As for US policy, it must be directed towards pressing for the acceptance of Germany into the European Councils. We must put pressure on the French to let the Germans come in on a dignified basis…
Whether Germany will in the future be a benefit or a curse to the free world will be determined, not only by the Germans, but by the occupying powers. … Our own stake and responsibility is also greater. Now is the time for French initiative and leadership of the type required to integrate the German Federal Republic promptly and decisively into Western Europe … We have also reserved to ourselves in the Occupation Statute very considerable powers with respect to the action of the German Federal Republic …
So if it's the French Foreign Minister that first proposes an European Coal and Steel Community in 1950 — ssu
Oh right.Of course, France could have refused. But it depended on US financial and military assistance in its wars in Indochina and Algeria. So it had no choice but to comply with US demands. And once it had accepted US aid, it was obliged to deliver what it had agreed to. — Apollodorus
You see, I gather you understand well the policy of "divide et impera", divide and rule. Yet you have really problems to understand the opposite, a policy to encourage integration and union, and how it actually works. It has been very successful for the US. Yet this strategy only works when there is a mutual desire to do it and when those to be encouraged to integrate don't view the other (here the US) as a threat. Divide and rule "works" when otherwise the people would form an alliance against you.If we think about it, the EU has a population of some 450 million. And yet it plays second fiddle to America with a population of only 330 million. Surely, this can't be right. Shameful and disgraceful, really. And definitely undemocratic. — Apollodorus
On May 8, 1949 – the fourth anniversary of unconditional surrender – the Parliamentary Council - adopted at Bonn the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany … Any consideration of this Basic Law should start from the fact that the charter is not the creation of a free people …
2. In order to ensure the accomplishment of the basic purposes of the occupation, powers in the following fields are specifically reserved, including the right to request and verify information and statistics needed by the occupation authorities:
…
c) foreign affairs, including international agreements made by or on behalf of Germany
These difficult problems involve direct and indirect interests of our own, and in most of them we have grown accustomed in the past four years to making decisions for the Germans …
I had the powers of a dictator as High Commissioner of Allied Forces in West Germany, but I think I was a benevolent dictator. I think the rebuilding came off very well, with no significant problems.
There - wasn't that easy? — EricH
You didn't understand.Therefore, it depended on US financial and military assistance and had to comply with US demands. Nothing to do with Suez! — Apollodorus
And others were not defeated Axis powers.To begin with, some European states like Germany and Austria were under Allied military occupation which really means US control, as the US held the supreme Allied command. — Apollodorus
Who do you think their rightful owners are? Independent Tibet? And with Cyprus? UK? The Ottoman Empire? The Venetians?I think Tibet and Cyprus must be returned to their original and rightful owners before any demands are placed on Russia. — Apollodorus
Who do you think their rightful owners are? Independent Tibet? — ssu
The Federation [of German Länder] may join a system of mutual collective security; in doing so, it will agree to restrictions on its sovereign rights.
By the signature of this Treaty, the involved parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organised Europe. This Europe remains open to all European countries that have freedom of choice. We profoundly hope that other countries will join us in our common endeavour.
Britain is a parliamentary democracy. That means we all get to choose the parliaments that make decisions on our behalf at Westminster.
And between elections, those parliaments are sovereign. But in 1972, the UK Parliament decided to give up some of that sovereignty.
It chose to pool some power with other countries in what was then called the European Community. And that means that on some issues, it is the EU institutions in Brussels and not MPs in Westminster who have the final say.
There is disagreement over how many of the laws that govern our lives originate in the European Union. Some of those campaigning to remain in the EU claim that only 13% of laws passed by Parliament implement the UK's obligations under EU law.
This figure ignores the many EU regulations that are automatically binding on the UK and do not pass through Parliament ....
Lol.Your comments merely expose the inconsistency and double standards of the anti-Russia camp. And as I said before, irrelevant pictures should not be mistaken for rational argument. — Apollodorus
:roll:we must admit that unlimited expansion as insisted on by the EU and NATO (a) logically leads to world government — Apollodorus
The way I see it, in a genuinely free, democratic, and equitable world, every country and continent should be ruled by the people who live there. — Apollodorus
There is Nepal, Bhutan etc. so why not an Independent Tibet! On the status of the government-in-exile I didn't know. — ssu
Can NATO solve the whole question of Europe’s collective security? I don’t believe so. There is no security for Europeans if there is no security for Russia. Russia is European. Whoever believes in Europe must know how to work with Russia and find the ways and the means to construct the European future among Europeans
And hence it's OK for Russia to annex parts from Georgia and Ukraine?What I'm saying is that EU and NATO unlimited expansion can only lead to world government and that countries objecting to this have a right to take countermeasures. — Apollodorus
Not either Russia's puppets, but that I gather you see Putin only "defending the interests of Russia". And Brussells? It might be a huge bureaucracy, but it isn't imperialist and de facto confederation however much they would want to be a federation.Clearly, not all Europeans want to be America’s puppets. — Apollodorus
You talk easily of puppets. Or see just puppets and puppet masters everywhere.And I was objecting to Europe being dominated by America and its British and German puppets. — Apollodorus
Of course Putin would really want to see NATO going the way of SEATO or CENTO. If Russia can engage European countries on a bilateral basis, it will be strong. That's why Putin absolutely hates to face Western Europe in the form of EU. Or in security issue talk to NATO. Yet let's not forget that both CENTO and SEATO are not anymore.You mean about splitting the US off from NATO? Or what? — frank
The international community considers the TRNC's [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus] territory as Turkish-occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus. The occupation is viewed as illegal under international law, amounting to illegal occupation of European Union territory since Cyprus became a member. The international community found this declaration [of TRNC independence] invalid, on the ground that Turkey had occupied territory belonging to Cyprus and that the putative state was therefore an infringement on Cypriot sovereignty
According to the European Court of Human Rights, the Republic of Cyprus remains the sole legitimate government in Cyprus, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus should be considered as a puppet state under Turkish effective control
I had the powers of a dictator as High Commissioner of Allied Forces in West Germany, but I think I was a benevolent dictator.
France and Germany bear a “special responsibility” to make the European Union a stronger world power as Paris assumes the bloc’s rotating presidency, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told AFP on Friday.
Germany’s coalition government has said it wants to increase the bloc’s “strategic sovereignty” as rivalries between world powers such as the United States, China and Russia adversely affect the EU.
I am extremely concerned when I hear the familiar drum beats in Washington. Putin may be a liar and a demagogue, but it is hypocritical for the United States to insist that we do not accept the principle of 'spheres of influence’. Even if Russia was not ruled by a corrupt authoritarian leader like Vladimir Putin, Russia, like the United States, would still have an interest in the security policies of its neighbors. Does anyone really believe that the United States would not have something to say if, for example, Mexico was to form a military alliance with a US adversary?
Obviously Russia and Ukraine could make a peace agreement. Russia is fighting already a proxy war with Ukraine, which you seem not to understand.The way I see it, in this particular case, even if NATO refuses to set limits to its expansion, Ukraine should sign a mutual non-aggression treaty with Russia. If it refuses to do so, then I think it is obvious that there are some ulterior motives there, probably instigated by the EU and NATO's expansionist intentions. — Apollodorus
According to the memorandum, Russia, the US and the UK confirmed their recognition of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine becoming parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and effectively abandoning their nuclear arsenal to Russia and that they would:
- Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.
- Refrain from the threat or the use of force against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
- Refrain from using economic pressure on Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to influence their politics.
- Seek immediate Security Council action to provide assistance to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine if they "should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used".
-Refrain from the use of nuclear arms against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Consult with one another if questions arise regarding those commitments.
Conveniently forgetting the Budapest memorandum from 1994 along with a multitude of international laws and agreements, yet somehow see Ukraine as the aggressor, hence you sure talk like a Russian troll. — ssu
Given that Turkey invaded and occupied Cyprus, and China invaded, occupied, and annexed Tibet with impunity, it doesn’t make sense to call for war on Russia for annexing Crimea. — Apollodorus
From their homelands near the Aral Sea, the Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia, before eventually conquering Baghdad and eastern Anatolia. The Seljuks won the battle of Manzikert in 1071, and then conquered most of the rest of Anatolia, wresting it from the Byzantine Empire.
The way I see it, in a genuinely free, democratic, and equitable world, every country and continent should be ruled by the people who live there. — Apollodorus
Nonsense. I don't know what you are blabbering about.And you did appear to defend Turkey’s actions in Cyprus by invoking Ataturk and by falsely claiming that Europe attacked Turkey, when it is a well-known fact that it is the other way round. — Apollodorus
Of course. European countries do want to have good relations with Russia.It is in the interest of both to foster peaceful economic cooperation between them. — Apollodorus
Well good that we cleared that. Do note that you still said this:I NEVER said that Ukraine is the aggressor. So, clearly, that is another straw man of yours and a lie. — Apollodorus
Ukraine should sign a mutual non-aggression treaty with Russia. — Apollodorus
Well good that we cleared that. — ssu
Nonsense. I don't know what you are blabbering about. — ssu
It's been a long time since the Ottomans were trying to take Vienna. And do remember that they do have their history of Western aggression and the West wanting to divide into colonies the whole of their country. The whole westernization of the Atatürk era was first and foremost done to make the country strong enough to defend the country from outside aggression — ssu
The way I see it, in a genuinely free, democratic, and equitable world, every country and continent should be ruled by the people who live there. — Apollodorus
Who do you think their rightful owners are? Independent Tibet? And with Cyprus? UK? The Ottoman Empire? The Venetians? — ssu
Even as a young teen I found it whimsical and totally attached from reality. Soviet propaganda, that is .... — ssu
That is totally false. Your making up things.hat was your response to my comment on Turkey's invasion of Cyprus! Are you retracting that now? — Apollodorus
This statement wasn't at all about Cyprus. This statement shows what you think of Turkey in general. To this I responded how Turkey hasn't been actually a threat since the Ottoman's tried to take Vienna.Turkey is anti-European and anti-Western, and Europe's enemy No 1.
Therefore I am against Turkey. — Apollodorus
What we established was only that both agree that Ukraine hasn't been the aggressor.That's exactly what I'm saying. We've established that it was a lie, and it's good that you agree! :grin: — Apollodorus
We know that you've got an anti-Russian bias from your own statements and the "discussions" you have started:
Even as a young teen I found it whimsical and totally attached from reality. Soviet propaganda, that is ....
— ssu — Apollodorus
This statement shows what you think of Turkey in general. — ssu
What we established was only that both agree that Ukraine hasn't been the aggressor. — ssu
But for some it seems that to be opposed to Soviet propaganda is the same as being against the Russian people.This is not an anti-Russian bias. :roll: — frank
(REUTERS) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said a collective response from the European Union to Russian security proposals would lead to a breakdown in talks, but insisted Moscow was in favour of diplomacy to ease tensions over Ukraine.
“We remain gravely concerned about the current situation and firmly believe that tensions and disagreements must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy,” the EU leader writes. “We call on Russia to de-escalate and to reverse its military build-up in and around Ukraine, and in Belarus.”
That somehow really Ukraine would show aggression towards the largest nuclear power is beyond reason. — ssu
The bottom line is that the demands Putin put on the table were obvious non-starters, they simply won't be achieved, and that's the worrying issue. In fact, when Saddam Hussein decided to "solve" his financial troubles by annexing Kuwait, the fig leaf for deploying a huge army on the Kuwaiti border was far better than now with Putin. — ssu
The purpose of the Blue Homeland strategy is that Turkey should dominate the Mediterranean and reclaim the mercantile and maritime power once held by the Ottomans
NATO is uncharacteristically divided on how to deal with Russia in the escalating crisis over Ukraine. The US and the UK favor deterrence and a hard line; Germany, France and Italy are emphasizing dialogue, and a third group, including Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia, wants to stay out of the conflict and any troop deployment
Russia is NOT objecting to Ukraine, it is objecting to Ukraine becoming a member of America's NATO, don't you get it? — Apollodorus
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