Written by Alex Gorka; Originally appeared on strategic-culture.org
The predictions have come true about the emergence of a new defense group that will change the European security environment. On June 25, the defense chiefs from nine EU countries signed off on the creation of a new force called the European Intervention Initiative (EII), which is spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron. The new organization will have a common budget and a doctrine establishing its guidelines for acting and joint planning for contingencies in which NATO may not get involved. The group includes the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia, Spain, and Portugal. Italy may join soon. The initiative is not tied to the EU’s Common European Defense, which includes the PESCO agreement as well as NATO. Great Britain has always opposed the idea of creating a European defense alliance, fearing it would undermine transatlantic unity. Now it has done an about-face, as the rifts within the US grow deeper.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman James Richardson)(Not Reviewed)
The new force is to be much more efficient than anything else the EU has to offer, with a streamlined decision-making process that will permit a quick reaction time. Its relatively small number of members will give it more flexibility in comparison with the EU or NATO. For instance, the EU’s four multinational military battle groups that were created as far back as 2007 have never been deployed.
Its main mission is to offer a rapid response to crises that could threaten European security. The operations are to be conducted independently from US control. The UK will remain a member of this European defense entity even after it leaves the EU next year. Denmark, which retains a special opt-out status and has not joined PESCO, is a signatory to the EII. This is a step on the path to creating a real European armed force to unite non-EU participants with those who keep their distance from the European deterrent headed by Brussels. If the process gains traction, Norway, a NATO member that is outside the EU, plus Sweden and Finland, which are EU members outside of NATO, may consider joining the EII as well. Sweden and Finland are already members of the UK Joint Expeditionary Force.
Will it undermine NATO? To a certain extent it will. Any defense group outside the alliance that acts independently weakens it. At the same time, this gives NATO an opportunity to focus on the European theater of operations without being distracted by other hot spots. Any coin has two sides. Afghanistan is an example of NATO solidarity but is also an example of how a crisis that takes place outside of the alliance’s primary area of responsibility has weakened NATO’s standing in Europe.
Europeans have participated in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, conflicts in which they have no interest, in order to please the US. The real threat to Europe comes from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The planned creation of migrant reception centers in Africa may require military involvement. Washington views Europe’s migrant crisis as a far-flung problem that does not directly impact its own national security interests. NATO forces Europeans to focus more on the so-called Russian threat that no one takes seriously, despite the fact that defending its own borders is a pressing issue.
Europe can never be truly independent without the capability to mount a robust defense on its own. For instance, the EU needs a joint border force to prevent illegal immigration, which is plainly a real threat. The interests of the new group and Russia are not in conflict. Far from it. If the Russian-backed Syrian government finally wins, the flood of refugees to Europe will significantly diminish. Some migrants may return home. Russia has an important role to play in Libya, another source of refugees. Those interests coincide, while conversely, the US is more interested in countering Iran, which will exacerbate tensions, prompting more people to move to Europe seeking refuge from war. If an international operation in Libya is approved by the UN Security Council, the EII and Russia may act together, unified by a common interest.
With the EU still unable to bring its plans to fruition, the project led by President Macron stands a very good chance of creating a European group that would become an independent global player. NATO and the EU are being torn apart by internal conflicts while the EII is not. That group will be able to stand up to real threats, not imaginary ones.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, as NATO and the EU defense initiatives are failing to meet the interests of European security, forcing those nations to seek other alternatives, such as the EII. The threat of the Russian bogeyman has failed to paper over those differences. The quest continues. Whatever is in store for the newborn alliance, this is very bad for NATO, as this news is coming just a couple of weeks before the summit that may break up the alliance and consign the much-vaunted concept of “Western unity” to its grave.
This new EII is just another jobs program by the Einsteins and idiots who control western and central European military policy. As someone wrote in a previous editorial, most military forces in NATO (e.g. Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Belgium, etc.) are a complete joke – too small and too weak to fight a country or group that can fight back. So who is this directed against? Russia? China? Hell no. Probably some desperately poor, weak, fractious African or western Asia country that has been infiltrated by the scumbags like the CIA, MI6, Mossad. Shame on these arrogant, murderous bastards.
All Western armies are basically geared towards invading some poor 3rd World country. Because the real actors all have nukes, which basically makes going to war with them suicide.
Yes just more Imperialism and Colonial aspirations disguised in another cloak of so called good intentions.
True true true.
Not at all. It will be aimed at the one place that has not been mentioned. The Cradle of Western Civilization….Greece.
Why? It is the newly-found hydrocarbons , ability to allow spoilers like Albania and Fyrom to grow and to let in unlimited ragheads into the heart of Europe ,stupid!
Perfect Uncle Sam-uel plan to screw Europe over and get the dumb Euros to pay for US dirty litle wars and their own destruction themselves.
The old austrian hungarian empire would use different ethnic and linguistic groups to occupy some other group. This smells the same to me. Id say its target is rebellious europeans not external invasions.
I agree with you 100%, I would like to add that Europe is a useless basket case that is no longer relevant in the world.
Thats not remotely true although at the moment it is massively underperforming. Probably because the native europeans who made it great kept killing themselves off.
Well said.i give credit to you for mentioning it in general.
The Europeans know the US is a slow moving train wreck, so they are preparing for an organization to replace the US(NATO).
They are probably a bit late, but at least they have finally made a start.
sorry but nah. This is a new international bankers’ imperial force which will respect no nationality and will answer only to the globalists. It is about intervention on the international stage. Strengthening national institutions, which would be the real answer, does not suit the globalist bankers. France, UK etc already created massive chaos in Libya. Their next job would be no better. Macron ( a Rothschild banker) is in the lead of this.
The globalists already have an army, it’s called the US army.
The US had its shot at ruling the world, and fkd it up, so now there are challengers?
The King is dead, long live the King.
hahahahaha…i´m european, and I can tell u 100% that this, if it really comes true…its the end of the european union…….france, germany LOL…not even 1% of the population are eager for war when it comes to intervention/invasion ….the only reason that nato interventions/invasions with those 2 countries were condoned(not accepted) is because the political elite used the USA as a scapegoat as excuse.This sounds more like a battle force for inside europe, where people of most countries are totally fed up with exactly those elites which again and again go against the will of their people.One can take france,germany,italy,austria, for example….those countries are on the brink of civil war….the language between the totally opposing parties in these countries gets nastier by the day…traitors is a common word used by different parties day in and day out, and its getting out of hand pretty dam soon…eg. in austria the elites of the social party even used mossad agents during the last general election….they created fake (too make it look like another party of the general election made them)facebook accounts with really evil messages, they harrassed dozens of reporters, even going so far to harrass their kids, not to mention the murder of a pollitical leader of an opposing party by car accident…..in germany its already more or less close to open warfare.espeically in the east ….thats why they now have a political meltdown and crisis….and france LOL is there still a france?take a look at the south of france starting with marseille….anybody who visited marseille in the last 5 years will tell you there aint a single white man or white women that can be seen…its a different country inside of france……….so this new intervention force or whatever one wnts to call it, seems to me will be used inside of europe….