The Ukraine war and Europe’s deepening march of folly

The Ukraine war and Europe’s deepening march of folly Europe’s anti-Russian animus: the long and tangled roots of follyThe complicated part of “why” Europe has embraced folly concerns the long and tangled roots of folly, which reach deep into history. That history has seeded institutionalized anti-Russian animus, which now drives Europe’s march of folly.For the last seventy years, Europe has lacked an independent foreign policy vision. Instead, it surrendered itself to US leadership, filling its military and foreign policy establishment with persons holding a US-friendly perspective. That surrender also extended to elite civil society (e.g., thinktanks, elite universities, and mainstream media), and Europe’s military-industrial complex and business leaders also went along as they hoped to supply the US military and gain access to US markets. The net result was Europe’s foreign policy thinking was hacked and Europe turned itself into a US foreign policy satrap, a condition which still endures.The lack of foreign policy independence meant Europe willingly supported the US-led post-Cold War eastward expansion of NATO. The US goal was to create a new world order in which the US would be hegemonic and no country could challenge it, as the Soviet Union had done. According to the masterplan outlined by former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski , that involved a three-step process. The first step was eastward NATO expansion to include former Warsaw Pact countries. The second step was further NATO expansion to include former Soviet republics. The third step would finish the process by dividing Russia into three states. Europe’s surrender to US leadership also helps explain the parallel rushed eastward expansion of the European Union (EU). Any economic gains from trade could have been readily accessed via free trade agreements, which would also have allowed European business to harvest Eastern and Central Europe’s low-cost labor.