De Gaulle's mistake and Sarkozy's double mistake
By Mikael on Wednesday 15 April 2009, 19:20 - Permalink
The
recent article in the German Times by the French journalist Francois
d'Alancon has the merit of commenting on an event - the return of France to
NATO - that has not got the coverage and the debate that it deserves. But that
may be its only merit. D'Alancons's thoughtless praise of Sarkozy's
'pragmatism' is saddening.
Charles de Gaulle and Altiero Spinelli were at the antipodes of the post-war reconstruction of Europe. They started from radically different assumptions: de Gaulle, from conservative patriotism and national 'souverainisme'; Spinelli, from progressive socialism and federalism.
Yet both de Gaulle and Spinelli came to support the view that Europe should be politically and militarily independent from the USA, although both had at the beginning welcomed the membership of their own countries in the Atlantic alliance.
However, de Gaulle wanted to build Europe's independence on nuclear deterrence, which was probably the greatest mistake he made during his long and heroic career. From a military point of view, nuclear weapons have proved to be a new Maginot line in the sky, unless we think that they will once more be detonated in a war between nations, which would mark the end of the human race.
Spinelli, in the debate on the European Defence Community (EDC) at the beginning of the 1950s, supported the proposal that the armed forces of the member countries of the European Coal and Steel Comunity be integrated into a common European army. The projected EDC, however, was adopted by no one else. De Gaulle and his followers, including his opponents in the internal politics, the French communists, who more or less openly supported his foreign policies, were against it. How would Spinelli and the Italian Eurocommunists later on, in the 1970s and 1980s, have organized the defense of Europe? It seems that they did not make any essential contribution to the military thought of that period. Yet they understood that the road to the future must pass through nuclear disarmament, and even via the unilateral European abolition of these weapons of mass destruction. In sharp contrast to the left in France, which continued on the path of de Gaulle, having at the end of the 1970s also formally adopted the nuclear force de frappe as a necessary part of the French national defense, the Italian left came out in favour of the great European popular mouvement for nuclear disarmament in the 1980s.
Sarkozy's 'pragmatism', which means keeping and modernizing the French WMD, while militarily subordinating France and Europe to the USA, is pure opportunism. It merely provides further confirmation that Sarkozy, in comparison with his predecessor de Gaulle, is a political clown, somebody who like his Italian counterpart Berlusconi and his British colleague Blair, builds his fame and fortune on appearances in the media. In sum, Sarkozy is hardly more than a phenomenon of what Hans Magnus Enzensberger once named "the consciousness industry".
We remember what his wife Carla Bruni told the reporters: "je veux avoir un homme qui a le pouvoir nucléaire". Yet this man, or the inert power structure which he represents, actually 'has the nuclear power'. What does this mean? And what shall we make of the personal integrity of the journalist Francois d'Alancon from the Catholic journal la Croix who hails the the French decision to rejoin the military structures of NATO? Evidently, Catholics are supposed to believe that the the M51 missiles and their 'oceanic' warheads are compatible with Dominus Iesus! And Voltaire is rolling in his grave.
It is time to put an end to the reign of these dangerous media puppets. With the internet, another media landscape is possible. The Real News Network , for instance, is a TV news agency that is independent from the transatlantic military-industrial complex. Lets watch their news, lets donate some euros per month to support their service. With our blogs and wikis, we can build an alternative media for a real European Union without nuclear arms. Yes, we can!
Charles de Gaulle and Altiero Spinelli were at the antipodes of the post-war reconstruction of Europe. They started from radically different assumptions: de Gaulle, from conservative patriotism and national 'souverainisme'; Spinelli, from progressive socialism and federalism.
Yet both de Gaulle and Spinelli came to support the view that Europe should be politically and militarily independent from the USA, although both had at the beginning welcomed the membership of their own countries in the Atlantic alliance.
However, de Gaulle wanted to build Europe's independence on nuclear deterrence, which was probably the greatest mistake he made during his long and heroic career. From a military point of view, nuclear weapons have proved to be a new Maginot line in the sky, unless we think that they will once more be detonated in a war between nations, which would mark the end of the human race.
Spinelli, in the debate on the European Defence Community (EDC) at the beginning of the 1950s, supported the proposal that the armed forces of the member countries of the European Coal and Steel Comunity be integrated into a common European army. The projected EDC, however, was adopted by no one else. De Gaulle and his followers, including his opponents in the internal politics, the French communists, who more or less openly supported his foreign policies, were against it. How would Spinelli and the Italian Eurocommunists later on, in the 1970s and 1980s, have organized the defense of Europe? It seems that they did not make any essential contribution to the military thought of that period. Yet they understood that the road to the future must pass through nuclear disarmament, and even via the unilateral European abolition of these weapons of mass destruction. In sharp contrast to the left in France, which continued on the path of de Gaulle, having at the end of the 1970s also formally adopted the nuclear force de frappe as a necessary part of the French national defense, the Italian left came out in favour of the great European popular mouvement for nuclear disarmament in the 1980s.
Sarkozy's 'pragmatism', which means keeping and modernizing the French WMD, while militarily subordinating France and Europe to the USA, is pure opportunism. It merely provides further confirmation that Sarkozy, in comparison with his predecessor de Gaulle, is a political clown, somebody who like his Italian counterpart Berlusconi and his British colleague Blair, builds his fame and fortune on appearances in the media. In sum, Sarkozy is hardly more than a phenomenon of what Hans Magnus Enzensberger once named "the consciousness industry".
We remember what his wife Carla Bruni told the reporters: "je veux avoir un homme qui a le pouvoir nucléaire". Yet this man, or the inert power structure which he represents, actually 'has the nuclear power'. What does this mean? And what shall we make of the personal integrity of the journalist Francois d'Alancon from the Catholic journal la Croix who hails the the French decision to rejoin the military structures of NATO? Evidently, Catholics are supposed to believe that the the M51 missiles and their 'oceanic' warheads are compatible with Dominus Iesus! And Voltaire is rolling in his grave.
It is time to put an end to the reign of these dangerous media puppets. With the internet, another media landscape is possible. The Real News Network , for instance, is a TV news agency that is independent from the transatlantic military-industrial complex. Lets watch their news, lets donate some euros per month to support their service. With our blogs and wikis, we can build an alternative media for a real European Union without nuclear arms. Yes, we can!