Merkel’s “Hun Speech” against Russia

By Johannes Stern 
19 November 2014

On July 27, 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II delivered his infamous “Hun speech” (Hunnenrede) in Bremerhaven. Addressing the German East Asian Expeditionary Corps, which was traveling to China to bloodily suppress the Boxer Rebellion, he said that the German army had been “built up during thirty years of faithful, peaceful labour.”

He accused China of “upsetting international law” and having “mocked the sacredness of the envoy, the duties of hospitality in a way unheard of in world history.”

Finally, he made the infamous threat: “Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Attila made a name for themselves, one that even today makes them seem mighty in history and legend, so may the name German be affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German.”

Angela Merkel’s frontal attack on Russia following the G20 summit in Australia brings to mind this type of German great power politics. Like Wilhelm II, Merkel is trying to present her own aggressive conduct as a means of defending peace and international law and brand her antagonist, in this case Russia, as the aggressor.

At a meeting in Sydney at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, a think tank run by the multibillionaire Frank Lowy, the fourth-richest Australian, Merkel accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “trampling on international law,” refusing to “resolve the conflict by democratic and constitutional means,” relying on the “supposed right of the strongest,” and “following the horrors of two world wars and the Cold War…placing in question the entire European order of peace.”

That is “exactly what took place with the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia at the beginning of this year,” the chancellor declared. Now this finds “its continuation in Russian efforts to destabilize eastern Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk.” Russia had violated “the territorial integrity and state sovereignty of Ukraine,” and thinks in terms of “spheres of influence,” she added.

In her remarks, the chancellor spoke against a “military solution to the crisis.” However, her accusations against Russia not only lacked any foundation, the logic of her reproach implied that Moscow’s alleged breach of international law and peace led to a military confrontation. Her bellicose remarks were designed to further poison the political climate in order to create the conditions for encircling Russia militarily and pushing it into a corner.

The G20 summit was dominated by an intensification of the conflict with Russia. The heads of government of the imperialist powers closed ranks against Putin and provoked his early departure. In her speech, Merkel demonstratively stood behind the anti-Russian government in Ukraine and promised she would support it “politically and economically.”

With this backing, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the same day threatened Russia with “total war.” Speaking on the fringes of a commemoration in Bratislava, he said, “I have no fear of war with Russian troops and we have prepared for such a scenario of total war. Our army is currently in a much better state than five months ago and we have support from all over the world.”

The German government is playing a central role in the aggressive moves against Moscow. In February, in close collaboration with the US government and fascist forces, it organised a putsch against then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych after he had refused to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. Since then, it has worked closely with the Poroshenko regime and is playing a leading a role in the military encirclement of Russia.

Last weekend, Die Welt reported that the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) will lead a rapid reaction force that NATO is establishing in response to the Ukraine conflict for the purpose of sending a “clear signal to Moscow.” In September, Germany took the lead in aerial patrols over the Baltic States and has doubled its contingent in the Multinational Northeast Corps in Szczecin, Poland. Last week, German NATO General Hans-Lothar Domröse raised the threat of major NATO maneuvers on the Russian border.

For years, NATO has been extending its borders eastwards and is now making increasingly open preparations for war against Russia. But in Sydney, Merkel accused Russia of systematically extending its area of influence. “It’s not just about Ukraine, it’s about Moldavia, it’s about Georgia, she declared. “If this continues, one can ask: Does one need to add Serbia, must one add the western Balkan states? In any case, that is not compatible with our values.”

“We also know from history that one cannot afford to be too peaceable, that one has to take seriously what is said and listen carefully,” Merkel continued.

When a German head of government says history teaches that Germany must not be “too peaceable” towards Russia, one’s blood runs cold. Seventy-five years ago, Germany carried out a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, committing the most heinous crimes in the history of mankind, including the Holocaust, the murder of 27 million Soviet citizens, and the devastation of large parts of Eastern Europe.

Merkel said the conflict over Ukraine “cannot be solved militarily,” but then added threateningly, “On the other hand, one can’t say: Because we cannot solve the crisis militarily, we can’t solve it at all.”

The German ruling elite is very aware of its historic crimes. In Sydney, Merkel recalled “the beginning of World War II 75 years ago and the collapse of civilization embodied in the Shoah, and even more importantly, the beginning of the First World War 100 years ago.”

But all her talk of “diplomatic” and “not military” solutions, supposedly based on the experiences of the wars of the last century, is crude propaganda. It is aimed at cloaking the return of Germany to militarism and great power politics, and, as under Kaiser Wilhelm, portraying an aggressive war policy as the “politics of peace.”

With reference to the “primal catastrophe of the 20th century,” Merkel asked, “Ladies and gentlemen, how could things go so far between peoples and nations one hundred years ago?”

Merkel should know. Today, just as then, the ruthless and aggressive imperialist policies of the great powers threaten to cast humanity into the abyss. The Western-orchestrated putsch in Ukraine, the military encirclement of Russia and China, and the renewed war in the Middle East have turned the world into a powder keg that could explode at any time. As in the first half of the last century, Germany is now playing an especially aggressive role.

Big business candidate wins Romanian presidential elections

By Andrei Tudora and Tina Zamfir 
20 November 2014

The Romanian Social Democratic government is in political crisis following the decisive defeat of premier Victor Ponta in the second round of the presidential elections by the conservative candidate Klaus Iohannis.

Ponta was widely tipped as a possible successor to outgoing President Traian Basescu, having finished the first round with a 10 percent lead over Iohannis. According to opinion polls prior to the runoff, Ponta was the clear favorite. Final results gave Iohannis 54,5 percent, with Ponta getting 45,5 percent of the votes. At the November 16 runoff, turnout was 64 percent with more people showing up to vote than in the first round. Ponta lost the vote in traditional social democratic strongholds and in the major cities, including the capital Bucharest, as well as Constanta and Iasi.

The clear rebuff that Ponta received at the polls represents a rejection of the policies he has pursued in the last two years. Installed in 2012, in the wake of a political crisis created by mass anti-austerity protests, the Social Democratic-led government stands out as one of the most right-wing and viciously anti-working class administrations in the last 25 years.

With the close cooperation of the unions, Ponta became the champion of the austerity program of the EU and the IMF, overseeing mass layoffs and wage freezes in the public sector, privatizations of state companies and the systematic destruction of the remnants of the welfare state, including the privatization of the country's health system.

With the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis and the NATO encirclement of Russia, Ponta became an ardent proponent of the transformation of Romania into a militarized outpost of NATO and a center for further provocations against Russia, sparing no expense in the process. His presidential campaign was used to further increase tensions in the region, encouraging the former Soviet republic of Moldova to speed up its European integration and vowing to become the president of a Greater Romania by 2018, by absorbing Moldova.

An immediate result of Romanian and EU intervention in Moldova has been the worsening of relations with the breakaway territory of Transnistria, which is supported by Russia. Transnistrian leader Evgheni Sevciuk was attacked earlier this month at Chisinau airport while attempting to board a flight to Moscow. Sevciuk’s bodyguards were detained by the assailants and handed over to Moldovan police, who also subjected his car to a “search for weapons”. The attack was claimed by the National Liberal Party of Moldova.

The essentially undemocratic character of the bourgeois election process was clearly evidenced by the virtual identity of the competing election platforms and by the complete disenfranchisement of the vast majority of the population.

Klaus the president elect, while attempting to pose as a nonaligned technocrat in the election campaign, openly represents the interests of big business and imperialism. Like the outgoing president Basescu, he is connected to European conservatives, and received the backing of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel during the election campaign.

The 55-year-old Iohannis, a Transylvanian of German origin, began his political career in the 1990s, as a member of the right-wing Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR). From 2000 onwards, he served as mayor of the city of Sibiu. The FDGR’s close relations with the pro-market National Liberal Party prompted the liberals to back Iohannis for the post of premier in 2009, cultivating his image as a technocrat and outsider in Bucharest politics. His bid was at the time rejected by President Basescu.

In February 2013, Iohannis was invited to join the National Liberal Party, which was at the time the junior partner of the Social Democrats in government. He was quickly elevated to the leadership of the party, becoming its president in June 2014. By then the Liberals were in opposition, and Iohannis led the party into an alliance with the conservative Liberal Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Emil Boc.

The two parties are set to merge in the coming period. Iohannis has already positioned himself as a staunch representative of the Romanian ruling class. Speaking of the “optimal position” occupied by Romania as a result of the military encirclement of Russia, his electoral program calls for an even greater US presence in Eastern Europe, “in the spirit of article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty”, and for the increasing militarization of the country.

According to Iohannis, “The concentration of forces in the Baltic states and Poland is important, but in the new context, just as important is an increase of military presence in Romania and Bulgaria”, in order to “create an equilibrium between the Northern and Southern flanks in Eastern Europe”.

Romania will also increase its military spending, modernize the country’s armaments industry and increase the role of the secret services. This would, the future Romanian president argues, transform Romania into an “important landmark on the world geopolitical map, by becoming a provider of security on the regional field and consolidating its role as an operational basis for the main allies, including within the context of the antimissile defense system of the US, pending its integration into the NATO system.”

The new president will also step up the provocations concerning Moldova, vowing to gather all the factions of the bourgeoisie into a “national consensus”, to push for the European integration of Moldova. Highlighting the pernicious role that the EU is playing in stoking regional antagonisms, Iohannis says that counterpoising “reunification” and “[European] integration” is “faulty and useless”, the two being part of the same process.

НКПЈ ПОЗДРАВИЛА РАД 16. СВЕТСКОГ САМИТА КОМУНИСТИЧКИХ И РАДНИЧКИХ ПАРТИЈА

Нова комунистичка партија Југославије (НКПЈ) поздравила је посебним писмом учеснике 16. Светског самита комунистичких и радничких партија који се ове године одржава у Еквадору.

НКПЈ је у писмо које је упутила учесницима 16. Светског самита комунистичких и радничких партија изразила жаљење што због материјалне ситуације у којој се налази Партија, као и велика већина грађана земље, није могла присуствовати овом значајном састанку који окупља комунистичке и радничке партије из целог света, што је иначе по први пут од када се овај најзанчајнији самит Међународног комунистичког покрета у години организује, да НКПЈ не присуствује. НКПЈ је узела учешће на свих петнаест до сада организованих састанака.

НКПЈ је у поруци нагласила да је: "ситуација у којој се наша земља налази катастрофална и по многима безизлазна, али да за комунисте не постоји немогуће и не постоје несавладиве препреке. И поред све већих пресија против наших чланова, напада и претњи ми данас са оптимизмом гледамо у будућност", додајући да се : "Светски комунистички покрет скоро три деценије налази се у тешкој идеолошкој, организационој и материјалној кризи. Суочени смо са ситуацијом да су многе комунистичке партије прешле на линију ревизионизма и опортунизма. Одрекле су се класне борбе и прешле на пут тзв. социјалног дијалога и компромиса са владајућом класом. Радничке маршеве и штрајкове заменили су удобним посланичким фотељама и кабинетима. Ипак „Ма какве биле тешкоће и могући привремени неуспеси или таласи контрареволуције - коначна победа пролетаријата је неизбежна“ (В.И.Лењин). Пред нама је да се улазак у последњу фазу капитализма-империјализам, као неизбежна пресудна борба између буржоазије и пролетаријата, усмери у корист пролетаријата, за опстанак човечанства и човечности".

НКПЈ је на крају изразила велику наду "да ће овакви састанци и надаље доприносити оснажењу револуционарних марксистичко-лењинистичких принципа у нашем заједничком деловању, као и у деловању наших партија понаособ. Настављамио даље борбу за свет социјалне правде и прогреса, за свет социјализма/комунизма, пожелевши нове успехе у борби до коначне победе".

Секретаријат НКПЈ,

Београд,

14.11.2014