If you believe The Telegraph, the Germans have begun to worship the God of War, yet again. This is not the God of War on the PlayStation that you can buy for $49.99; nor is it Mars the Roman god of war who was actually the god of agriculture for some time but later changed his line of business maybe because the new title was much more provoking. (Which one would you prefer: people coming to you for better cucumbers or for more Spartan soldiers enslaved for the next war?) No, the Telegraph was not informing us that after buying Greek military ports and airfields, Germany was converting to worship the Greek war of god Ares.
Actually, it was Joseph Stalin who named artillery as the “God of War.” Now, Germany is trying to manufacture more howitzers and rocket launchers and lots of ammunition for all those cannons and guns, but for what?
French President Emmanuel Macron is not even paying attention to the mortal fact that the political party he fashioned after himself has lost popular support in the latest polls, and in the forthcoming snap elections, it may not even be the third party in parliament. But he is so busy tallying his country’s nuclear arsenal and making his warplanes fly again. Why?
Russian President Vladimir Putin, the living god of (not war, but close) intelligence (not in the sense of acumen, but data and knowledge), was in North Korea – which is 141 times smaller than Russia area-wise – to beg munitions, so his country could do what?
The answer to all and more mysterious things happening in Europe, Asia and Africa, I think, lies in this conclusion: We need to consider the repercussions of the United States stepping away from the NATO alliance. We’ve enjoyed decades of a largely peaceful Europe, but what happens if the Americans leave? I would expect Europeans to revert to their old ways, including renewed military competition and something even scarier for us Americans, nuclear proliferation. We all know how quickly places like Germany can ramp up military production.
The author is among the alumni of Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, a.k.a. The Shadow CIA, an American strategic intelligence publishing company, and I have referred to him several times here lately.
Peter Zeihan, foremost among them, thinks that the U.S. is gradually stepping away from the NATO alliance, and therefore we have to consider the repercussions of this. If the pre-order (that is, the order provided by the U.S. through the Bretton Woods and NATO financial and military alliances) era could be an example of the days coming, we could expect then renewed military competition and nuclear proliferation; and this brings us to what he calls a “come to Jesus moment.” It is supposed to be a moment of sudden realization, comprehension or recognition that often precipitates a major change.
We open our eyes one morning and find out that social democratic prime minister of Germany, the penitential Magdalena of two world wars that cost the lives of 100 million people, along with President Macron, who himself looks a smack like a Roman god of war in a close-up profile photo, and also Putin, with the boundless support of “The Little Rocket Man” (remember Trump’s sending Kim Jong Un Elton John’s record, and Kim’s calling Trump “The Dotard” in exchange?) and see that we are in the clutches of World War III?
We all think that neither World War III nor Cold War 2.0 is possible, thanks to a MAD doctrine that tells us that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities, boom, both the attacker and the defender would be mutually and assuredly destroyed. So, there will be no moment to recognize suddenly that humanity is no more!
There could be other moments for us to go and find Jesus or whomever you think could lead you to God Almighty, the Creator of War and Peace, before the total annihilation of Europe. The proxy war that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been conducting on behalf of the U.S. and some European countries against Russia, in which soon he will be allowed to use the American, British and French weapons in what military experts call “deep strikes” into the Russian homeland, could be a real “existential threat” for Putin.
For now, the narrative of “existential threat” could be interpreted simply as an effort to gain deterrence superiority, in other words, to scare the living daylight out of Europeans. But the perception of “existential danger” could be factual, and Putin might see the real reason for that hokey war the Ukrainians started against “Mother Russia” after the introduction of real (perhaps tactical nuclear) weapons in a “deep strike” and want to stop it overnight. He can do it; so far Russian bombardment has killed more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians (including 600 children). But Russia could, with or without North Korean ammunition, kill tens of thousands more Ukrainians in a day; and invade not only three provinces but the totality of the country.
And those fearless valiant European leaders would sit back and watch it. If those gradually rudderless Europeans start enjoying the race for the leadership in Europe to inherent total control of their destiny and thus make Putin finally comprehend that not Russia, but China is the main subject of the Americans’ fancy! If he fathoms that what Europeans are doing is simply paving the road to Beijing through Moscow!
Then, I am afraid, not only the French and German leaders will have a “meet Jesus moment” but all Europeans will get religion. God forbid!
