Gulliver Calls and the Dwarfs Follow

by Jurgen Rose Saturday, Sep. 06, 2003 at 6:32 AM
mbatko@lycos.com

"Imperial overreach threatens Europe's economic resources and military arsenals already strained to the limit.. The emperor and his people should quickly understand that the Imperium Americanum cannot subjugate the globe." Translated fr German

Gulliver Calls and the Dwarfs Follow

NATO, Afghanistan and Iraq
“Old Europe” should serve the New American Colonial Rule

by Jurgen Rose

[This article originally published in: Freitag 35, August 22, 2003 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, http://www.freitag.de/2003/35/03350101.php. Jurgen Rose is a lieutenant colonel in the German army.]

To the Texas league aesthetician in the Oval Office, the daily reports of losses endured by his occupying force in Iraq bring beads of sweat on his forehead. These are hardly drops of sympathy for those sacrificed to the imperial megalomania. Rather the chances of being elected to the White House shrink reciprocally to the increasing numbers of body bags.

Thus the pompous protagonists of the “only superpower” will have to swallow their pride. The ground in Iraq is hot under their feet. Four billion dollar occupation costs per month are considerable. Therefore sharing burdens is the word of the hour. New America rediscovers “old Europe” Friendly words about “chancellor Schroeder” and the German engagement in Afghanistan are heard from the mouth of the blue-jeans president posing in the circle of his sycophants before rolling cameras at his Texas ranch.

Fierce dealing occurs behind the scenes of the UN and NATO. Saving face and distributing the Iraqi spoils are uppermost. The US administration seeks to make participation in the Anglo-American occupation regime in Iraq appealing to opponents of war with a new mandate of the Security Council while keeping the price as low as possible. This is actually a fantastic opportunity for a community of states snubbed by the arrogant world power to use its awkward and self-made situation – through a catalogue of demands that the Bush administration has to fulfill before aid could be considered.

A rehabilitation of international law, respect of the prohibition on force in international relations, renunciation on the presumed right to preventive war and violent interference in the affairs of sovereign states, acceptance of the statute of the International Criminal Court, and observance of obligations from the nuclear proliferation treaty could be named. In a word, nuclear disarmament instead of rearmament with nuclear bunker-busters, not to mention the economic plundering of foreign people and destruction of the ecological foundations of the planet. In short, the proviso for the return of the imperialist outlaw into the legal sphere of civilized nations could be on the agenda.

Unfortunately nothing can be heard of such a debate. While the hired applauders suggest to the public in the media circus that who, when and with whom the little handshake occurs is very important. Timid and devoted obsequiousness before the imperial chaos power has long prevailed in Europe. George Robertson, top NATO shaman, declares the Atlantic alliance as an auxiliary fire brigade in Iraq for the US hegemons. The consequences of this service would be fatal. All the convincing reasons against the illegal preventive war and its expected negative effects of Brits and Americans would be devalued. Given the consecration of the UN and the powers of NATO, the crime in international law could suddenly appear as a good work and the millions upon millions of anti-war activists in all the world denounced as misguided, naïve peace apostles. US dominance over “old Europe” would be confirmed..

European NATO allies would be no more than vassals of the “rogue superpower” (Huntington). The common foreign- and security policy of the EU (European Union) and the indispensable project of a “Defensive European Union” would face a considerable test of endurance. “Imperial overreach” (Paul Kennedy) threatens the Europe’s economic resources and military arsenals already strained to the limit.

Participation of NATO in the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq means acting in commission and as part of the colonial power. This will have two serious consequences. European NATO allies would immediately come into the crossfire of the Iraqi guerillas as already happened repeatedly to the Brits. The risk for Europe (and its population) may be significantly higher in becoming liable for the unscrupulous actions of the US. US policy coupled unimaginativeness with failure or ineffectiveness.

The argument against NATO-Europeans in relation to the new Rome is that only the tormenting experience of a failure could end this hubris. The motto for Bush & Co. must be “learning through suffering”. The next (preventive) war has long been programmed.

The emperor and his people should quickly understand that the power of the Imperium Americanum cannot subjugate the globe. The central interest of German foreign policy should be to do everything to advance the bitterly necessary thinking process of the “Stupid White Men” on the Potomac and refrain from everything that could be interpreted as a signal of acceptance or assistance to America’s war furor. What is essential for Schroeder and Fischer is abstinence from all military-political cooperation with the “sole superpower” until their return to the path of virtue through international law, not cowardice before a friend and compensatory military action in Afghanistan.

How long will Germany’s voters be asked to squander billions of their tax money for the worldwide deployments of a German army that increasingly degenerates into the vassal troop of the US military machine while the rulers with government-propagandistic self-confidence announce a low tide for the social budgets? Dispatching the German army all over the world and swinging the social wreaking ball, red-green seems to pursue policy based on the naivety of people. A militarily charged foreign policy reflects the insolence of a parasitic upper class that seeks to divert the lower class robbed of its protection from raising precarious questions about the structure and function of a social system. This system is removed more and more from the rock of the constitution with regard to the legal mandate of social justice.

.