The Schuman Declaration that set the tone of Franco-German reconciliation - and would lead by stages to the European Community - was cooked up by the US Secretary of State Dean Acheson at a meeting in Foggy Bottom. "It all began in Washington," said Robert Schuman's chief of staff.…
For British eurosceptics, Jean Monnet looms large in the federalist pantheon, the emminence grise of supranational villainy. Few are aware that he spent much of his life in America, and served as war-time eyes and ears of Franklin Roosevelt.
General Charles de Gaulle thought him an American agent, as indeed he was in a loose sense. Eric Roussel's biography of Monnet reveals how he worked hand in glove with successive administrations.…
Nor are many aware of declassified documents from the State Department archives showing that US intelligence funded the European movement secretly for decades, and worked aggressively behind the scenes to push Britain into the project.…
The key CIA front was the American Committee for a United Europe (ACUE), chaired by Donovan. Another document shows that it provided 53.5 per cent of the European movement's funds in 1958. The board included Walter Bedell Smith and Allen Dulles, CIA directors in the Fifties, and a caste of ex-OSS officials who moved in and out of the CIA.…
A memo dated June 11, 1965, instructs the vice-president of the European Community to pursue monetary union by stealth, suppressing debate until the "adoption of such proposals would become virtually inescapable". This was too clever by half, as we can see today from debt-deflation traps and mass unemployment across southern Europe.…Who knew?
The Telegraph
The European Union always was a CIA project, as Brexiteers discover
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
"The European Union always was a CIA project, as Brexiteers discover"
ReplyDeleteYeah, the European Union was created through an USA conspiracy that fooled 500 million european citizens, all its parliaments and politicians, and all its social forces.
I'm sorry, but it's impossible to believe in that theory. The European Union was created because people wanted it to be created. Maybe you could push it and say that it was a conspiration led by corrput and unscrupulous political leadership spread all accross european countries. But to say that USA is the wolf and all Europe is the sheep is naive at least...
@Andre
ReplyDeleteIt's possible for both to be true.
But as to your point, 'The European Union was created because people wanted it to be created.' What precisely did they want created ans is what we have today a true reflection of that, or has the noble but woolly ideal of bringing Germany and France together in a friendly alliance based on trade, which motivated first people been usurped? Perhaps people were sold on the lofty but woolly vision of peace and harmony but told little of the specifics and other interests driving the union?
I don’t buy this. I believe Alain Parguez’ version, the one he gave at the 2012 Rimini, Italy, MMT Conference. Parguez actually participated in Mitterand’s meetings.
ReplyDeleteThe EU was created by European elites and the US elites for different reasons. The European elites, having seen the destruction of their empires, wanted to create a bloc to rival the US hegemon. The US elites (specifically the State Department but also international political economy minded politicians) wanted a bloc, like NATO, that would be able to keep the Russians out, the Germans down and the Americans in. For the US, this American controlled bloc would also be able to buy US goods, thus keeping the US economy humming along.
ReplyDeleteHistory is a funny bugger and the European elites desire to rival the US has not been realised. The American elites desire of keeping Germany down has not been realised, but in all other respects the US agenda for Europe has pretty much been realised. The US not only had cleverer politicians and planners back then but also did not have to contend with a dysfunctional Congress and a Republican party that is mentally insane.
I always thought the growth and stability pact was always more about Russia and China than the citizens of Europe.
ReplyDeleteNobody is allowed to increase their deficits apart from the US it seems. The growth of Russia and China seems more important than people who live in Europe.
It's a Zionist plot ;)
ReplyDeleteTrumps comments on this:
ReplyDelete"In the 1940s we saved the world. The greatest generation beat back the Nazis and Japanese imperialists. Then we saved the world again. This time, from totalitarianism and communism. The Cold War lasted for decades but, guess what, we won and we won big. Democrats and Republicans working together got Mr. Gorbachev to heed the words of President Reagan, our great president, when he said, tear down this wall.
(APPLAUSE)
History will not forget what he did. A very special man and president. Unfortunately, after the Cold War our foreign policy veered badly off course. We failed to develop a new vision for a new time. In fact, as time went on, our foreign policy began to make less and less sense. Logic was replaced with foolishness and arrogance, which led to one foreign policy disaster after another."
No Bob its a "neoliberal conspiracy!"... (no snark)
ReplyDeleteTrumps:
ReplyDelete-I'm very highly educated. I know history. I have the best histories.
"No Bob its a "neoliberal conspiracy!"... (no snark)"
ReplyDeleteI see, you're working on your new theory…
Know history? USA didn't save the world in 1940, ak the >22 mill. of Russians that died in WWII.
ReplyDeleteOn the EU, the becoming of the EU had such a long history, and has involved so many parties, it's impossible to attribute all events to a one big monolithic plan.
I was one of the many millions which legitimated the creation of the euro, I was young and naive, at least more than now. I would still support an EU as if it has been envisioned by so many people (one which would remain under democratic checks and balances), but... how things are sold, how things turn to be in reality and how things you want them to be are three different things. Even the different parties had different ideas about those three items, and different expectations. Even amongst the elites involved.
I certainly would be much more diligent now in my research to end up supporting an other 'European adventure' in the quest of a creation of a super-state.
I,
ReplyDeleteIt doesnt seem that bad of a system ... the problems seem to be coming from the same old view that "the deficit!" is borrowing etc...
Then thay have that 3% target on "the deficits!"... imo that is (as usual) the problem...
System seems like its basic functions work... settlements, etc...
Ignacio is right: “Know history? USA didn't save the world in 1940, ak the >22 mill. of Russians that died in WWII.” Furthermore, Canadians were in the war two years before the USA, and lost an enormous amount of men. Their vets grind gears when they hear Americans lay claim to being the saviors of WWII. They created CAMP X, knowledge of which is only recent.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Schwarz wrote a fabulous op-ed about it in the Los Angeles Times. Unfortunately, the LAT was under a paywall then, so few ever saw it. I suggest everyone read it and keep a copy. It’s short.
A Serious Case of Mistaken Identity
The U.S. is not the 'indispensable nation,' as a growing WWII mythology would suggest.
June 22, 2000|BENJAMIN SCHWARZ | Benjamin Schwarz is the literary editor of the Atlantic Monthly
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/22/local/me-43656
@Ignacio,
ReplyDeleteI was one of the many millions which legitimated the creation of the euro.
The Euro was created in 1942 by the great French economist, Francois Perroux. It was designed as the currency that was intended to impoverish the “southern and eastern European countries” when Hitler won WWII, as was assumed then, by removing their sovereign currencies and locking them under a ‘supra-gold standard’ that Germany controlled. Perroux was a darling under the Pétain government. He acted out of French pride to be sure that France and Germany would be united in the new regime.
Hitler intended to create a united Europe after he won, and the Euro was to be the new currency.
Matt @ April 29, 2016 at 6:41 AM. If you believe that, you’re gullible.
ReplyDeleteMatt there are many more problems to the EU apart of the misguided macro economic policy.
ReplyDeleteBut on the macro front: rules only matter depending on who is breaking them, ie. why no enforcement on surplus rules for Germany? Surplus like the ones Germany runs are not allowed by the same rules that enforce smaller deficits. If they enforced that rule they would be forced to ramp up internal demand and wages.
The rules are arbitrarily applied anyway (ie. Spain is breaking the deficit far above the target), it's all a political facade. You have unaccountable institutions like the ECB making political calls to force payment crisis in member states to push forward an agenda (ie. shutting down the Greek banks).
Then there are many national institutions and laws that are overruled at European level by someone who never was elected. If you knew Spain history you would be amused at how Europe forced an express change on the Constitution to include fiscal responsibility rules. That's pretty much unheard of and impossible to do without some insane leverage, political parties would have never agreed to do such a thing organically and nationally considering all the baggage and internal tensions.
Is pretty crazy, a dictatorship in everything but name.
@MRW I've searched the Parguez video in Youtube but is very hard to watch (the man English is not very good unfortunately). Wish there was a transcription... May try to find some original literature or a speech in France (may have more luck with that, even tho I can only catch some French).
ReplyDeleteIn any case the connections of Mitterrand with the far right are interesting.
French historian Bernard Bruneteau wrote L'Europe nouvelle de Hitler. Une illusion des intellectuels de la France de Vichy in 2003. Never translated into English.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of several French historians who are addressing this. Guess Evans-Pritchard doesn’t speak French.
He acted out of French pride to be sure that France and Germany would be united in the new regime.
ReplyDeleteFunny Karma... now France is being dumped with all the southern nations.
Ignacio, @ April 29, 2016 at 11:44 AM.
ReplyDeleteI know. Oh Christ, I know. I spent four months fixing those videos. First, I sped them up by 160% which brought them up to nearly normal speech. Then I got the translation made by the San Francisco public radio station (Bonnie Faulkner on GUNS & BUTTER) that covered the Rimini Conference. But she took a station break over one of the most critical statements that Parguez made! Shit. I spent weeks searching down Italian-translated copies of Parguez’s talk. Then I had to remove the Italian overdub to hear what he said underneath. I also contacted Parguez and got his historical references.
Let me see if I can find a link on my other drives.
I found them. If you want them, email me at my handle walesmartin at the common google email address (figure it out) and I’ll send them to you. Just give me a couple of days to reply to you, because I rarely check that email address. Like once a month, if that.
@Ignacio,
ReplyDeleteIn any case the connections of Mitterrand with the far right are interesting. I tracked that down and it’s true. Too long tob explain here.
Evans-Pritchard definitely did not do his homework.
ReplyDeleteIgnacio, actually I only check that email address once a quarter (Q), but I’ll watch out for you.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s really fascinating to me is that once you understand MMT, what Parguez says makes perfect sense and so does Mosler’s explanation of the EU. I don’t think the Americans attending the Rimini Conference understood the import of what Parguez was saying because they couldn’t understand him. But his talk was mother-fucking explosive, imo.
ReplyDeleteIgnacio,
ReplyDeleteMe: Then I got the translation made by the San Francisco public radio station (Bonnie Faulkner on GUNS & BUTTER) that covered the Rimini Conference.
There was a lot wrong with the translation. I get batshit when people take licenses with translations. I want word-for-word.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@MRW no worries, but if that can be uploaded somewhere in the web for public access would be nice.
ReplyDeleteIn any case I may watch a couple times the speak again, but got the bulk of it, more or less. And indeed, is very interesting.
Ignacio, There is a critical part when he talks about the Euro being the blueprint.
ReplyDeleteNot an accurate translation:
ReplyDeletehttp://mediaroots.org/alain-parquez-at-mmt-summit-2012/
Ignacio, check this
ReplyDeletehttps://kpfa.org/program/guns-and-butter/page/20/
"Know history? "
ReplyDeleteIt was a joke. A travesty of Trumps speech "I know words. I have the best words." Of course he doesn't know his history. He's just telling stories.
Here's a French poll from 1944-2004 asking people who they thought contributed most defeating the Germans:
http://www.slate.fr/story/88935/defaite-nazis-sondage
Right. And Russians attribute it to American revisionism iaw "American exceptionalism."
ReplyDeleteIt's a propaganda crock that most of the "free world" believes now.
If the Nazis rolled over the Soviets the way they expected to, the whole of Europe, including the UK, would be speaking Deutsch now and using the DM. The Soviet victory over the Nazi blitzkrieg and then siege was the turning point. At huge cost to the Soviets.
This is why Russians regarded the West's exclusion of Russia from the recent commemoration of the anniversary of the war as such an insult.
They are also fully aware that WWII never ended for them, since the Allies immediately made plans for the conquest of the USSR. They can see that the plan is still current, too, with NATO advancing and surrounding them.
I meant transcription above for every instance of translation. Parguez was speaking English but it was almost impossible to transcribe properly.
ReplyDelete=========================================
Btw, I agree with your last comment, Tom.