— A great, civilized nation democratically elected a fanatic demagogue, who preached war. Actually, he did not really receive the majority of votes, but, somehow, his ascent to powerwas arranged nevertheless.
— Soon after assuming power, he manipulated a dramatic incident in order to tighten his grip upon the country and prepare for attack on smaller nations. An immense propaganda machine turned “enemies” into devils, the incarnation of evil.
— The call for war enabled him to unite the whole people behind him, to silence all opposition, gradually abridge human rights, overcome the economic crisis and embark upon a voyage towards world dominion.
— He loved being photographed in uniform, walking along lines of soldiers, pretending to be a great military leader —
I mean, of course, Adolf Hitler.
The German people, which gave him power and followed him with closed eyes even when hecommitted heinous crimes, paid a heavy price. It has learned the lesson. Now it abhors war, anywar, from the depth of its soul. Hundreds of thousands – young people, children,grandchildren and grand-grandchildren of that generation – march these days through thestreets of Germany to protest against Bush’s war. Their leader, Schroeder, was reelectedsolely because he expressed this deep longing for peace. The most warlike people has turnedinto the most anti-warlike.
That’s great, isn’t it? Not at all! American and British leaders condemn Germany for itsrefusal to go to war. The Israeli government heap scorn on its head. Wet rugs, these Germans!Damn pacifists! Cowards! Pitiful people who refuse to fight!
All this less than 60 years since Hitler’s suicide. Who would have believed.
And this is not the only miracle that is happening these days. Not by any means.
A personal memory (excuse me if you have read it before): when I was 8 years old, two years beforemy family fled Germany after Hitler’s coming to power, I was a pupil in the third class of anelementary school in Prussia, a Social Democratic bulwark at the time.
Once the teacher told us about Hermann, the national hero, who had succeeded in 9 AD to lure theRoman army into a trap and annihilate it. The Roman commander, Varus, fell on his sword andAugustus Ceasar uttered his despairing cry: “Varus, give me back me legions!” On the spotwhere the historic battle was supposed to have taken place, there stands now a huge statue ofHermann.
“Hermann stands with his face towards the Erbfeind (hereditary enemy)!” our teacherproclaimed. “Children, who is the Erbfeind?” All the pupils in the class shouted in unison:”Frankreich! Frankreich (France)!”
Now Germany and France, the hereditary enemies, stand together, shoulder to shoulder,against Bush’s war plans. The Americans curse and abuse them, but they stand firm: Enough ofwar. Enough of destruction and bloodshed. Other ways to solve problems must be found.
That is another miracle. But even this is a minor one compared to the third, historic miraclethat is happening in front of our eyes:
President Putin appeared in Berlin and Paris, embraced Chirac and Schroeder and added hisvoice to theirs. One front from Cherbourg on the Atlantic to Vladivostok on the Pacific. Thathas never happened before.
From earliest times, European history is full of alliances of some states against others.Germany and Russia divided Poland between them. France and Russia allied themselves severaltimes to contain Germany. Napoleon tried to unite Europe and did not succeed. The Texan cowboyis succeeding where the Corsican emperor has failed.
Bush has invented the childish term “Axis of Evil” to group together Iraq, Iran and NorthKorea. That’s nonsense. But in the meantime a French-German-Russian axis has come into beingand is facing the United States.
(The term “axis” to design a coalition of states was also invented at the time of Hitler. Theoriginal axis of evil included Germany, Italy and Japan. When using this term, Bush intendedto recall that memory.)
It is too early to say if this new axis will hold on and if it will be strong enough to face theenormous might of the United States. But even if it will be broken this time, its very birth is aharbinger of things to come.
These three countries, contemptuously called by the American Secretary of Defense “OldEurope”, are, on the contrary, united by considerations pertaining to the New Europe. ThisEurope worries the Americans. It is becoming an economic superpower, able to compete with,and perhaps overtake, the United States. A symbol of this is the fact that the euro has indeedovertaken the dollar.
As I remarked in a previous article, the war in Iraq is primarily a war against Europe and Japan.The American occupation of Iraq will ensure American control not only over the vast oilreserves of Iraq itself, but also of the Caspian Sea and the Gulf States. The hand on the oil tabof the world can choke Germany, France and Japan, because it can manipulate at will the price ofoil throughout the world. Lower the price, and you choke Russia. Raise the price, and you chokeEurope and Japan.
Therefore, preventing the war is an essential European interest, in addition to the profoundlonging for peace of the European peoples.
Washington does not even hide its desire to bring Europe to its knees. Lately, there is a crudeAmerican effort to create a coalition of peripheral countries in order to oust Germany andFrance from the leadership of the European Union. America is organizing a bloc of the formerCommunist nations, who are about to join the Union, together with the UK, Spain and Italy. TheParis-Berlin axis, aided by Moscow, is designed as a defense against this ploy, too.
This war, then, goes much beyond the Iraqi problem. It is not a war against Saddam’s microbes.It is, quite simply, a war for world dominion, economic, political, military and cultural.Bush is ready to spill a lot of blood to achieve this (as long as it is not American blood).
Israel is involved in this game without quite knowing what it is doing there, a boy in a game ofworld-league bullies. It has nothing to gain, it can only lose.