This Week on GR
December 19, 2022
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 17th, 2022.
Looking at Europe’s tattered union today it would be easy to mistake
just who the target of America’s proxy war in Ukraine is. Germany, the
continent’s economic engine, has sputtered through the last half year,
its industrial base shuttered by gas shortages and soaring electricity
costs. And yet, Germany’s political leaders are backing the broadening
of a war ostensibly meant to send Russia back to its agrarian age roots;
no matter the cost to its own citizenry. How to make sense of it?
Diana Johnstone
is an author and journalist. Her book titles include ‘ From MAD to
Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning,’ ‘Circle in the Darkness:
Memoirs of a World Watcher,’ and ‘Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and
Western Delusion.’ Diana’s articles can be found at ConsortiumNews.com, where her recent piece, ‘The Specter of Germany is Rising‘ appears.
Diana Johnstone in the first half.
And; a major part of Germany and the EU’s
expansion plans lay in the small and impoverished Western Balkan
countries. Last month, European Union big wigs met in Albania for the
‘EU-Western Balkans Summit’. European Commission head, Ursula von der
Leyen used the platform to express the EU’s “strong partnership” with
the Balkans, saying, “…we are taking every opportunity to bring our regions and our people closer together.“
But, togetherness is the last thing desired
for Western Balkans neighbours Serbia and Kosovo – the latter hived out
of Serbia during NATO’s war there in the nineties, and later recognized
– in some quarters – as an independent state.
James Bissett is a former Canadian
Ambassador whose tenure in Yugoslavia coincided with its 1991
dissolution. At century’s end, he was one of the very few government
insiders to oppose NATO’s 78 day bombardment of Serbia in the name of
“humanitarian intervention.”
James Bissett and flaws in the EU’s recipe for
Balkan integration in the second half.
But first, Diana Johnstone and what Germany’s eastward attentions mean for Europe’s future.
Song: How Much is a Life Worth?
Artists: The Four Fathers
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/
