Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 05/23/2025 View Thu 05/22/2025 View Wed 05/21/2025 View Tue 05/20/2025 View Mon 05/19/2025 View Sun 05/18/2025 View Sat 05/17/2025
2024-09-17 Europe
The EU Retreats Further Into A World Of Self-Delusion
[ZeroHedge] The situation in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
is getting so bad on so many different levels, the Brussels crowd had to bring in "Super" Mario Draghi to save the day — or at least write a report telling them what to do...

Draghi has spent time at Goldman Sachs, the European Central Bank (ECB) during the sovereign debt crisis, and as unelected prime minister of Italia during the early days of the Covid pandemic and runup to Project Ukraine. Depending on where you sit, he could be an odd choice to chart a path forward; while Draghi knows his way around a crisis control center, he’s also plenty experienced at creating them.

He was one of the chief architects of the EU’s disastrous economic war against Russia and he’s always been a grim reaper for working class citizens of his native country of Italia. No wonder that for months the neoliberal, war-loving spreadsheet crowd in Brussels has eagerly awaited the report as if it is manna from heaven that will help deliver them from the corner they have backed themselves into.

Curiously, his report was delayed by months, which only increased the anticipation, and it finally dropped last week, conveniently timed at another crisis point. Project Ukraine is quickly unraveling and pressure is coming from all directions for Berlin to give the go ahead for joint EU debt in order to make the EU "competitive" again and buy a bunch of weapons to do something (nobody is too sure of what exactly) about Russia. Indeed, Draghi’s report doesn’t say, nor does it ever consider making nice with Moscow.

That’s because the report, "EU Competitiveness: Looking Ahead" is a political document more than economic one intended to not only give cover to the bloc’s disastrous Russia policies, but continue to double down. And it is already being used as more ammunition for those in the Baltics, Poland, the media, US-funded think tanks in Europe, and more who are calling on Germany to support debt for an extended Cold War. Specifically, they wanted Super Mario to tell them how to get out of the predicament of their own making without changing course on Russia and a host of other issues, and Draghi delivered — as long as you don’t let reality get in the way. His answer? More money. Lots of it.

He calls for massive infusions of cash into multiple sectors: green, tech, energy, and of course defense. According to Draghi, the price tag is a minimum of 800 billion euros annually until 2030.

Asked if his message was "implement your report, or die?" he replied that "It’s ’Do this, or it’s a slow agony.’"

The EU certainly needs an economic plan, but Draghi’s report never questions whether ongoing belligerence toward Moscow (and loss of pipeline Russian gas) is in the bloc’s best interest and it never mentions Brussels’ obsession with austerity, which is once again being forced on member countries. From a purely economic standpoint, the report is trash economics that reads like something out of the late-stage USSR, according to economist Philip Pilkington.

But it does plug nicely into the political economy of today’s EU, which is being subsumed under Washington and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
. It is engaged in open economic war and an proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, both of which have hurt working class citizens across the bloc. The austerity-obsessed EU is once again forcing its member states to enact austerity budgets. Draghi’s report was requested by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is working to amass more power to her mostly unaccountable throne, and is one of many voices calling for a defense union and militarization and the ability to borrow and potentially levy taxes to pay for those debts.
Posted by Skidmark 2024-09-17 08:11|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ]  Top

#1 EU is entrapped. The leadership operates on its own. They no longer represent the people. They will continue to steal from their people with no Ukrainian efforts to repay so chronic depletion of future living standards in EU.
Posted by Dale 2024-09-17 18:20||   2024-09-17 18:20|| Front Page Top

15:26 Procopius2k
15:23 NN2N1
14:59 Pancho Poodle8452
14:52 Rambler
14:51 Grom the Affective
14:41 Elmerert Hupens2660
14:31 Regular joe
14:28 trailing wife
14:25 magpie
14:18 Elmerert Hupens2660
14:14 Regular joe
14:10 Super Hose
14:08 Super Hose
14:08 Regular joe
14:02 Super Hose
14:01 trailing wife
14:01 trailing wife
13:58 trailing wife
13:56 Super Hose
13:54 trailing wife
13:51 Super Hose
13:44 Elmerert Hupens2660
13:22 Difar Dave
13:20 alanc









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com