Global Research, July 05, 2018
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Two
summits, both in Brussels at a two-week interval, represent the status
quo of the European situation. The meeting of the European Council on 28
June confirmed that the Union, founded on the interests of the economic
and financial oligarchies, beginning with those of the greatest powers,
is presently crumbling because of its conflicts of interest, which are
not limited to the migrant question.
The
North Atlantic Council – to be attended, on 10-11 July, by the heads of
state and government of 22 EU countries (of a total of 28), members of
the Alliance (with Great Britain leaving the Union) – will reinforce
NATO under US command. President Donald Trumpwill
therefore be holding the strongest cards at the bilateral Summit which
is to be held five days later, on 16 July in Helsinki, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Whatever
the US President stipulates at the negotiating table, it will
fundamentally affect the situation in Europe. The fact that the USA have
never wanted a unified Europe as an equal ally is no secret to anyone.
For more than 40 years, during the Cold War, they maintained Europe in
subordination as the front line of the nuclear confrontation with the
Soviet Union.
In
1991, when the Cold War was over, the United States feared that the
European allies could question their leadership or decide that NATO was
now obsolete, overtaken as it was by the new geopolitical situation.
This is the reason for the strategic reorientation of NATO, still under
US command, recognised by the Treaty of Maastricht as the “foundation
for the defence” of the European Union, and also for its expansion
towards the East, linking the former countries of the Warsaw Pact more
to Washington than Brussels.
During
the wars waged after the end of the Cold War (Iraq, Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan, Iraq for the second time, Libya, Syria), the United States
were pursuing secret deals with the greatest European powers (Great
Britain, France, Germany) and sharing with them certain zones of
influence, while from the other European states (including Italy) they
obtained what they wanted without any substantial concessions.
Washington’s
main objective is not only to keep the European Union in a subordinate
position, but even more so, to prevent the formation of an economic zone
which could unite all of Europe, including Russia, by connecting to
China with the developing “new Silk Road”. This has led to the new Cold
War that was triggered in Europe in 2014 (during the Obama
administration), and the economic sanctions and the escalation of NATO’s
strategy against Russia.
The
strategy of “divide and rule”, originally dressed up in the costumes of
diplomacy, is now clear for all to see. When he met President Macron in
April, Trump suggested that France should leave the European Union,
offering him commercial conditions more advantageous than those of the
EU. We do not know what is being decided in Paris. But it is significant
that France launched a plan anticipating joint military operations with
a group of EU countries, a plan made independently of the
decision-making apparatus of the EU. The agreement was signed in
Luxembourg, on 25 June, by France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Holland,
Spain, Portugal, Estonia and the United Kingdom, which would therefore
be able to participate even after its exit from the EU in March 2019.
The French Minister for Defence, Florence Parly,
noted that Italy has not yet signed the agreement because of “a
question of details, not substance”. In fact, the plan was approved by
NATO, since it “completes and augments the rapidity of the armed forces
of the Alliance”. And, as underlined the Italian Minister for Defence Elisabetta Trenta,
because the “European Union must become a provider of security at the
international level, and to do so, it must reinforce its cooperation
with NATO”.
Source: PandoraTV
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This article was originally published in Italian by Il Manifesto.
Manlio Dinucci is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article.
Copyright © Manlio Dinucci, Global Research, 2018
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article.
Copyright © Manlio Dinucci, Global Research, 2018
