German Communist Party Propaganda from 1954:

The Lie of the “European Defense Community”

There are 32 states in Europe, of which only 5 ½ will be members of this so-called defensive community. It cannot, therefore, be called “European.” The Americans behind the EDC do not want to defend Europe, but rather only their own greedy plans aimed against the security of all the peoples of Europe. The EDC is a community of monopolists and militarists opposing Europe’s security and peace! The peoples can never build a community with monopolists and militarists!

Europe’s security can be assured only when resurgent German militarism is eliminated, when the idea of collective security for all the European peoples replaces the aggressive EDC, which is what the Soviet delegation proposed at the Berlin conference of foreign ministers!

How does a hegemon behave in a unipolar world? How does the unipolar world structure affect the hegemon and provides it with incentives to act in different ways? This paper tries to answer these questions by testing various theories of international politics against the historical record of American behaviour since the end of the Cold War. In order to fulfil this goal I will draw on the case of the European security “architecture” since the early 1990’s. Why did the hegemon try by all means to undermine every single attempt to create some form of “autonomous” European security and defense policy, although the end of the Cold War represents a unique opportunity since the failure of the EDC in 1954 to pursue a strategy of offshore balancing? The answer to this question lies in the peculiar distribution of power resulting from the demise of the Soviet Union and the effect it had on the hegemon’s grand strategy.

My chief goal in this article is to provide a power-based theory of unipolarity and by examining the post-Cold War European security architecture, to demonstrate that unipolarity provides not only incentives for power maximization strategies, but that my theory offers a better explanation than alternative existing ones. My argument unfolds as follows: Unipolarity provides the hegemon with incentives to pursue power-maximizing strategies. Simply put the United States opposed an “autonomous” European security architecture because the only remaining threat on the European continent is a strong, autonomous politically and militarily integrated European Union. Pushing for an autonomous “EU force” would mean creating a buck catcher that could, in the long run turn, into a peer competitor. Structural constraints do not provide the hegemon with incentives to pursue such a strategy.

Current Affiliation: Head, Secretariat of the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students, State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER), Federal Department of Home Affairs, Bern, Switzerland

Sometimes you just don’t want to know that much about some people’s sex lives.

The producers of “Game of Death” recruited 24 volunteers who were told that they were going to shoot a pilot for a new show called “La Zone Xtrême”, or “The Xtreme Zone”.
With no financial incentive on the table, the point of the game was to ask one “candidate” – played, in reality, by an actor – a series of questions. If he gave a wrong answer, the punishment would be an electric shock, with the voltage increasing by increments from 80 to 460 volts with each incorrect response.

‘Not my problem, eh?’

In the book about the documentary, “L’Expérience Extreme” (The Extreme Experiment), written by producer Christophe Nick and co-authored with journalist Michel Eltchaninoff, a participant identified as Patrick, a Metro driver, said he was happy to simply follow orders – because it was a TV show.
The instinct to obey, said Patrick, overrode all feelings for the man he believed was receiving the shocks and was in genuine pain.

Abu-Ghreib! Guantanamo! Abu-Ghreib! Guantanamo! Abu-Ghreib! Guantanamo! Abu-Ghreib! Guantanamo! Abu-Ghreib! Guantanamo! Abu-Ghreib! Guantanamo!

The head of Kazakhstan, a Pinkerton state, is pimping the idea that the pointless, make-work OSCE has created some purpose for itself in the world. I wonder if the Europeans staking their safety, security,and just about everything else on a myriad of external organizations realize that there is nothing internal for them to offer to accomplish it.

They can try to seem as important as they want, but in matters of global stability, it’s a case of alphabet soup outfits and European states wanting to look like they are partners wisely leading America, only to lecture it about wiping its feet before it enters the house it just saved from destruction. When it comes down to it, even in the Balkans, they can’t even attend to Europe’s security risks.

Kazakhstan calls on all OSCE states to show their readiness to act in favor of common interests and for the sake of collective goals and priorities, implementation of which will support and strengthen the OSCE and foster trust and respect for the Organization.

OSCE is an optimal platform to bring the Corfu process to the fore whilst opening a forum for strategically important initiatives including the European Security Treaty.
As a trans-national organization that unites Europe, Asia and North America, OSCE is responsible to comprehend and offer support for cross-border security issues.

We strongly believe that stabilization in Afghanistan can be implemented through active involvement and closer cooperation of regional organizations.

The EU is going after Google, supporting the case of 3 niche-market search engines to tie them up in red tape. This comes after the great debacle of Google virtually stepping in to virtually run the digital branches of the national archives of several states at their own cost.

While they dream that the whole thing is some kind of street battle between the cheery, innocent Smurfs and the straw man American Gargamel, European whining about the success of American companies forget the number of virtual monopolies they have in the world. It’s a simple case of wanting it both ways, and wanting affection, pity, market share, and a fat tunnel report. They want YOUR cake and to eat it too.

Their competitive disadvantage was that they failed to produce products as successful as Intel, Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Traditional twit-hood and madcaperry have fallen victim to the cultural revolution of “Health and Safety”:

A centuries-old cheese rolling contest has fallen victim to health and safety — but not because of the broken bones and dozens of other injuries sustained each year.

Organisers of Gloucestershire’s annual competition have cancelled the event due to be held on May 31 because of concerns raised by the police and local authority over traffic and crowd control.

“Cheese rolling has been going on for hundreds of years and we must ensure that this great tradition continues.”

That’s all I really wanted to say.

A translation of a blog by Jean-Michel Aphatie on RTL where he comments on air:

A week of vacation can be a wonderful thing. A bit different than the news, but not too far either, because it let’s you tune into the Zeitgeist.

On Thursday the President made a speech on industry, whose prospects are gloomy. Since 2000, industrial production in France fell by 15%, and 535,000 manufacturing jobs have been eliminated. What to do? Simply put, because it is always better than doing complicated, the president has proposed that industrial production increased by 25% by 2015. If you want more than that just write it down. A pessimist would ask why only 25%? Or, why wait until 2015? But official minds say bravo.

This kind of political will is exactly the essence of French identity that we have sought to define for months. A problem? The President replied: track opportunities, and expands horizons. He analyzes and proposes. How very talented and courageous he looks when he’s being decisive. That's how it always goes in France.

Is it different elsewhere? Maybe. The low spirits that govern other countries are apparently more inhibited than we are by the reality, truth, the global context, the autonomy of economic actors, etc... Their public speeches are taken seriously. They are less likely to make promises than we are. As a result, they are often re-elected.
We haven had a re-election at the national level since 1978, which is a world record for a democracy. France is the country of the political mess. Elsewhere, Great Britain, Spain, Germany, United States, officials are often re-elected once. With us, not so.

But the big difference is that our leaders are beautiful. At the forum, so proud they men or women is the same. They understand, they know everything, and they make declarations, on everything, all the time. Some think that the first obligation of the policymaker is to be pedagogical in order to understand the real way forward. But we are not likely to think that. The more that political thought dominates the world, the more likely it is to submit to his wishes all the other stakeholders in society.

This is what yields the rhetoric, such beautiful emotions, such wonderful elections, a nation that commues around slogans of “changing life”, “reduce the social divide," and "work more to earn more." It’s after that where things go wrong. Bad luck sometimes, international crisis some other time. Each time, bad luck, external factors conspire to prevent France, led by great men, to spread its wings and fly. Without reality, we are the leading world power, thanks to our superior intellect that inspires us and guides us. What a pity.

Fortunately, we will leave. In five years, if there are many, 2015 - 2010, five, so yes, in five years, our industrial production will have increased by 25%. That means hundreds of thousands of jobs, a flood of tax revenue, and public deficits will be a memory, with the new social taxes filling the gap in Social Security entitlements.

And if this does not occur? Inimaginable! Our president has declared it, and that’s the end of it.

Here’s a small gag that went unnoticed last night: Yesterday, the President of the French Republic has received the Greek Prime Minister, and not to let the Greeks down. If they have money problems, France will lend. The gag? The Greeks believed it, and left happy. Funny, no?

First, you need to be a nation, and have something to say.

Lady Ashton's office said it is making enquiries into leasing a jet to ease the pressures of her demanding travel schedule, but hastened to dismiss rumours she wants to purchase an EU "Air Force One". Given the current economic climate in Europe, this would not go down well. Plus, as Euranet's Brussel correspondent Nina-Maria Potts points out, it could trigger a form of air envy, with every senior EU official demanding a bigger and better plane of their own.

Bob Geldof sounds out on what has grown rather obvious to any BBC World Service listener: their standards of journalism stink. In spite of that, they take it out on Bob Geldof’s good works while trying to make some silly argument about journalistic exceptionalism (or supremacy, if you boil it down to what’s implied):

Despite the on-the record refutation of everything in Plaut's report by very senior White House advisers, high-level UN delegates, senior British ex-ambassadors and diplomats, all the aid agencies, the leader of rest the Tigrayan relief group at the time, the prime minister of Ethiopia and rebel leader at the time, and me, and without a single shred of evidence, not one iota of evidence, they cannot bear to acknowledge the grim reality, the actual truth – that they were wrong. The BBC World Service is so far off the rails it quite literally cannot recognise or acknowledge truth when it encounters it.

we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy.

- Nancy Pelosi

The fog actually being her obfuscations of leaving us not knowing what we are supposed to proudly support as a measure more relevant than the US Constitution, grow the economy in spite of the cronyism, identity politics meddling, political patronage, and added overhead. We are supposed to thank these people for giving away our resources without our consent, etcetera, etcetera.

It is the political equivalent of:

Here, kid. Pull my finger.

- Georges

Via Gatewaypundit:

Al-Qaeda terrorist, Sharif Mobley, was arrested in Yemen earlier this year. The New Jersey man shot two men at a hospital in Yemen over the weekend after being arrested in the company of several al-Qaeda members. Sharif Mobley, 26, was quietly detained earlier this year by Yemeni authorities.

Campaign finance records show Mobley received $75 as an election day worker for Gov. Jon Corzine’s campaign in 2005.

Michael Yon, a modern day Ernie Pyle, reports from Afghanistan that he has been receiving complaints about a negligent lack of support for US operators by the Spanish military at a Forward Operating Base. Those writing to him include an officer of the 82nd Airborne. CENTCOM is likely not making much of the story to keep the peace, but should deal with the issue swiftly to end this reckless endangerment.

Qal E Naw: The Spanish are not interested in helping in anyway, and are trying to make us decide to leave based on their unacceptable treatment of Americans. Our refuelers [soldiers who refuel helicopters] that are living there have to run out, unroll the hoses, pull security, and roll everything back up. They have asked for gravel along the FLS as it is currently calf deep mud, but the Spanish refuse to make any improvements. They asked for a T barrier (just one) to put at a 45 degree angle outside the fence where the FARP [Forward Arming and Refueling Point; where helicopters land for ammo and gas] has to be set up so they can run for cover in case there is small arms fire, the Spanish say no and refuse to make any improvements. They asked for a small gate where their billets are located so they can access the FARP directly rather than going a half mile loop to get out the gate, but the Spanish said no and refuse to make any improvements. They [sic] guys are living hard (we understand that) but have to do laundry by hand as all of their stuff is stolen if they turn it into the laundry, they discussed this with the Spanish, but they refuse to many any improvements.

USFOR-A needs to energize someone to develop a viable, enduring plan for this FARP that isn’t reliant on the Spanish. This is a key hub for fuel (since we can’t get trucks to [xxx] or [xxx]) so let’s improve this location to better support those guys living out there on the edge by themselves. They refused to allow a Marine detachment that was dropped there to come into the wire or feed them overnight. Our refuelers had to fight the Spanish to bring them in and squeeze them into the two small tents that they have and give them MREs as they [sic] Spanish wouldn’t feed them. Is this how we allow our Coalition partners to treat Americans?

We arrived during a TIC [fighting] and a MEDEVAC mission. The aircraft have to land/park in a field that has no gravel and then they sink into the ground. They have to be moved everyday to pull them back out of the mud. If we can’t get gravel, how about putting some AM2 matting, stakes and a couple of Red Horse guys on a CH-47 and fly them in to build a couple of pads just big enough to park an individual UH-60 on? We’ve been pushing the gravel issues since last fall and are no closer to a solution. Those guys are living in fighting positions. When it begins to warm up in the next month, that field will be untenable

So, our soldiers and Marines, living in rough conditions at the far tip of the spear, apparently are being treated with contempt, with all basic support denied, from laundry to the conditions of the field on which our troops do their thankless job. If this report is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, the Spanish are endangering the lives of our warriors by failing to provide basic safety.

U.S. Air Force Nurse, Lucy Lehker, comforts a Canadian soldier.

Just as Geert Wilders’ party wins after so much being done to prosecute him for being uppity and exercising his right to free speech, the distorted European political discourse founded on demonization continues.

Mark Steyn:

Putting to one side the stupidity of the Dutch establishment in attempting to criminalize legitimate political opposition, one is struck by the media boilerplate: Wilders is the "extreme" "far-right" "fringe", but the parties he beats are the "mainstream"? That there is a lot of what's wrong with the European political discourse. Maybe he only seems so "extreme" and "far" because you're the one out on the fringe.

This article has only been partially changed in the 1983 revision, as it was linked to very complicated case law. Subarticle 1 contains the classic freedom of the press. Any censorship is absolutely forbidden. However, formal law can otherwise limit this freedom, e.g. by making a certain content punishable under penal law. Such limitative powers cannot be delegated to lower administrative bodies such as municipalities and this includes the concomitant right of distribution of printed materials. However, the Supreme Court has nevertheless ruled since 1950 that such bodies may in fact limit the distribution of materials, if such a limitation is not based on the content of those materials and does not imply a complete impediment to any separate means of distribution. They may e.g., limit the spreading of pamphlets to certain hours for reasons of public order.
Subarticle 2 has the same arrangement for television and radio broadcasts.
Subarticle 3, added in 1983, gives a general right of expression, for those cases neither printed nor broadcasted information is involved; this includes the freedom of speech. Again, no censorship is ever allowed, but the right can otherwise be limited by formal law; explicitly mentioned in subarticle 3 is the possibility to limit the viewing of movies by minors under the age of sixteen. Although no delegation is possible, lower bodies may limit the exercise of the right for reasons of public order if such limitations are not based on the content of the expressed views. Subarticle 4 states that commercial advertising is not protected by article 7.

The Dutch constitution does not contain a freedom of gathering of information.

I know you’re all practically peeing yourselves in giddy anticipation:

Brussels to unveil economic plan for next decade

After a decade of the EU's failed efforts to become the world's most dynamic knowledge-based economy, Brussels is laying down a fresh economic vision based on innovation, education and digital technologies. However, it stops short of introducing sanctions to ensure national capitals this time stick to the plan.

"The monitoring of progress towards these targets should become an integral part of our economic governance,"

Under the bloc's new, post-Lisbon Treaty set-up, member states will have no chance to formally debate the proposals ahead of the summit in sectoral councils of energy or finance ministers, giving the commission extra power to force its ideas through.