By Manlio Dinucci
March 21, 2019

This article, first appeared in the Italian newspaper, Il Manifesto, which regularly publishes Dinucci’s anti-militarist articles. Translation by International Action Center Co-Director John Catalinotto.

“Russia can no longer be considered a strategic partner and the European Union must be prepared to impose further sanctions on it if it continues to violate international law.”  This is in the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on March 12. There were 402 votes in favor of it, 163 against and 89 abstentions.

The resolution — which was submitted by Latvian member of the EU Parliament Sandra Kalnietel — denies the legitimacy of the presidential elections in Russia, calling them “non-democratic,””  thus presenting President Putin as a usurper.

It accuses Russia of not only “violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia,” but of “intervening in Syria and interfering in countries like Libya,” and of “interfering in order to influence elections and increase tensions” in Europe. It accuses Russia of “violation of arms control agreements,” attributing to it the responsibility of having destroyed the INF [Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces] Treaty.  And it accuses Russia of “extensive violations of human rights within Russia, including torture and extrajudicial killings,” and of “murder by its agents using chemical weapons on European soil.”

At the end of these and other charges, the European Parliament declares that Nord Stream 2, the pipeline designed to double the supply of Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea, “must be stopped because it increases the EU’s dependence on Russian gas supplies, threatening its internal market and its strategic interests.”

The European Parliament’s resolution faithfully repeats, in its content and its words, the accusations made by the United States and NATO against Russia. And, more importantly, it faithfully repeats the call to block Nord Stream 2 [energy supply line between Russia and Western Europe]. Washington’s  strategy is aimed at reducing Russian energy supplies to the EU and replacing them with those from the United States or from U.S. companies.

Within the same framework, the European Commission’s communication to the member states, including Italy, which intend to join the Chinese initiative of the New Silk Road is also included: The Commission warns them that China is a partner but also an economic competitor — and of utmost importance — “a systemic rival that promotes alternative models of governance,” or in other words, alternative models to the governance hitherto dominated by the Western powers.

The Commission warns that the first step is to “safeguard critical digital infrastructures from potentially serious security threats,” stemming from 5G networks provided by Chinese companies such as Huawei, which are banned in the United States.

The European Commission faithfully repeats the U.S. warning to the Allies. The Allied Supreme Commander in Europe, U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, warned that fifth-generation ultra-fast mobile networks will play an increasingly important role in NATO’s wartime capabilities, so “flexibility” by the Allies is not allowed.

All this confirms the influence exerted by the “American party,” a powerful cross-party alliance that guides the policies of the EU along the strategic lines of the U.S./NATO alliance.

By building the false image of a threatening Russia and China, EU institutions are preparing public opinion to accept that the United States is preparing to “defend” Europe.  A Pentagon spokesperson told CNN that the United States is preparing to test ground-based ballistic missiles, which are banned by the INF Treaty — which was recently shelved by Washington. These new Euro-missiles will once again make Europe the base — and at the same time — the target of a nuclear war.