#DefenseUnion
#CETA
#GeoPol #TrumpCoup #TrumpTariffs
#USpol #CANpoli #EUpol

[2/3]

....so it was never seriously developed.

Lastly, in my view, even though the #DefenseUnion seems to have been the most difficult dimension for #EU to integrate, this mustn't be the case for the #EU and the non-US #NATO members.

In fact, #NATO proves that a Defense Union can be pursued independently from all other dimension.

Even...

@proscience

Agree on the complacency. Finland and Sweden with their historically diffent approach did better but while being clear on the Russian threat, they also had a blind spot about the fascistic broligarchy in the US and their target(s).

And don't get me started re: the complacency of Ireland and Austria.

@proscience

All agreed.

You are not saying this, but just for the benefit of others: #Finland and #Sweden became #NATO members only in 2023. #Austria is a "neutral" country. Of #Türkiye, only a small part of #Istambul is #European.--So the complacency statement about #NATO' #Eoropean members holds true.

Absolutely.

It's also worth mentioning that Denmark had opted out of EU defense initiatives as they felt NATO sufficed and any EU ambitions were overreach.
But shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Denmark held a referendum to join in.

So yeah, complacency everywhere, with few notable exceptions, and Macron being the obvious example.

@proscience

#EUpol #DefenseUnion #France
#History #DeGaulle

(1/n)

Again, agreed.

Alas, #Macron is no visionary, precognitive leader like Président #CharlesDeGaulle was. With today's hindsight, he rightly distrusted the #Americans:

"In May 1944, de Gaulle told a Soviet official “ regarding his view of the #US, "As for #America, it wanted a “docile France to make it a base for their #European policy.”1)

"“After the war,” he said in 1942, 👉“it will be necessary to give...

#EUpol

(2/n)

...#Europe a sense of herself; if not, American political administrators will come to colonize Europe with their primitive methods and their overweening pride. 👈They will treat us all as if were negroes in Senegal! To rebuild Europe, we will need #Germany, but a Germany that has been first defeated, unlike the situation in 1918.”1)

Despite his disdain for multi-party democracies, 👉#DeGaulle..."👉was also a resolute European. In the postwar era, he hoped to fashion a... @proscience

#DefenseUnion

(3/n)

...new and strong #Europe, led by #France, that would be “1st in the world”;👉 a Europe “not dominated by either the Russians or the Americans.”👈

And he was one of the early thinkers of a #EuropeOfRegions:
He envisioned a “Europe of fatherlands,” and specifically denounced a “hybrid” #Europe that would not recognize and seek to preserve the distinctive national characters and cultural contributions of Italy, France, Germany and the other European nations." 1)
@proscience

#DefenseUnion

(4/n)

...He demanded and got a new #French constitution with a strong executive, which established the “Fifth Republic” that has endured to the present."1)

"👉Charles #deGaulle recognized from the beginning that nuclear bomb would have immense consequences...👈
By the end of his two‐decade ’nuclear learning process’, he was convinced that the #bomb would have profound effects on how statesmen...

@proscience

#EUpol #DefenseUnion #France
#History

(5/5)

...provide great‐power status, respect, national independence, and political influence.2)

1)
unz.com/article/the-enduring-l…
2)
academic.oup.com/book/12875/ch… @proscience

The Enduring Legacy of a Great Man: Charles de Gaulle

No figure of modern French history is as honored as Charles de Gaulle. His name has been given to more streets, avenues and monuments in France than to any other man of the nation’s past. The country’s largest airport bears his name.

^{The Unz Review}