Sputnik International By John Miles
“A United States of Europe, under capitalism, is either impossible or reactionary,” predicted Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in 1915.
The EU, the fragile assemblage of former colonial powers tasked with enforcing neoliberal economics under the guise of maintaining peace in Europe, appears brittle as ever as leaders in France and Germany are increasingly at odds.
“There is a huge hole in France’s budget,” notes Sylvie Kauffmann in the Financial Times. “They are left wondering how a fiscal deficit forecast at 4.4 per cent of GDP for this year, which is bad enough, has suddenly ballooned into a staggering 6.1 per cent.”
France finds itself in its precarious position after seven years of governance under President Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker for the multinational firm Rothschild & Co. With a slick presentation drawing comparisons to former US President Barack Obama, Macron has imposed strict fiscal discipline – on the middle class, naturally – raising the country’s retirement age, reversing hard-won labor rights and slashing social spending.
The results have been grim politically and economically, but neoliberalism is a fully non-falsifiable doctrine, its failure only prompting the imposition of more neoliberalism.
Military
Meanwhile Berlin – traditionally the de-facto ruling power of the European Union – is less credible than ever as it is announced the German economy will contract for the second straight year. The country once played a leading role in imposing poverty on Greece, Ireland, and other “periphery” nations, but its luck has run out as subservience to US-backed sanctions on Russian energy have cratered its industrial base…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (sputnikglobe.com)
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