What is in it for them?

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday February 14, 2003 18:25 by iosaf ipsiphi at mindless dot com barcelona

Why do Aznar and Burlosconi support Bush and not 'old Europe'.

An American has dismissed the global outrage at US foreign policy which is based on illegal acts of aggresion as being the product of "Old Europe". The world is united as never before against this war and therefore the US geo-political lead.

However there are supporters of Bush in Europe. Not only Blair who despite the mass opposition of British people to this War has commited the UK to War and teh US/K military alliance. No matter that the UK economy can not bear the cost of War Blair has set his mind not to be seen as "appeasing" Saddam. I am not going to write of Blair today. You all hold informed opinion and I doubt i may at this stage convince you of others.

Today I look at Aznar and Burlosconi.

No Republic in Europe has existed in its present form before 1947. The Italian Republic began in 1948 Burlosconi is Prime Minister of that Republic and has been since 1995. His vision of "Italy" has changed only slightly since he facilitated the seperatism of the Northern League. His Italy, his republic is one where the traditional division between Media, legislature and executive is blurred to the point where it becomes impotent to check and balance the development of the Italian Republic.

Before the late Dr Francesco Di Martino, life senator and joint candidate of the Italian socialist and communist parties died he issued a warning that Burlosconi would attempt to destabilise the Italian Republic if he could not dismantle it instead. The last year has seen Burlosconi present a model for a new office of President which combines the powers of Prime minister (which he holds) with President.
I feel no need to write to you of the criminalisation of Italian activists or the death of Carlo Guilianni.

I would like at this stage to remind readers what occured last year in Prague at the opening ceremony of NATO. All leaders and observers a group of less than a hundred officials mingled before taking their seats with the noticeable exception of the President of France and the President of the USA. Two presidents whose official roles are similar in power to that office that Burlosconi would for himself create.

Chirac was the penultimate to enter the chamber and sat reading a magazine in silence. Simon Hoggart who reported the meeting for the English Guardian newspaper noted that he could not see which magazine it was. The last to enter was Bush, described in the reports published the following day in El Pais and Corriere del Sera as the "supreme leader". When he entered all delegates and representatives and observers of the Western Defence alliance fell silent.

Then an intriguing breach of protocol happened. Silvo Burlosconi broke the hush by shouting in english "Thank you Mr President for your democracy".

Aznar has prosecuted since the beginning of his presidency of the Spain a policy of anti-terrorism against ETA and its political representatives. With a team which has included the State judge/prosecuter Garzón he has moved to criminalise two parties in the Spanish state. They were the political wings of ETA. Aznar will soon retire from "key" office and so like all polticians before him is considering his legacy. It is clear that the destruction of ETA and the taming of Basque seperatism is the legacy that he wishes to be remembered by.

On Sept 12 2001, "Le Monde" ran an editorial "nous sommes touts americanes". And so was the response throughout the Western Alliance. The Western Alliance came together to support the "war on terrorism" advocated by Bush. The likelehood of such a war had long been discussed in Defence circles and Strategic study institutes. It seemed the likely direction of NATO in the new post Soviet Union geo-political order.

So has Bush assisted Aznar´s domestic "war on terrorism". In short no. The French have mainly been responsible for arresting ETA members and dismantling several groupings. Aznar´s assitance agreement with Bush has been mostly working one way. The most AlQaeda suspects arrested in Europe have been arrested in Spain. The Spanish security forces Guardia Civil, FIE, Policia Nacional, and CNI deny that any ETA suspect has been arrested with co-operative assistance with US forces. In fact rather interestingly US intelligence has only added Basque as a language to be interpreted by the global NSA earsdropping agency in the last four months. Irish gaelic has been eavesdropped since 1972. The CIA have proffered the Spanish authorities as reported in yesterday´s "El Pais" a dossier of information on a man with a Basque surname in South America, a mna with connections to groups in Venezueala and Panama. Madrid confirmed that this man was a member of Izquierda Unida. IU is a legitamate leftwing party. It has announced in the last two weeks an electoral alliance with the Green parties in Catalonia.

There has been though tecnhological assistance between the above named Spanish security forces and the CIA/FBI as regards ETA. in 1999 the French authorities arrested José Javier Arizkuren Ruiz known as "kantauri" with a computer. The Spanish authorities could not break the encryption on the hard disk of that computer.

Against the disapproval of intelligence officers in both FIE and CNI who cited their close working relationship with their French counterparts as reason for their objection the hard disk was offered to the American authorities. The contents of the hard disk of "kantauri" are reported to remain encrypted. Neither the CIA nor the FBI could break the encryption.

Aznar´s fight against terrorism has the same basic legitmacy as Bush´s fight on terrorism. Both declared agenda are morally sustainable. However it is quite clear that neithers methodology carries moral legitamacy. Let me put this quite clearly.

Freedom of association
Freedom of expression
Freedom of Speech
are Human Rights.

in 2001 the USA was in response to a motion tabled by Singapore expelled from the UN council of Human Rights. That for me is an indication of the global wieght of US pronouncements on Human Rights. They are worthless.

Emanauel Kant first wrote and Derrida repeated him..."one must save the honour of reason". The honour of Reason : "of the Enlightenment" gave the World its republics. The honour of reason -"of the enlightenment" gave the world its charter of Human Rights and the UN that today Bush dares to warn that if it does not obey him will become irrelevant.

The community of nations which discuss and pretend to act upon their problems and concerns has recieved only opposition from the USA in the UN the proper forum for such discussion since Bush took the white house. Need I remind readers that he took office with the words "things would be easier if this were a dictatorship as long as I was the dictator".

Mr Bush over my dead body and not even then will you rule our world.

The USA has besmirched the Republic. The USA has allowed itself to sully the deaths of its soldiers who fought for freedom against Fascism and indeed State centralised Communism in Europe. The dead who are remembered in every European city.

Let me ask you the reader in Ireland and beyond the same questions that have been asked of readers throughout Europe on the eve of the World day of Action against this War. The last working day before the heads of state of Europe meet. The day that the Vatican has called on the one billion faithful to oppose this war, the day that the Pentagon has confirmed the presence of covert special service units in Iraq.

Do you want the New European Republic supported by Rusmfield where economic judicial media and political power may be vested in one person?
or do think we yet again must think perhaps as Mr Blair of Munich 1938 and appeasement.

Except I who have consistently argued "neither Bush nor Saddam" have seen no appeasement of Iraq, only that of Washington.

I and activists of the global movement made statements concerning the Al Samoud missile at the beginning of this sham of inspection.
And it is a sham. And Bush and Aznar and Burlosconi are making a sham of the republic.
They are making a sham of Western Civilisation and the political philosophies that we have developed.

They have broken their oaths.

The link below is to the obituary I wrote of life Senator Francesco Di Martino the day Burlosconi passed comment on the sentancing of one of his kind for assisting the murder of a journalist.

RIP you Sir passed your torch.

link to my thoughts on the Republic of France.
http://ireland.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=28385

next week I will be in France and shall write to you from that country on the Federal Republic of Germany.