[Peace-discuss] "Thinkpiece: One man against the world" by Uri Avnery

[manni at snafu.de]

Forwarded Message:
> To: sdas at ojctech.com, peace-dicuss at lists.groogroo.com
> From: manni at snafu.de
> Subject: [Sdas] Fwd: [Peace] "Thinkpiece: One man against the world" 
by Uri Avnery
> Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 16:09:14 GMT
> -----
> Forwarded Message:
> > To: peace at lists.groogroo.com
> > From: Dubya Peacechild <ygroupbox at yahoo.co.uk>
> > Subject: [Peace] "Thinkpiece: One man against the world" by Uri 
Avnery
> > Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 09:20:57 +0000 (GMT)
> > -----
> > 
> > A great, civilized nation democratically elected a fanatic demagogue, 
> who preached war.
> Actually, he did not really receive the majority of votes, but, somehow, his 
> ascent to
> power was arranged nevertheless.
> > 
> > Soon after assuming power, he manipulated a dramatic incident in 
> order to tighten his grip
> upon the country and prepare for attack on smaller nations. An 
immense 
> propaganda machine
> turned "enemies" into devils, the incarnation of evil.
> > 
> > The call for war enabled him to unite the whole people behind him, to 
> silence all
> opposition, gradually abridge human rights, overcome the economic 
> crisis and embark upon a
> voyage towards world dominion.
> > 
> > He loved being photographed in uniform, walking along lines of 
> soldiers, pretending to be
> a great military leader.
> > 
> > I mean, of course, Adolf Hitler.
> > 
> > The German people, which gave him power and followed him with 
> closed eyes even when he
> committed heinous crimes, paid a heavy price. It has learned the 
lesson. 
> Now it abhors
> war, any war, from the depth of its soul. Hundreds of thousands - young 
> people, children,
> grandchildren and great grandchildren of that generation - march these 
> days through the
> streets of Germany to protest against Bush's war. Their leader, 
> Schroeder, was reelected
> solely because he expressed this deep longing for peace. The most 
> warlike people has
> turned into the most anti-warlike.
> > 
> > That's great, isn't it? Not at all! The American and British leaders 
> condemn Germany for
> its refusal to go to war. The Israeli government heaps scorn on its head. 
> Wet rugs, these
> Germans! Damn pacifists! Cowards! Pitiful people who refuse to fight!
> > 
> > All this less than 60 years since Hitler's suicide. Who would have 
> believed.
> > 
> > And this is not the only miracle that is happening these days. Not by 
any 
> means.
> > 
> > A personal memory (excuse me if you have read it before): when I was 
> eight years old, two
> years before my family fled Germany after Hitler's coming to power, I 
was 
> a pupil in the
> third class of an elementary school in Prussia, a Social Democratic 
> bulwark at the time.
> > 
> > Once the teacher told us about Hermann, the national hero, who had 
> succeeded in 9 AD to
> lure the Roman army into a trap and annihilate it. The Roman 
> commander, Varus, fell on his
> sword and Augustus Ceasar uttered his despairing cry: "Varus, give me 
> back my legions!" On
> the spot where the historic battle was supposed to have taken place, 
> there stands now a
> huge statue of Hermann.
> > 
> > "Hermann stands with his face towards the Erbfeind (hereditary 
> enemy)!" our teacher
> proclaimed. "Children, who is the Erbfeind?" All the pupils in the class 
> shouted in
> unison: "Frankreich! Frankreich (France)!"
> > 
> > Now Germany and France, the hereditary enemies, stand together, 
> shoulder to shoulder,
> against Bush's war plans. The Americans curse and abuse them, but 
> they stand firm: Enough
> of war. Enough of destruction and bloodshed. Other ways to solve 
> problems must be found.
> > 
> > That is another miracle. But even this is a minor one compared to the 
> third, historic
> miracle that is happening in front of our eyes:
> > 
> > President Putin appeared in Berlin and Paris, embraced Chirac and 
> Schroeder and added his
> voice to theirs. One front from Cherbourg on the Atlantic to Vladivostok 
on 
> the Pacific.
> That has never happened before.
> > 
> > From earliest times, European history is full of alliances of some 
states 
> against others.
> Germany and Russia divided Poland between them. France and Russia 
> allied themselves
> several times to contain Germany. Napoleon tried to unite Europe and 
did 
> not succeed. The
> Texan cowboy is succeeding where the Corsican emperor has failed.
> > 
> > Bush has invented the childish term "Axis of Evil" to group together 
Iraq, 
> Iran and North
> Korea. That's nonsense. But in the meantime a 
French-German-Russian 
> axis has come into
> being and is facing the United States.
> > 
> > (The term "axis", designating a coalition of states, was also invented 
at 
> the time of
> Hitler. The original axis of evil included Germany, Italy and Japan. When 
> using this term,
> Bush intended to recall that memory.)
> > 
> > It is too early to say if this new axis will hold on and if it will be strong 
> enough to
> face the enormous might of the United States. But even if it will be 
broken 
> this time, its
> very birth is a harbinger of things to come.
> > 
> > These three countries, contemptuously called by the American 
secretary 
> of defence [Donald
> Rumsfeld] "Old Europe", are, on the contrary, united by considerations 
> pertaining to the
> New Europe. This Europe worries the Americans. It is becoming an 
> economic superpower, able
> to compete with, and perhaps overtake, the United States. A symbol of 
this 
> is the fact
> that the euro has indeed overtaken the dollar.
> > 
> > As I remarked in a previous article, the war in Iraq is primarily a war 
> against Europe and
> Japan. The American occupation of Iraq will ensure American control 
not 
> only over the vast
> oil reserves of Iraq itself, but also of the Caspian Sea and the Gulf 
States. 
> The hand on
> the oil tab of the world can choke Germany, France and Japan, because 
it 
> can manipulate at
> will the price of oil throughout the world. Lower the price, and you choke 
> Russia. Raise
> the price, and you choke Europe and Japan.
> > 
> > Therefore, preventing the war is an essential European interest, in 
> addition to the
> profound longing for peace of the European peoples.
> > 
> > Washington does not even hide its desire to bring Europe to its knees. 
> Lately, there is a
> crude American effort to create a coalition of peripheral countries in 
order 
> to oust
> Germany and France from the leadership of the European Union. 
America 
> is organizing a bloc
> of the former Communist nations, who are about to join the European 
> Union, together with
> the UK, Spain and Italy. The Paris-Berlin axis, aided by Moscow, is 
> designed as a defence
> against this ploy, too.
> > 
> > This war, then, goes much beyond the Iraqi problem. It is not a war 
> against Saddam's
> microbes. It is, quite simply, a war for world dominion - economic, 
> political, military
> and cultural. Bush is ready to spill a lot of blood to achieve this (as long 
as 
> it is not
> American blood).
> > 
> > Israel is involved in this game without quite knowing what it is doing 
> there, a boy in a
> game of world-league bullies. It has nothing to gain; it can only lose.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ---------------------------------
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> your needs
> > 
> 
> 
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