by Elena Basile
It’s hard to believe that the American deep state has tried for the second time to kill Trump without succeeding. The United States is a democratic country accustomed to eliminating its own leaders. The CIA and the military-industrial complex got rid of the two Kennedy brothers, one after the other, within a few years. Back then, it felt like reality was surpassing fiction. It seems plausible that Trump serves a purpose within the American blob. No one truly wants to eliminate him, though intimidating him is another matter. Without a figure as extreme and peculiar as that parvenu businessman, how could the media in the politics-entertainment complex of the world’s largest democracy pretend that there is a struggle between opposing factions? Today, the smiling Harris Democrats can present themselves as the party defending civil rights (LGBTQ+, abortion, and apparently migrants) and appear more civilized and polite in the Middle East, all thanks to Trump’s existence.
In essence, nothing will change whether one side or the other wins, as the neoconservatives’ imperialist policies will continue. World domination through military supremacy, benefiting financial oligarchies, the arms industry, and energy sectors, will proceed at the risk of nuclear war, sidelining diplomacy and politics.
The propaganda machine is hard at work, trying to convince the public that the escalation in Ukraine is Russia’s fault. They deny the obvious. NATO’s red lines have gradually been erased in the face of Ukraine’s military collapse, and Moscow has merely responded, doubling down each time NATO’s involvement increased. A former diplomat, in a recent article in La Stampa, openly argues that lethal weapons should be authorized to strike Russia deeply, so that, after the U.S. elections, negotiations can be conducted from a position of strength. However, he fails to explain why a strategy that has failed so far should suddenly succeed. Russia will respond with equal blind violence to NATO’s blows, and this escalation will result in new defeats for Kyiv. It is disheartening that a belligerent rhetoric with no strategic objectives is being adopted for electoral reasons. The analyst knows perfectly well that the new deaths between now and November will be pointless and will not change the course of the war. These deaths serve the Democratic Party, which is trying to avoid presenting itself to voters while a catastrophic defeat is unfolding in Ukraine. One war casualty on one side, how many votes for the Democrats on the other?
Dominique de Villepin, French Foreign Minister in 2003 and close collaborator of President Jacques Chirac, delivered a memorable speech at the UN opposing the intervention of the “coalition of the willing” against Saddam Hussein. He spoke about international legality guaranteed by the UN and the need for a return to politics and diplomacy in the fight against terrorism and in bringing peace to the Middle East. Even today, on French television, he appeals for the West to abandon its double standards, the profound injustice of its foreign policy, and to return to diplomacy—whether in Ukraine or Gaza—since solutions do exist and are within reach of politics.
The United States and Europe, which seek to govern by dividing and isolating enemy nations from friends, following the Schmittian logic (Carl Schmitt, a German political theorist, considered the friend-enemy dialectic fundamental to politics), have, in fact, isolated themselves from the rest of the world. These countries do not vote with them at the United Nations nor do they apply their sanctions. The Global South, including India and Indonesia, has no intention of supporting U.S. power dynamics. They are pursuing foreign policies based on their own interests, maintaining ties with China and Russia, and choosing sides based on their own benefits. The predatory West (unfortunately, dear Mr. Rampini, no one is thanking us) is revealed for what it is: a region in economic and moral decline, using brute force in Gaza and Ukraine to protect its privileges. The British Labour Prime Minister Starmer represents the most extreme belligerence against Russia and, after his visit to Washington, is seeking more explicit Italian involvement in the use of Storm Shadow missiles, co-produced with Leonardo. Russia, from the Tsars onward, has been London’s traditional enemy. Italy, without a nuclear force de frappe,* has nothing to gain from a declaration of war on Moscow. The use of Storm Shadow missiles, facilitated by Atlantic operators and intelligence, is rightly perceived by Russia in this light.
Il Fatto Quotidiano, September 22, 2024
* Force de frappe is a French term that refers to a country’s nuclear strike capability, specifically its nuclear deterrent. The phrase is most commonly associated with France’s independent nuclear arsenal, developed during the Cold War to ensure the country’s ability to defend itself without relying on allies like the United States. It literally translates to “strike force” and symbolizes a nation’s ability to project power and defend its sovereignty with nuclear weapons.
