WWII hero, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, astutely observed that the worst calamities of the 20th century — Communism, Fascism and Nazism — were all made in Europe. And they were all defeated from outside Europe. But if he thought that Europe was done inflicting ideologically-driven calamity on the rest of the world, poor old Monty was due for a rude shock.
Once again, Europe is committing suicide at the behest of a lunatic ideology — and it’s dragging the rest of the world down with it.
First to gurgle down the plughole is, it should surprise no one, Germany.
For the first time in over 30 years, Germany has posted a trade deficit. This may not seem like such a big deal, except that it reveals deep structural problems that suggest Germany — and, by extension, the rest of the EU — is on the brink of much, much worse.
Here’s the catch. Germany is almost uniquely an export-based economy. Until recently it was racking up surpluses of 8 or 9 per cent of GDP, or €20 billion a month, the biggest in the world. And there are three big problems with that disappearing.
First, the German economy is based on selling high-end industrial goods to the rest of the world. Unlike many other countries, it doesn’t have huge service industries to take up the slack if that goes into decline, nor does it have a major financial centre to bring in invisible earnings if the container ships start to go elsewhere. Take the big exporters out of the German economy and it is a little hard to figure out what is left.
Spectator Australia
A fall in exports means a fall in manufacturing jobs — the backbone of the German economy. It also means a massive eurozone deficit. Germany was the only major surplus country in the zone. If its economy goes down, so does the Euro. It already is: hitting parity with the Swiss Franc, and heading to parity with the US dollar.
Why is this happening? Because of Germany’s suicidal devotion to the Krazy Klimate Kult. Its much-vaunted “Energiewende” has left it completely dependent on Russian gas. Which, as former president Trump pointed out, Vladimir Putin could cut off whenever he felt inclined.
Something that is looking increasingly likely, thanks to NATO meddling in Ukraine.
The other green madness gripping Europe right now is the lunatic edict to shut down swathes of the Dutch agriculture sector, supposedly to cut greenhouse emissions.
This, at a time when the world is in the grip of a food crisis.
Dutch farmers are the second-largest agricultural exporters in the world and the largest meat exporters in Europe.
And Euro bureaucracy is telling them to cull their herds.
Farms which have been feeding the world for hundreds of years are going to be unceremoniously shut and their owners ruined because a couple of bureaucrats decided they didn’t like the nitrogen and ammonia emissions produced by growing food. Their assumption is based on the idea that every country has to present equal emissions to prove they are ‘saving the planet’. It only takes a few moments to realise that the underlying premise is false. A net food producer must have higher nitrogen and ammonia outputs than a nation that doesn’t grow anything. While the Netherlands makes more nitrogen, it’ll create significantly less of something else.
Nations are not equal, and neither are their emissions. The Netherlands and Australia are both criticised by the United Nations for ‘higher than average emissions per capita’ when the calculation (if you are going to do it) should be based on how many people are being fed.
Attempting to homogenise environmental targets will achieve only one thing: global starvation.
It’s as inescapable as German dependency on Russian gas: cutting “agricultural emissions” means drastically cutting food supplies. The Dutch government has mandated the slaughter of one-third of all its livestock.
There’s a name for the State deciding to pick and choose winners in the private market – Climate Fascism.
Spectator Australia
Good old Europe, destroying the world to save it, yet again.
