Gaither Stewart
[box] Subservient, servile, submissive, obsequious, sycophantic, groveling, fawning, ingratiating, toadying, unctuous, bootlicking are common adjectives applied to persons and/or to nations whose existence seems to depend on subservience to another person and/or nation. (Oxford American Thesaurus)[/box]
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I have in mind subservience as a salient characteristic in the complex relationships among nations and blocs of nations. For example: subservience (or for that matter any of the synonyms listed above) describes today’s relationship of West and Central European as well as many Middle Eastern and Asian nations with the United States of America. However, especially the relationships of most West European nations with the USA are perverted, as is the relationship of the European Union (EU) itself with the USA.
GERMANY, AN OCCUPIED COUNTRY
In a show of Anglo-American might at one of the crisis points of the First Cold War, the Berlin Airlift (1948-49) was designed to show the Western Europeans that the US and its allies could easily match and outmaneuver the Soviet Union. The Americans dropped thousands of tons of supplies into West Berlin every day. Eventually, the “Berlin Airlift” carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. The images of German civilians watching —and often cheering—the planes soon became iconic images in the Western propaganda war.
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JFK's "Ich Bin ein Berliner!" speech in West Berlin was one more propaganda nail in the coffin of an independent Europe. (June 26, 1963)
During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union [was forced to] block the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutschmark from West Berlin. In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the city's population.[1][2] Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force[3]:338 flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food.[4]
1948, West Berlin, Germany --- Children perched atop war debris in West Berlin wave to an American cargo plane bringing food and supplies during the Soviet Union's blockade of the city in 1948. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict.[5] By the spring of 1949, the airlift was clearly succeeding, and by April it was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin. The Berlin Blockade served to highlight the competing ideological and economic visions for postwar Europe.
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[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter fifteen years of my early life in Germany including studies at Munich University and many stays there since, especially in Berlin, that experience bears on the following in the sense that in my eyes Germans at times have been both subservient to authority. At the same time, German youth has a tendency to think in extremes, both on the left and the right, a tendency that however then evaporates with age.
SIDEBAR
German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1949-1963). This shrewd politician, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and a fierce anti-communist, was extremely popular with the Americans, and the reasons are obvious. It was Adenauer who consolidated Germany’s embedding into the US-dominated bloc, and paved the road for America’s permanent presence in Germany. The Wikipedia—which is demonstrably often heavily influenced by US propaganda assets—has a rather gushing entry on him. Read excerpts below.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough for many years following WWII Germans among themselves called Americans derogatorily, Ami, and though a largely subdued resentment was sometimes palpable, I do not recall cases of popular or official explosions of anti-Americanism. On the other hand, until recent years there was a certain deference toward Americans and America in older people. Not only were young people less deferential, but as time passed many became were quite leftwing in their Weltanschauung.
The US has numerous bases in Germany, many huge, self-contained installations resembling veritable cities in which the American Way of Life is maintained for the psychological comfort of the troops on imperial duty. This photo shows Campbell Barracks, an army base in the 1950s.
Aerial view of USA barracks in Eschwege, Germany, 1950s.
Since the late 1940s a tour of duty in Europe has become common for many GIs, who sometimes see it as a form of “poor man’s tourism.” (1947)
The war in Vietnam changed German youth and part of the intellectual class. Vietnam led to the German version of 1968 which in Munich at least began in 1967. Vietnam led to the terrorism of the Rote Armee Faktion which, according to one of the founders of Italy’s Red Brigades, had a powerful influence on Italian terrorist groups, (until both German and Italian terrorists were infiltrated and crushed by the CIA and NATO’s Operation Gladio).
From the 1940s thru the 1970s, German and Italian cinema artists turned their attention to the American influence on their societies. W. Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun explored the empty “miracle” of German economic revival, and the torn loyalties of many Germans towards their putative American benefactors.
In Paisá, (1948), a neorealist film in 5 episodes, Rossellini also explored the complex, often ambiguous relationship between the conquering Americans and the vanquished people of Italy, fighting to survive and maintain some shreds of dignity. The still shows a scene from the episode focusing on the Sicilian invasion. The postwar period, with its Marshall Plan for Europe, etc., saw the US deepening its hold on the ruined continent.
Germany today has reassumed its role as the lead nation in Europe. As such, Germany is a kind of economic Mecca to south Europeans. In the immediate post-war era first arrived the Gastarbeiter—chiefly Italians, Yugoslavs, Greeks. It is an irony of history that peoples of countries destroyed by Nazi Germany then reconstructed a likewise destroyed Germany. Those peoples were subservient, but also hungry. Which recalls the Brecht quote: Zuerst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral. (First comes food, then comes morality) Today, Germany’s powerful economy and life style attract both the poor from the Islamic world and, despite the language barrier, educated youth from south Europe in search of better employment. Germany’s economy is again booming, the world’s fourth, after the USA, China and Japan. Under the leadership of Christian Democratic Chancellor Angela Merkel Germany dominates and leads the European Union.
In the context of German domination in Europe and its current world status, the following will ring like the speculation of conspiracy maniacs. Yet for around ten years the rumor has circulated among analysts, historians and people attracted by simple solutions in general and conspiracy theories in particular that every newly elected German chancellor must present himself/herself to the United States government and sign the so-called Kanzlerakte (Chancellor’s Document) before taking the oath of office. According to the rumor that obligation was part of a secret treaty of 1949 that is still valid today. The treaty allegedly assures the “Allies”, that is, it assures America, sovereign control over Germany and its media until the year 2099. If true, the pact would prove that every chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from Konrad Adenauer to Angela Merkel has been a puppet of the “western Allies”, who consider themselves the sole victors in WWII and scorn the predominant Russian role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Most information about such a secret document is untrustworthy such as that circulated by the Adelaide Institute, a Holocaust denial group in Australia, and labeled anti-Semitic by Australia’s Human Rights Commission. Also the offices of both President and Chancellor of Germany flatly deny the existence of the document: “The secret state treaty belongs to the field of legend. This state treaty does not exist. And naturally the chancellor (Merkel) was not obligated on orders from the Allies to sign the so-called Chancellor’s Document before she took her oath of office. The requested short answer is: no.“
(»Der geheime Staatsvertrag ist dem Reich der Legenden zuzuordnen. Diesen Staatsvertrag gibt es nicht. Und die Bundeskanzlerin musste selbstverständlich auch nicht auf Anordnung der Alliierten eine so genannte „Kanzlerakte“ unterschreiben, bevor sie ihren Amtseid ablegte. Die erbetene kurze Antwort lautet daher: Nein.)
Even though Germany’s defeat was total and devastating and the country, society and economy destroyed, I personally cannot conceive of even the wasteland that was post-war defeated Germany signing away its future. However that may be, it is fact that internationally Germany as a rule continues to follow the American lead instead of pursuing what can be seen as Germany’s national interests.
For example, Germany would have everything to gain from a much closer relationship with Russia (with which it feels great affinity) and Central and East Europe in general (America’s worst nightmare) of which Germany is the natural leader.
Instead, Germany holds steadfast to the American area. Still today, 70 years since the end of WWII, Germany hosts officially 75,000 American military forces and many more under one cover or another. Though NATO’s headquarters is in Belgium, its operations center is in Germany where NATO forces are based.. The U.S. trains the armed forces of its allied states at its Hohenfels facility near the former Roman garrison town of Regensburg.
Thus America’s military footprint is powerful in Germany even though the Soviet “Evil Empire” has collapsed, Eastern Europe has switched sides, and America’s European allies now possess a collective GDP and population larger than the U.S. Therefore the continuing U.S. military presence in Germany lends some veracity to the existence of the Kanzlerakte (or something similar). In any case, the question remains of why American military personnel still “occupy” Germany.
It would seem that something besides tradition binds Germany and the Anglo-American world. Most certainly behind-the scenes puppeteers such as the Bilderbergers or the Trilateral Commission could influence and control every chancellor by means of secret intrigues or Secret Service operations or media manipulation without requiring newly elected chancellors to travel to Washington and sign a piece of paper.
GREAT BRITAIN, FROM MASTER TO SERVANT
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is no reason to believe that ordinary British people consider the U.S. a foreign country; at least it is not like the others. On an official level America is almost “family”. America and Britain share the same language and culture, the same nominal respect for democracy and representative institutions, the same religious and moral beliefs and similar legal systems.
Tony Blair—George Bush’s “bitch”—as many wits have called him, personifies the British drift toward “second banana” status in the game of US-led global imperialism.
The idea of Britain’s becoming “the 51st state” has been bandied about—perhaps only ironically—by British anti-Americans anxious to stress Britain’s subservience to U.S. military and foreign policy. In any case, the British are a pragmatic people in such matters, ready to change old habits, it is said, if they are convinced they will get something worthwhile in return.
For example, the British do not oppose the European Union on any theoretical grounds; they simply see no advantages in full membership. They can see with their own eyes that the Europe of today is an unattractive partner. Europe has unemployment of 10% to 12% on average but as high as 20% in some countries. Then the British look at the U.S. and see (wrongly) full employment, low or negative inflation, high productivity, sustained growth, a balanced budget, minimum regulations, limitless opportunities and until recently a whiff of freedom.
Nonetheless, Britain seems to be lurching slowly (and painfully) toward membership in the emerging European federal state. Before that happens one might consider a different scenario. Britain, plus other English-speaking nations, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, could join the U.S. and attach themselves to the apparently still dynamic U.S. economy, leaving behind the stagnancy and statism of Europe. It has been calculated that they would enter the USA with the equivalent representation of two dozen or so states, picking up enough House and Senate seats to constitute a formidable voting block. The U.S. would add 111 millions of population, $2.4 trillion of gross domestic product and enhance its status as the world’s leading economy and the world’s policeman. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0405/6307082a.html
ITALY, THE AMERICANIZED ENFANT GACHE’
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n addition to close governmental, economic and cultural ties, according to Pew Research global opinion polls, Italy is amongst one of the most pro-American nations in the world, with 78% of Italians viewing the U.S. favorably in 2014. Nonetheless, Italians tend to be individualistic contrarians. Rules and conventions are made to be broken … then mended, with slight alterations.
Italy irritated NATO governments when it declared it would NOT send soldiers to the Syria-Iraq area. Then it amended the decision and announced the dispatch of 450 soldiers to put their boots on the ground in Iraq, although not for military action but to defend Italian companies repairing the key Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, 50 kilometers upstream from the city of Mosul. So Italy will have military forces on the ground … and it will not. Then in another about-face, Italy on December 17 rejected the automatic renewal of EU sanctions against Russia scheduled for January. The long-time Russian-Italian “feeling” frequently shines through the bizarre labyrinthine Brussels bureaucracy in its masochistic subservience to Washington, perhaps in the hope of saving itself, despite America’s obvious intents of dividing and weakening the European Union and driving it ever deeper into oblivion.
Italians have immigrated to the USA in massive numbers since the latter part of the 19th century. In the first wave experienced persons from north Italy decided to change countries and were welcomed in America. The next wave was of poor and hungry southern Italians suffered to make their way to America, most settling in the New York area. Italian workers built the New York subway system and many of Manhattan’s skyscrapers.
The rise of Italian cinema artists to the summit of their profession mirrors the accomplishment of Italian-Americans in many other fields—from law and engineering to medicine, history, and pure sciences. In the still, Francis Ford Coppola discusses a scene of Godfather I with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Many other great actors and directors have added lustre to the Italian presence in the US, including Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro, Joey Pesci, Robert Loggia, Brian de Palma, James Gandolfini, and scores of others. All of this has fortified the sense of linkage between the US and Italy, not lost on imperial planners.
An estimated 18,000,000 people of Italian ancestry live in the USA today. Many people in Italy have relatives in the USA. Italians as a rule feel close to America and are heavily influenced by American things and American life style. Perhaps for that reason above all Italian governments reflect those popular sentiments. Even during the 20 years of Fascism and when Italy was officially at war with the USA, people retained their pro-American feelings.
One of the first acts of any new Prime Minister is the trip to the White House, both to be recognized by the U.S. president and to pay homage to America. And one of the prerequisites today is to know or acquire enough English to accomplish this act with acceptable flair and style.
Italy is loyal to the USA. Since WWII and the Cold War, the USA/NATO has considered Italy “the soft underbelly of Europe” chiefly because of the combination of a weak economy and its former powerful Communist Party, once the biggest in Europe. As a result the Italic peninsula became a major US military outpost. Its strategic geographical position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, pointed toward Africa and the Middle East, made its loyalty critical for America’s ambitions for world hegemony.
Ospreys VTOL craft in maneuvers at the US Sigonella Naval Air Station, in Sicily. The base played an important role in the attack on Libya.
Italy has been held in line with a firm hand. Its home-made terrorist organizations of the 1970s were infiltrated, financed and controlled by the USA/NATO which created the top secret anti-Communist Gladio organization. Gladio applied the strategy of tension, organizing false flag operations across Europe. Gladio zeroed in on Italy, arranging the bombing of the Bologna train station that cost 80 lives and the 1978 abduction and murder of Prime Minister Aldo Moro which was executed by the then, I believe, CIA-controlled Red Brigades because he had brought the Italian Communist Party into the Italian government in Rome for the first time. The major blame for terrorist acts was placed largely on left-wing protest/terrorist i.e. “Communist” organizations which in any case had been infiltrated and guided toward more and more violence. After the Moro affair, the Italian Communist Party never again had an official government role. The claim of an American intelligence officer I once interviewed that U.S. intelligence community “runs this country” was proven correct.
The US Aviano AFB is planted right in the middle of a highly strategic location, within striking distance of the entire Balkans, and central and northern Europe. This is not real estate the US is going to release any time soon. More views of Aviano below.
Italy today hosts seven major military bases including the Aviano airbase near Venice from where NATO aircraft bombed Serbia in 1999, the huge, costly Sigonella naval airbase in Sicily, the Vicenza army base which hosts rapid intervention forces and a major US naval base in Naples. Over 100 other military installations dot the narrow peninsula from north to south with an official total of 13,000 military personnel, plus families, major structures, houses, barracks and real estate and weapons galore.
Few things make an occupier’s presence more real than a military checkpoint inside one’s own country. (US Aviano AFB)
Aviano AFB’s housing. Yea, the poor Yanks have to rought it.
Yet, amidst furious debates at the EU Commission about banks and refugees and who is to wield power in Europe, it is clear that Europe is either blind to the reality it faces vis-à-vis the USA or it simply fiddles as the house burns, ignoring the approaching destruction of the Europe we all have known heretofore and accepting its geographical condemnation as that little peninsula at the western end of Euroasia. The Euripides aphorism that “whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad,” fits Europe’s disposition perfectly.
Senior Editor Gaither Stewart serves as The Greanville Post European correspondent. A retired journalist, his latest novel is Time of Exile (Punto Press). He’s also the author of several other books, including the Europe Trilogy, of which the first two volumes (The Trojan Spy, Lily Pad Roll) have been published by Punto Press. These are thrillers that have been compared to the best of John le Carré, focusing on the work of Western intelligence services, the stealthy strategy of tension, and the gradual encirclement of Russia, a topic of compelling relevance in our time. He makes his home in Rome, with wife Milena. Gaither can be contacted at gaithers@greanvillepost.com.
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