Kieran
Paranormal Adept
IT IS not being widely reported yet, but the document the European powers signed in Berlin last Thursday is in fact the founding charter of the Fourth German Reich.
The ordinary Germans at street level are only protesting because they do not yet realise that. But what has been achieved is a thousand miles beyond a second financial bailout for Greece and it affects the Irish because the land of Brian Boru is perfectly equipped to become the second colony.
This is the way it works. Over a decade, Greece, after joining the eurozone, while not exactly allowed to print its own money, went on an insane spending spree. So did Ireland.
Spending miles beyond what it was earning, Greece, to keep on spending, began borrowing. And it was all so easy. In order to suit Germany, the interest rate was way down below two per cent, making all that borrowed money 'cheap.' The same applied to Ireland.
At least the Irish never stopped working. Indeed they created the Celtic Tiger. The Greeks just created the Hellenic holiday camp. When the bubble burst (and all bubbles burst) Greece had debts it could not even begin to pay back. Hence the panic attending the impossible-to-avoid Greek default. So far so stupid. And all the above the Sunday Independent's readers will already know.
The problem was, Greece simply could not be allowed to default. Those debts had to be paid: somehow and by someone. Why? Because the euro is a massively flawed structure and always was. But like the emperor's new clothes, no one was allowed to say so.
Also disallowed was pointing out that Greece was not alone; and if it went belly up the whole woollen sleeve of pretence was going to unravel. Hence the first €100bn 'bailout' a few weeks ago, largely funded by wealthy Germany.
Now, let us get two things straight. The Germans do not give a monkey's buttock about the Greeks anyway. So 'bailing out Greece' which was what the papers were told to call it, and which they obediently did, was a misnomer.
The money was going (and still is) to all those banks who made the insane loans to Greece, and most of them are (surprise surprise) French and German banks.
The alternative was for the euro to unravel from Athens to Dublin to Lisbon, to Madrid to Rome, costing not billions but trillions and destroying any chance of the European superstate in the process. So a second €100bn 'bailout' was called for and the panic level rose to a crescendo. That was when the street-level Germans and the British government put their feet down.
But it could not be avoided, so eventually a deal was cut. Germany would stump up most of the second mega-sum; Chancellor Angela Merkel would face the rage of her electorate; but there would be a quid pro quo that even the Germans would accept once they understood it. In effect, Germany would run the economies of the eurozones weaklings to make sure it never happened again. Remember the old adage: he who controls the economy controls the country.
In such a situation the controlling country is called the imperial power and the controlled one is called the colony. The Brits know a bit about colonies; let's face it, we had a few. Two hundred years ago keeping control might mean throwing in a few redcoats. Nowadays the threat of ruin is more than enough.
Mind you, Germany's new hegemony will not be presented like that. Much too crude. True, but crude.
In effect the powers have created the European Financial Stability Facility, which sounds lovely. It has been endowed so far with €440bn. Quite soon, within a year, it will develop into the European Monetary Fund, endowed with a 'float' of about €1 trillion, which sounds even lovelier. But with sums like that there is always a catch.
Germany is not Father Christmas and would never dream of putting up such sums either out of brotherly generosity or even to save the EU superstate. It will do it for two reasons.
First, the vast majority is never intended to be disbursed. It will simply be moved from the German Federal Bank to the European Central Bank; a paper transaction between two banks about 500 yards apart in Frankfurt.
Secondly, it will be said that this huge treasure is an available float to reassure the banks (ie the money markets) which it will, that they will all be covered if such a thing as the last two years should ever happen again. Therein lies the hidden sting. The German's intend to ensure that it never happens again. Ever.
And there is only one way to ensure that. Run the joint. So for the weaklings the deal will be put with silken ruthlessness. If you want to remain in the EU you must remain in the eurozone.
To do that you must sign up to the European Monetary Fund. This guarantees that you do not go bust, but it has rules. The first is that you hand over to wiser heads the running of your economy.
You will hand it over to the EMF. But who will really control the EMF? Brussels? No, Berlin. It will be called fiscal (or economic) union but that will only mask Germany's mastery.
Many historians overlook a simple fact about both world wars. They were not just about marching infantry (the first) or rolling tanks (the second). In complete parallel to German aggression in 1914 and 1939 were immensely detailed plans from Berlin's economics ministry for the full unification of Europe's economies. But with strict terms.
Germany does not want your competition in manufactured products. It has enough of its own and more. It needs to export the surplus in huge quantities to keep those factories rolling and the electorate employed and happy. That is best achieved by client states.
It also wants a constant stream of cheap food to fill those 80 million German bellies, the other half of the 'happy electorate' equation. Both are the jobs of colonies: to provide cheap labour, raw materials, agricultural produce and a ready market for the trinkets.
So the arc from Greece (south-east) via Italy (south-central) to Spain/Portugal (south-west) and Ireland (due west) will have to be deindustrialised to fill the role. Actually, it is well under way. All five countries have for some time been undergoing slow de-industrialisation. Berlin's final control of this was sealed last Thursday. And, of course, the EMF will not only fix your borrowing rates to ensure you never go mad again, but also your tax rates.
Now, if there is one thing that has really irritated Germany it has been Ireland's tiny corporation taxes which have drawn billions in investments into Ireland. That is competition, and not the job of a colony. So your taxes will have to rise.
If you disbelieve me, glance at the helpless George Papandreou down there in Athens. A premier in name only. In truth a puppet now, a regional bailiff doing the bidding of others far away.
How ironic that what two years ago seemed possibly to be the death knell of the eurozone has been transformed by German money into the guarantee of the super-state. For Ireland, membership is beckoning ... but only as a servant.
The British, I am surer now than for years, will not go down that road. We no longer want to boss anyone around, but we will not be bullied either. Between a locked-in Europe of forelock-tuggers and the wide open seas, we will, like our fathers, pick the oceans.
Frederick Forsyth is the author of 'The Day of the Jackal', 'The Odessa File', 'The Fourth Protocol' and other bestsellers. and is patron of Better Off Out, a group calling for Britain's
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/new-deal-is-a-charter-for-the-fourth-reich-2829834.html
The ordinary Germans at street level are only protesting because they do not yet realise that. But what has been achieved is a thousand miles beyond a second financial bailout for Greece and it affects the Irish because the land of Brian Boru is perfectly equipped to become the second colony.
This is the way it works. Over a decade, Greece, after joining the eurozone, while not exactly allowed to print its own money, went on an insane spending spree. So did Ireland.
Spending miles beyond what it was earning, Greece, to keep on spending, began borrowing. And it was all so easy. In order to suit Germany, the interest rate was way down below two per cent, making all that borrowed money 'cheap.' The same applied to Ireland.
At least the Irish never stopped working. Indeed they created the Celtic Tiger. The Greeks just created the Hellenic holiday camp. When the bubble burst (and all bubbles burst) Greece had debts it could not even begin to pay back. Hence the panic attending the impossible-to-avoid Greek default. So far so stupid. And all the above the Sunday Independent's readers will already know.
The problem was, Greece simply could not be allowed to default. Those debts had to be paid: somehow and by someone. Why? Because the euro is a massively flawed structure and always was. But like the emperor's new clothes, no one was allowed to say so.
Also disallowed was pointing out that Greece was not alone; and if it went belly up the whole woollen sleeve of pretence was going to unravel. Hence the first €100bn 'bailout' a few weeks ago, largely funded by wealthy Germany.
Now, let us get two things straight. The Germans do not give a monkey's buttock about the Greeks anyway. So 'bailing out Greece' which was what the papers were told to call it, and which they obediently did, was a misnomer.
The money was going (and still is) to all those banks who made the insane loans to Greece, and most of them are (surprise surprise) French and German banks.
The alternative was for the euro to unravel from Athens to Dublin to Lisbon, to Madrid to Rome, costing not billions but trillions and destroying any chance of the European superstate in the process. So a second €100bn 'bailout' was called for and the panic level rose to a crescendo. That was when the street-level Germans and the British government put their feet down.
But it could not be avoided, so eventually a deal was cut. Germany would stump up most of the second mega-sum; Chancellor Angela Merkel would face the rage of her electorate; but there would be a quid pro quo that even the Germans would accept once they understood it. In effect, Germany would run the economies of the eurozones weaklings to make sure it never happened again. Remember the old adage: he who controls the economy controls the country.
In such a situation the controlling country is called the imperial power and the controlled one is called the colony. The Brits know a bit about colonies; let's face it, we had a few. Two hundred years ago keeping control might mean throwing in a few redcoats. Nowadays the threat of ruin is more than enough.
Mind you, Germany's new hegemony will not be presented like that. Much too crude. True, but crude.
In effect the powers have created the European Financial Stability Facility, which sounds lovely. It has been endowed so far with €440bn. Quite soon, within a year, it will develop into the European Monetary Fund, endowed with a 'float' of about €1 trillion, which sounds even lovelier. But with sums like that there is always a catch.
Germany is not Father Christmas and would never dream of putting up such sums either out of brotherly generosity or even to save the EU superstate. It will do it for two reasons.
First, the vast majority is never intended to be disbursed. It will simply be moved from the German Federal Bank to the European Central Bank; a paper transaction between two banks about 500 yards apart in Frankfurt.
Secondly, it will be said that this huge treasure is an available float to reassure the banks (ie the money markets) which it will, that they will all be covered if such a thing as the last two years should ever happen again. Therein lies the hidden sting. The German's intend to ensure that it never happens again. Ever.
And there is only one way to ensure that. Run the joint. So for the weaklings the deal will be put with silken ruthlessness. If you want to remain in the EU you must remain in the eurozone.
To do that you must sign up to the European Monetary Fund. This guarantees that you do not go bust, but it has rules. The first is that you hand over to wiser heads the running of your economy.
You will hand it over to the EMF. But who will really control the EMF? Brussels? No, Berlin. It will be called fiscal (or economic) union but that will only mask Germany's mastery.
Many historians overlook a simple fact about both world wars. They were not just about marching infantry (the first) or rolling tanks (the second). In complete parallel to German aggression in 1914 and 1939 were immensely detailed plans from Berlin's economics ministry for the full unification of Europe's economies. But with strict terms.
Germany does not want your competition in manufactured products. It has enough of its own and more. It needs to export the surplus in huge quantities to keep those factories rolling and the electorate employed and happy. That is best achieved by client states.
It also wants a constant stream of cheap food to fill those 80 million German bellies, the other half of the 'happy electorate' equation. Both are the jobs of colonies: to provide cheap labour, raw materials, agricultural produce and a ready market for the trinkets.
So the arc from Greece (south-east) via Italy (south-central) to Spain/Portugal (south-west) and Ireland (due west) will have to be deindustrialised to fill the role. Actually, it is well under way. All five countries have for some time been undergoing slow de-industrialisation. Berlin's final control of this was sealed last Thursday. And, of course, the EMF will not only fix your borrowing rates to ensure you never go mad again, but also your tax rates.
Now, if there is one thing that has really irritated Germany it has been Ireland's tiny corporation taxes which have drawn billions in investments into Ireland. That is competition, and not the job of a colony. So your taxes will have to rise.
If you disbelieve me, glance at the helpless George Papandreou down there in Athens. A premier in name only. In truth a puppet now, a regional bailiff doing the bidding of others far away.
How ironic that what two years ago seemed possibly to be the death knell of the eurozone has been transformed by German money into the guarantee of the super-state. For Ireland, membership is beckoning ... but only as a servant.
The British, I am surer now than for years, will not go down that road. We no longer want to boss anyone around, but we will not be bullied either. Between a locked-in Europe of forelock-tuggers and the wide open seas, we will, like our fathers, pick the oceans.
Frederick Forsyth is the author of 'The Day of the Jackal', 'The Odessa File', 'The Fourth Protocol' and other bestsellers. and is patron of Better Off Out, a group calling for Britain's
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/new-deal-is-a-charter-for-the-fourth-reich-2829834.html
