Amazing things have been happening lately in the Old World. After Britain, led by a fierce Brexit supporter Boris Johnson, escaped from the European Union’s grip, the state of affairs in continental Europe suddenly became much more interesting to the islanders than it was when they were part of a “friendly” European family
Not a day goes by that some representative of official London or a mouthpiece of British propaganda does not come out with yet another revelatory and peremptory statements on this or that internal European issue. Sometimes it even seems that the ubiquitous British experts (competing in meticulousness with the notorious “British scientists”) do not care about the problems of the United Kingdom itself, but they are ready to give free advice to Europeans day and night on how to equip Europe.
They are sure that the launch of Nord Stream-2 is a direct threat to European energy (and not only) security. That it is impossible to deal with Moscow and Beijing, because nothing good can be expected from “dictatorial regimes”, and in general this is contrary to Western values. That an attempt to create their own system of European collective security is nothing more than a whim and a utopia, and there is nothing more reliable than NATO under the strict control of the United States, and this is the only possible way. That the situation with migrants from Iraq was artificially inspired by another “dictator” – Lukashenko, but at the same time Europe should solve the problems of Afghans abandoned by Washington while fleeing the Taliban, because it is humane, European and in general. And so on almost any issue.
At the same time, it is not a fact that someone in the European Union asked the British about their opinion and, moreover, is, in principle, ready to listen to these mentoring instructions. Which, however, does not stop London itself. There are several reasons for this.
First, after the new administration came to power in the United States, Biden and his team began to clear away the rubble in international politics left by their very eccentric predecessor, including the relations with European partners that suddenly became problematic. But a little later, having soberly assessed its potential, as well as the physical capabilities of the current American leader, the White House decided to outsource European affairs, so to speak, to its British allies. The only representatives of the Old World who can be trusted almost unconditionally in Washington. And London seized the opportunity with enthusiasm.
Throughout its history, Great Britain has always tried to play, on the one hand, an isolated, and on the other, a dominant role on the continent, and each time in the implementation of its ambitions, it stumbled upon the opposition of no less ambitious neighbors: France, Spain and Germany. And then there is such an opportunity, in fact, with the blessing of the big white master, to become the official “overseer over Europe”.
Secondly, due to those very historical contradictions, the British lion cannot calmly watch how the German eagle or (even worse) the Gallic rooster is spreading its wings over the European Union. For the British, nothing is worse than the rise of Germany or France. And therefore, all the current steps of London are dictated not so much by a real desire to help the EU and to guide Brussels and the main European capitals (first of all, Berlin) on the right path, as by an attempt to weaken them and prevent them from getting out of Anglo-Saxon tutelage.
Surprisingly, the descendants of the Germanic tribes, who even preserved in the name the historical memory of their former kinship (England – from the Angles and Saxony, one of the German federal states – from the Saxons), have been irreconcilable opponents for many centuries. In different eras it was different, but the last 80 years after the end of World War II, the situation looks quite stable: Germany is struggling to get out of the humiliating position of the American colony (albeit not officially designated), and Washington and London are trying to do it by hook or by crook.
And thirdly, the factor of Poland. It is Warsaw that is the Trojan horse with which Britain is trying to keep Europe in check.
If you believe that the confrontation between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the official Brussels is dictated only by natural Polish ambition, then this is not the case. Without reliance on their overseas patron and historical British allies, the Poles would hardly have dared to act so daring. Skillfully using Poland as a thorn in the body of Europe, the islanders manage to manipulate the Old World, keeping it in constant tension.
By the way, the other day the Poles once again defiantly trampled on the current EU norms, deciding that the European Charter on Human Rights is not a decree for Poland, but the ECHR with its decisions (if Warsaw suddenly does not like them) can go to a well-known address. Thus, this is the second such a demarche (after the decision of the Constitutional Court of Poland on the supremacy of local legal norms over EU laws), aimed at discrediting the very foundations of the European Community.
However, it is foolish in this case to present the European authorities as an innocent victim of Polish arrogance and arbitrariness. Back in the early 90s, when the European Economic Community was turned into the current European Union by the strokes of feathers under the Maastricht Treaty, it was clear that this idea was very dubious. After all, one thing is economic cooperation for the benefit of all members of the community, and quite another is a multinational monster built on rigid political and, much more importantly, ideological principles, trying to comb all this motley European bunch of people with one brush. As a wise friend of mine said back in 1994, “they never lived in a communal apartment, well, let them try”.
And now in 2021, when the 16-year period of the reign of Angela Merkel in Germany has ended and the country is about to acquire a new government, the Germans and all other Europeans who are ready to follow Berlin to gain true independence have a serious choice.
Or they will continue to humbly submit to dictatorship from across the ocean, which means they must be ready to accept the British as overseers, pupate within a narrow circle of “free and democratic” (of which there are only a little more than 100 countries in the United States in the world) and get as a result a new iron curtain and walls around the perimeter, which, as practice shows, will inevitably lead to the walls already inside Europe itself and the death of the dream of a large common European home.
Or they will risk going their own way and will stop pushing away the hands that have been extended to them from Russia and China for a long time. That is, they will begin not in words, but in deeds to embody General de Gaulle’s dreams of Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok, to build interaction along the Berlin-Moscow-Beijing axis, which means hello Nord Stream-2 and the New Silk Road and goodbye, Ukraine. Yes, yes, in this case, plans to dig in someone else’s garden will have to be abandoned.
As geometry proves, a triangle (especially a Eurasian one) is actually a much more stable structure, but in order to take such a step, Europeans, and above all Germans, need to get rid of old illusions and old phobias and prejudices. Without exaggeration, the fate of European civilization is at stake. Continuing to follow in the fairway of Washington, and now also London, will inevitably lead to the death of Europe in the form in which we know it. Including in terms of ethnic and confessional composition.
The endless colonial wars of the Anglo-Saxons ultimately turn out to be only new problems with migrants for Europeans, and the “new ethics” pushed through, primarily from the United States, and falsely understood tolerance do not allow putting any convincing barrier on the path of Islamic expansion in Europe.
Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom really wish Europe true prosperity, prosperity and success, but until the Europeans themselves understand this, they are doomed to remain only the object of the “Great Game”, experiencing all the “charms” of the crafty British policy.
Alexey Belov, IA Anti-fascist