensive in the UK.

No country can go-it-alone unless it is self-sufficient in food, fuel and industrial goods. It would also need powerful defences and the means to pay for them. Russia almost qualifies but she exports coal, gas and oil and imports cars, machinery, chemicals and textiles. The Americans are almost self-sufficient but they export aircraft and military equipment and import computers and pharmaceuticals.

Countries used to protect their commerce with armed forces. Britain boasted the world’s most powerful navy and Germany had a formidable army. Today the world is dominated by American military might but partisan armies such as the Viet Cong, the Taliban and Hezbollah have changed the balance of power. We have lived with the threat of nuclear war since 1945 but both sides of the Cold War were sensible enough to keep their fingers off the trigger. In the beginning only the United States and the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons but soon Britain and France joined the club, followed by China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. The future will be dangerous with unstable countries in possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Our security depends on international co-operation. The World Trade Organization is an instrument of American foreign policy but it is not as dangerous as NATO which is an unnecessary provocation to the Russian Federation.

The emerging economic unions of Europe, Russia, East Asia and North America will be the empires of the future. But nobody needs fear for their identity; political arrangements come and go but ancient nations survive. There is no alternative to this natural progression; as Mosley said: “tribes become nations and nations struggle into mighty empires”. The British Empire served us well for hundreds of years but the world has moved on and so must we.

Giant corporations like China National Petroleum, Exxon, General Electric, Gazprom, Shell, Toyota, HSBC, Apple, BP and Volkswagen can be regulated by the major powers but individual nations are dwarfed by their commercial power. The US fined BP $4.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, and the EU fined a consortium including Deutsche Bank, RBS and Citygroup $2.3 billion for rate-rigging. We can protect ourselves within the EU but global capitalism is here to stay.

Adolf the Economist

The news that the UK is still paying interest to First World War bondholders has prompted one commentator to praise Adolf Hitler for defying the bankers. In fact, the Fuhrer ran a conventional economy. His Rothschild-trained finance minister Hjalmar Schacht issued short-term bonds, known as Mefo bills, paying 4% interest. In addition to bond sales Hitler financed his massive program of rearmament and reconstruction by deficit spending; a policy recommended by John Maynard Keynes that is now practiced all over the world. Hitler’s interventionist policy was essentially the same as FD Roosevelt’s “New Deal”.

                                                     Hjalmar Schacht

British war bonds from 1914 -18 were bought by ordinary people who saw it as their patriotic duty to support the war effort. Nations and corporations depend on investor confidence. Lehman Brothers was one of the biggest investment companies in the world but they collapsed in 2008 because their customers no-longer trusted them. This caused a financial crisis that we are only just recovering from. It is foolish to suggest that we should stop paying our debts; even if they date back to the First World War. Argentina defaulted in 2002 and the country has never recovered. They have been forced to sell off their assets and accept a much lower standard of living.

Another right wing myth is that Iceland defied the banking system in 2008 when her major banks failed. The truth is that she was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund, a Scandinavian banking consortium led by Norway, and the agreement of Britain and the Netherlands to postpone repayment of debts to 2046.  

Critics of the banking system talk about doing away with it but banks enable nations, companies and individuals to manage their money. They must be regulated by law and financial criminals must be dealt with. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher started a free-for-all when they did away with banking regulations. But the world has learned its lesson since the crisis of 2008. American financier Bernie Madoff is serving 150 years in prison for stealing $65 billion and Chinese fund manager Ji Wenhua was sentenced to death for cheating his customers out of $1.1 billion.

  

What is Independence?

The Scots will probably vote to stay in the UK in the coming referendum but they could vote for independence. A few years ago the Scottish Nationalists wanted to adopt the euro, declare a republic and quit NATO. Now they want to keep the pound and the monarchy and stay in NATO. They have also decided that there will be no border posts between England and Scotland. With so many things staying the same it’s difficult to understand what independence would mean.

When the Slovaks broke away from Czechoslovakia in 1993 dire consequences were predicted. But the divorce has been relatively painless and most Czechs and Slovaks have not noticed the difference. The boom promised by the Slovak nationalists never happened but nor did the economic disaster predicted by the Czechs. Both countries were autonomous before the split and therefore had their own political structures in place. Scotland and England would be much the same.

The disintegration of Yugoslavia, on the other hand, was traumatic. Following the death of Marshal Tito ancient hatreds were unleashed. States that came together in 1918 because of their common Slavic identity started waging war on each other. They were essentially the same people but the Croats and Slovenes had been under Austro-Hungarian influence and adopted the Latin alphabet and the Catholic religion. The Bosniaks had been under Turkish influence and adopted the Muslim faith. And the Serbs and Macedonians cherished the Cyrillic alphabet and the Eastern Orthodox religion.  Today Slovenia and Croatia are members of the European Union and the rest of the former Yugoslav states have applied for membership. Eventually they will be reunited in Europe and the bloody conflicts of the past will be behind them.

Ukraine is the latest country to fall apart. The Russian and Ukrainian people are closely related by language, culture and religion but they are divided between westerners who see themselves as Europeans and easterners who cling to Russia. Both sides are currently engaged in a fratricidal conflict but a political settlement must be found to avoid yet another European war.

A grand alliance between the European Union and the Russian Federation may seem far-fetched at the moment: but thirty years ago few people imagined the collapse of the Soviet Union or the rise of China to become a leading world economy. In such a vast empire stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific all the peoples of Europe including the citizens of Ukraine, Scotland, Flanders and Catalonia would be represented in a federal parliament.

The world is moving fast and some people are unable to grasp the economic and political changes brought about by history. Their ideas are obsolete and their fears are unfounded. The North Korean regime is founded on nationalism, fuelled by paranoia and enforced by armed might. With a population of 24.8 million and armed forces of 9.4 million the hereditary dictatorship of Kim Jong-un is the most militarised state in the world. They have nuclear missiles and the world’s largest submarine fleet but they gather the harvest by hand for want of agricultural machinery. The World Health Organisation estimates that a third of the population is undernourished and starving refugees regularly brave minefields to escape to China or South Korea. North Korea imposes a system of economic nationalism known as “Juche”. To achieve self-sufficiency imports are banned, the national currency is unconvertible and the workforce is subject to military discipline. That is what “independence” means in the modern world.

Myths that must be Challenged

Ukip supporters and their far right allies perpetrate myths about the European Union that must be challenged.

They claim that most of our immigrants come from Europe but Migration Watch reports in August 2014: "Non-EU migration still makes up the largest share of net migration, (162,000 non-EU, 131,000 EU).

They claim that most Brits want to quit the EU but the opinion polls show a clear majority for staying in. People vote Ukip in protest at immigration but they know that our future lies with the single market.

They worry that Angela Merkel grew up in East Germany and speaks Russian, and they accuse outgoing EU Commissioner Jose Manuel Barosso of flirting with communism as a student despite the fact that he is now a respectable grandfather and a devout Catholic.

                                           Angela Merkel

People who are happy with an unelected House of Lords and a hereditary monarchy object to a lack of democracy in the EU. They accuse the EU of being totalitarian but Britain invaded Iraq on the whim of PM Tony Blair who had no mandate to go to war. The British people have never been consulted on matters of importance. Nobody asked us if we wanted millions of Afro-Asian immigrants, or if we wanted to sacrifice hundreds of young men on foreign battlefields. And nobody asked us if we wanted two giant aircraft carriers that will eventually be equipped with American fighter planes costing billions of pounds. There is no tradition of democracy in Britain and yet we expect it in Europe.

They say that our EU membership costs £50 billion a year but the real figure is £8 billion. If we quit the EU there would be a massive fall in the stock market and a flight of capital out of the country. Foreign companies would relocate to the mainland and the ratings agencies would mark us down accordingly. The financial backers of the Tory Party would probably stop it happening. But Dave Cameron is playing with matches in a gunpowder factory; anything could happen.

They talk about national independence but that ended in 1956 when America ordered us out of Suez. We have still got an efficient army but we no-longer rule the waves. We have an immigrant-swollen population of 64 millions but we only produce half of our food and fuel. Dave Cameron makes himself look ridiculous when he threatens the Russians with economic sanctions and calls for a united stand on the Ukraine conflict only weeks after threatening to leave the EU. 

Their plan for a revived Commonwealth was rejected in 1932 when British PM Stanley Baldwin failed to set up “Imperial Preference” at the Ottawa Conference. Canada and Australia vetoed his plan to restrict them to supplying raw materials in exchange for British industrial products. Some progress was made but the conference failed to unite the Commonwealth. Today Canada is committed to the North American Free Trade Agreement; Australia and New Zealand have forged trade links with Asia; and South Africa and Zimbabwe are black-run states. We still have ties kinship with the White Dominions but we could not expect them to abandon their existing trade links to come to our assistance.

                                                     Stanley Baldwin

They dismiss the European Union because it is “foreign” but support the Commonwealth because it is “British”. They obviously don’t understand the heritage of the White Dominions. They are ready to unite with Irishmen and Italians in Australia, Frenchmen in Canada, Germans in Namibia and Afrikaners and Portuguese in South Africa but refused to unite with them in Europe.

They want to ban foreign imports to protect British manufacturing but that would only invite retaliation. World trade enables us to use Chinese computers, drive Japanese cars, eat Costa Rican bananas and drink Kenya coffee. It also provides Chinese businessmen with Scotch whisky, Japanese scientists with British nuclear equipment, and American aerospace manufacturers with British computer modelling technology.

They claim we will lose our national identity in Europe. But after half a century the original member states of the EU are still French, German, Dutch and Italian.

We are a modern European country with a decent standard of living, a highly developed service economy and an advanced industrial base. Our National Health Service provides medical care free at the point of issue. Our employment rate is better than most of our competitors and our educational system turns out a steady flow of graduates. We need to revise our social and defence policies and stop unlimited immigration. But there’s nothing wrong with Britain that can’t be fixed by good government. We cannot go-it-alone and a reconstituted Commonwealth is not on the cards. The EU is by no means perfect but it will provide a framework for the future so long as we join in the game and stop sulking on the sidelines.