Germany’s leadership of the EU, coupled with its deep ties to Russia, meant that it was the only European state that could thwart or contain the Anglo-Saxon rush to sanction Russia and demonise Putin. In an important way, sanctioning Russia is as much about the future of Europe (particularly that of Germany and its relationship to America) and the maintenance of US hegemony of the international order – as it is about the Ukraine or MH17. But above all, it is a reassertion of American power, at a time of perceived weakness – rather as the Suez campaign was for the UK and France. The winning over of Germany (at least for now), the imposition of sanctions, and indeed the management of the media over Ukraine and the downing of MH17 (the fore-staging of an outpouring of horrified humanitarian emotion as the means to psychologically drive out any real media questioning about what happened to the Malaysian airliner); and the use of this emotional contagion to vilify Putin as a ‘barbarian beyond the pale’– is nothing less than an admittedly impressive spectacle of American power. It has nothing to do with ‘realities’. This last period essentially has focussed around a profound tussle in Germany over its German soul. Germany initially held the line against jumping too quickly to sanctions; but US direct pressures, and the matrix of indirect American influence that pervades, below the European surface, have – for now – prevailed. The question is whether this marks a tipping point in European politics: Is this ‘Atlanticist’ victory over Russia sanctions merely tactical; or is it truly strategic?
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 07:06:52 +0000
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