Tragedy, both historic and contemporary.
Europe’s Unending Tragedy
There are times when Europe succumbs to an urge for self-destruction that defies rational explanation. The Thirty Years’ War provides a particularly tragic example. It went on long after its early instigators and key participants were all dead. Rational actors could have brought it to a close well before it entered its most destructive phase in the 1630s, yet the leaders’ ability to strike a balance between ends and means was lost to audacity, fear, greed, and fanaticism.That war became infamous for its violence even before the Peace of Westphalia. In subsequent decades, Europe experienced several armed conflicts, but they were limited wars for limited objectives, fought within the balance-of-power system by adversaries of similar temper and mindset.
The “Second Thirty Years’ War” started with the lights going out all over Europe in 1914. It ended in 1945, with the continent in ruins, physically and spiritually. Its subsequent economic recovery was impressive, but the old intellectual and moral vigor was gone. This is especially evident in the low quality of the political class. No European leader of our time comes even close to the stature and vision of Charles De Gaulle or Konrad Adenauer, or even of their early successors. As a result, eight decades after the Red Army marched into Berlin, Europe’s politicians are displaying the same old mix of audacity, fear, greed, and fanaticism. It has the potential to result in a new, truly final, catastrophe.
Disagree. Actually, history shows us that humans are resilient and resourceful enough that NO catastrophe, however severe or crushing, is ever truly “final.” That said, though, whatever emerges from Europe’s “final catastrophe” might not necessarily be anything the rest of Western Civ could recognize as remotely European.
After President Donald Trump started America’s gradual disengagement from what he has termed Biden’s war, the European Commission in Brussels and the governments in Berlin, Paris, and London formed the “Coalition of the Willing,” an ad hoc alliance effectively devoted to defeating Russia. Its major protagonists—German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer—present the conflict with Russia as an existential test of resolve. “Ukraine’s future is our future,” Starmer said in October.
The coalition maintains that Ukraine must be restored to its late-Soviet-era borders, including the Crimea; that Russia must pay for its reconstruction, with the EU and Britain preparing to seize its frozen funds under their control; that Kiev should be free to join NATO and to bring foreign troops to its territory; and that alleged Russian war criminals must be brought to “international justice.” These demands are presented as nonnegotiable, with the implication that eventually Moscow will be compelled to sign on the dotted line by force of arms.
By insisting on what amounts to Russia’s surrender, the EU and major European governments are painting themselves into a corner. The resulting mindset was epitomized by Merz, who declared last September that “we are not at war, but we are no longer at peace, either.” Last May, he pledged to make the Bundeswehr the “strongest conventional army in Europe.” Germany’s defense expenditure rose by 28 percent last year to $90 billion, making it the world’s fourth-largest military spender. Annual spending is planned to double to at least $175 billion by 2029.
Lots more to this piece yet, of which you’ll want to read the all.
- Entries
” Its subsequent economic recovery was impressive…”
Yea, sure. All thanks goes to the USA for the recovery.
Ummm Margaret Thatcher has entered the chat. Along with Pope John Paul II.
Oh, and a nice bunch you got there. Starmer, Macron and Merz. Yeah, I’m just hankering to be engaged with those three in their War to End All Wars.
Russia Russia Russia has still not completely sunk in yet.
Emmanuel Goldstein must be behind all the Failures.
“Annual spending is planned to double to at least $175 billion by 2029.” (Germany)
Sure. Right after they figure out how to turn the power back on.