Re: <nettime> <¡nettime!> Simon Tisdall: Trump and Putin are carrying out a pincer movement on Europe’s democracies. Suddenly, it all feels a bit 1939 (TG) (fwd)

[David Herzog via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

I was asked by my friend and journalist to forward this comment on the 
Guardian's comment:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:17:29 +0000
From: Claudia Wangerin <Claudia.Wangerin@gmx.de>
Subject: Aw: Re: <nettime> Simon Tisdall: Trump and Putin are carrying out a
    pincer movement on Europe’s democracies. Suddenly,
    it all feels a bit 1939 (TG) (fwd)

Please forward to the list:

This author idealizes Europe, i think. He refuses to acknowledge that every country has its own interest groups that are willing to play the fascist card.

And all Countries that rely on economic growth and fossil fuels will sooner or later have to wage raw material wars. No one will call it that; they will all cite grand ideals as an excuse.

The current German government, for example, doesn't want a real transition to renewable energies either.

Simon Tisdall assumes that no faction of the capitalist class in European countries has a vested interest in fascism and war. According to this analysis, all authoritarian, anti-immigration, and anti-liberal forces in Europe are merely useful idiots of foreign powers; Europe is morally pure and good; evil comes from outside; Europe needs strong leadership.

This sounds a bit like pan-European nationalism. Who will benefit from this? European arms companies? Perhaps Germany will get a right-wing extremist government in 2029 because Germans vote for it again. This government will then inherit the arsenal of weapons created to defend democracy against external enemies.

But the capitalist arms industry profits from every war. Putin has also enriched shareholders of Western arms companies. The worst thing he could do to these shareholders would be to bring his soldiers home from Ukraine.


Claudia Wangerin
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