Is Europe Doomed?

[Music] as the EU enters its Twilight years recent statistics paint a vivid image of decline average people especially children increasingly face impoverishment social exclusion and material deprivation 54% of people with disabilities can't make ends meet able-bodied citizens of the same age aren't far behind at 43% 20 years of stagnant GDP growth wages slowly recovering from covid remain well below their pre-co levels due to Greed fueled inflation between 2021 and 2023 Energy prices surged by 63% the ravages of de-industrialization have led to unemployment rates as high as 20% and the manufacturing sector's value to the EU economy has dropped to just 16% leaving hollowed out communities much like those in the US Rust Belt to make matters worse a resurgent and violent right-wing is gaining power war between Russia and UK UK is Raging on its borders and as a US vassel organ they continue to Aid Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people in short Europe is in [Music] crisis in this episode we'll take a look at why this is happening and what it means for the future of Europe before we answer that we'd like to take a quick moment to thank this episode's sponsor AA as you all know we make political content here and on our other channels unfortunately that means some people people don't like us very much these days a quick Google search is all it takes to find someone's personal information data Brokers sell your information to scammers spammers and anyone else who may want to Target you your full name email home address health records your relatives it's all readily available for those who want to find it that's why I've been using Aura to help keep my private details private Aura shows me which data Brokers are selling my information and automatically submits optout requests for me this not only cuts down on the amount of spam I get but also helps me keep all my accounts safe from Bad actors I'll give you a real world example AT&T recently revealed that over 73 million customer records both existing and former customers were released on the dark web they recommend that those affected change their passwords monitor account activity and consider fraud alerts or credit freezes from credit bureaus this was a huge breach but I don't have to worry Aura does all of this for me and best of all I don't have to download a bunch of different apps just because some company couldn't keep my data secure I Val my privacy and I'm sure you value yours you can go to aura.com first thought to start your twoe free trial no strings attached try it out and I promise you'll appreciate the Peace of Mind support the show and protect your valuable data by signing up today at the link below following World War II European countries grappled with shattered infrastructure volatile currencies and verged on total economic collapse the economic resurrection of Europe was intricately tied to American Aid most notably through two main instruments first first the Bretton Woods agreement which established a fixed exchange rate system with the US dollar this had a stabilizing effect that allowed businesses to engage in crossb trade with confidence and second the Marshall Plan officially known as the European recovery program a bill touted by President Truman and passed by Congress which directly transferred $ 13.3 billion or 173 billion today to European countries to fund the rebuilding of factories the Improvement of Transportation networks and the revitalization of industrial production this immense Financial infusion while crucial for reconstruction forced European nations to seed an uncomfortable amount of control over their monetary policy to the United States this left them unable to adjust to changing Market forces by for example devaluing their currencies to stimulate their economy the end result was Europe relying solely on the US dollar originally conceived under the influence of Cold War paranoia surrounding supposed Soviet expansionism NATO's own expansionary trajectory over the decades has only served to Deep us entanglement in European politics and unnecessarily stoked tensions with Russia from its Inception in 1949 the block has been expanding aggressively eventually including former Warsaw packed countries and even non-allied States like Sweden and Finland which joined in 2023 NATO dominated as it is by American military power has left European nations heavily reliant on US military capabilities for their defense leaving them little more than vassel States under American protection this coercive asymmetrical relationship ship of military dependence has led the US to intervene in European politics in overt and covert Ways exemplified by a CIA campaign called operation gladio during the Cold War the CIA and their British counterpart MI6 established a secret paramilitary Network operating Under the Umbrella of NATO which operated across Western Europe to resist a potential Soviet threat these paramilitaries stationed in Italy France Belgium West Germany the Netherlands Greece Switzerland and Sweden harbored stockpiles of weapons and explosives with some caches remaining unaccounted for even after decommissioning what did they need stockpiles of weapons and explosives for to enable right-wing terrorists to carry out attacks which were blamed on non-existent communist militants the numbers are horrific between January 1st 1969 and December 31st 1987 there were 14,591 quote acts of violence with a political motivation oh and by the way that number is for Italy alone the Piaza Fontana Massacre of 1969 marked the beginning of the violence with a bomb in Milan killing 16 people and injuring 88 this was followed by countless other attacks the Pano attack in 1972 killed three military police officers in a car bomb explosion the 1974 breia bombing which targeted an anti-fascist demonstration resulted in eight deaths and over a 100 injuries later that year the italicus express bombing killed 12 and injured 48 but the most notorious incident occurred on August 2nd 1980 a massive explosion ripped through the bolognia railway station killing 85 and injuring 200 hopefully this gives you a taste for how far us aligned European countries are willing to go to appease the US this loyalty isn't surprising since the US handpicked the leaders of Italy France and Greece in rigged elections in the 1940s in Greece when the British and their 40,000 troops found themselves unable to crush the Communists there they turned to the United States and Greece became the first victim of and the model for the Truman Doctrine which was a US policy to shape the course of European politics to align with American interests and quote contain Communism by any means necessary in France Ambassador Jefferson Caffrey made it abundantly clear that economic aid to France was contingent on the exclusion of Communists from the government despite their overwhelming popularity in the 1946 elections and in Italy the CIA secretly funded political parties to the tune of $5 million a year to prevent communist electoral victory in 1948 speaking of 1948 the most shameful destructive and glaring example of EU vassalage to the US is their historical and continued support for Israel and their Massacre of the Palestinian people many EU Nations have supported and funded Israel since its founding let's take a quick look at their recent activity the primary means by which the EU renders financial assistance to Israel is via funding program such as Horizon Europe which is allocating and eyew watering 111 billion EUR in Grants through 2027 while it's not clear whether the entire sum is going to Israel the fact that they're getting anything is horrifying it's already funded 1,600 Israeli research and Innovation projects between 2014 and 2020 as far as individual EU member states are concerned Germany is the second largest exporter of arms to Israel to the tune of 353 million in 2023 alone this funding and sale of arms makes Germany as complicit as the United States in Israel's countless war crimes Decades of human rights violations and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians in recent events the Russia Ukraine war shattered the eu's tenuous grasp on energy security the eu's heavy dependence on Russian energy exports natural gas in particular suddenly became a crisis nearly as dire as the war itself to give you an idea of how insecure the eu's energy Supply was before the war in 2020 over 85% of the gas consumed in the EU or inated from external sources with Russia accounting for a staggering 48% of total Imports pre-war projections showed that because of declining production in the Netherlands Imports of Russian energy were due to increase in the coming years then Russia invaded Ukraine and the war triggered what might be the worst energy crisis in the eu's history within days of the invasion Supply disruptions caused crude oil to sore past $130 per barrel an astonishing 50% increase compared to pre-war levels now natural gas a critical fuel source for European Heating and power generation fared even worse Panic buying gripped Nations heavily reliant on Russian gas as complete cuto off seemed ever more imminent according to the European Central Bank prices skyrocketed by 180% in the first two weeks to make matters worse in September a series of explosions in the Baltic Sea destroyed vital pipelines known as nordstream 1 and nordstream 2 built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany while investigations into the incident are ongoing the country with the most motive and ability to carry out such an attack was and Remains the United States despite vague claims from us and German officials that quote evidence points toward a Ukrainian backed group or a pro Ukrainian group operating without the knowledge of the leadership in keev while the initial frenzy has somewhat subsided the war's influence on Energy prices continues to hobble the EU as of late 2023 natural gas prices remain around 11% higher than pre-war levels this incre has had a ripple effect throughout the European economy driving up the cost of goods and services and squeezing household budgets the energy price surge has become a rallying cry for European leaders to work together to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources like wind and solar and to diversify their supplier Base by seeking reliable alternative sources for gas Imports to lessen dependence on Russia unfortunately for the EU they appear to be trading dependence on Russia for dependence on the US in 2022 the EU saw a massive 70% surge in LG imports from the US compared to the previous year the US wasted no time seizing the vacant market share in the first 9 months of 2022 snatching up 44% of the total while this rapid shift helped the EU meet its immediate energy needs us companies are now raking in enormous profits with estimates suggesting a single LG shipment could return as much as $150 million it's price gouging on an international scale made possible by the US essentially holding Europe ostage both militarily and economically despite recent moderate increases in defense spending Europe's militaries remain IL equipped and disjointed impeding its ability to act with common policy and purpose Europe's NATO members have not been meeting their funding commitments falling short of NATO's 2% of GDP Target only allocating 1.6% of GDP to defense compared to the United States's 3.5% this funding disparity leaves Europe's defense largely up to the US funding deficits aside the Europe Defense Agency characterizes European Armed Forces as Boutique militaries primarily due to their lack of standardization and interoperability analyses by Carnegie Europe reveal critical capability gaps particularly in air and ground forces outdated fighter jets and limited pilot training as well as the lack of robust armor divisions make large-scale ground operations highly ineffectual if not outright impossible all of this is exacerbated by crippling dependence on the United States severely compromising Europe's autonomy Europe's economy is similarly not in great shape Eurozone GDP growth is only averaging 1.8% annually which means it will struggle to compete in the long term with both the resurgent China and the declining us despite this the rich as usual have found a way to greatly increase their wealth contributing to an acute rise in inequality one in five adults in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion even though much of Europe is seen by Americans as a socialist hellscape the reality is that capitalism has duded the moderate gains of Social Democratic policies causing a spiral into poverty with children most at risk even in countries with robust safety nets this is likely in part due to real wages being projected to continue to fall below pre-pandemic levels this trend is exacerbated by The Soaring Energy prices we discussed earlier in addition there are Regional disparities in economic performance such as unemployment rates hitting 20% in Spain these challenges can compound the obstacles people face sometimes in unique ways and they resist IST a one-size fits-all liberal solution thanks to us meddling and Decades of Western imperialism the EU is currently seeing an influx of millions of refugees from conflict zones and unstable regions all over the world including Syria Afghanistan and Ukraine in 2023 Asylum submissions Rose by 18% compared to 2021 reaching 1.2 million applications most of which came from Syria and Afghanistan and that figure doesn't include the backlog of some 883 th000 applications some say this is fitting given that the EU and its Overlord the US have destabilized many of these very regions and produced these refugees in addition to those fleeing unlivable conditions the EU received a whopping 5.1 million immigrants in 2022 a 117% increase from 2021 as a result the EU has seen the rise of racist and violent right-wing movements in several member States including Poland Hungary and Germany these fascists Trot out the same tired arguments framed with populist rhetoric about immigrants being a burden on the state unable to culturally integrate and taking jobs from citizens okay so far things look pretty Grim for the EU but there are silver linings first and foremost are the eu's attempts to improve relations with China by making economic ties the Cornerstone of the relationship while daily trade exceeds €2.3 billion EUR the EU has a substantial trade deficit of 400 billion euros highlighting the asymmetrical nature of the partnership the EU is seeking to address this by working with China to allow more Market access for EU businesses and China is already taking steps to accommodate European companies say they often encounter restrictions when entering certain sectors and struggle to compete with local firms which is a little funny considering their love of the free market additionally they're working on creating an agreement governing intellectual property rights and their enforcement as the EU has expressed concerns about China's approach and claims it hinders Innovation and investment something which is not reflected in the data but nonetheless China has expressed willingness to discuss in instead of banning apps and War mongering as the US would prefer the EU and China are seeking diplomatic solutions to these challenges the most important being the negotiations for the comprehensive agreement on investment or Cai this agreement aims to create a Level Playing Field for businesses on both sides strengthening intellectual property rights protection and enhancing transparency besides wisely seeking better relations with the world soon to be second superpower the EU is also albeit slowly attempting to claw itself out from under the weight of us influence geopolitical tensions notably Russia's war with Ukraine have reinvigorated debates on Europe's autonomy and the role the US plays in perpetuating conflict and antagonizing other nations the EU has begun to voice serious concerns about us reliability one notable example being French president Emanuel macron who has strongly advocated for reducing dependence on American Arms and enhancing Europe's military capabilities the US seems to be toying with a serious disengagement from Europe driven by an enthusias IC pivot towards Asia as part of the Biden regime foreign policy strategy the EU sees the writing on the wall and would be wise to decouple itself from an increasingly unstable and violent United States episodes like this one are made possible thanks to our generous patrons on patreon if you'd like to help support the show and get some great perks while you're at it consider becoming a patron perks include access to our Discord server Early Access to videos adree episodes and more you can help us keep the channel afloat by becoming a patron at patreon.com thought thanks for watching and we'll see you next time

Channel: First Thought

Views: 81,542

Keywords: second thought, first thought, hakim, Yugopnik, news, world news, biased news, breaking news

Id: b8n0sB13m0k

Length: 16min 34sec (994 seconds)

Published: Fri May 10 2024