Europe's geopolitical unraveling is accelerating. The sclerotic continent is decaying ever faster culturally, intellectually and morally—all while yelling "values" from the top of the Brussels asylum.
The problem is NOT that Europe is intellectually dead.
In fact the overall intellectual level of analysis and understanding of the world witnin Europe is actually leaps and bounds ahead of anything you can find in the US.
This Neutrality Studies publication is one example, but there are many others based in Europe like his. Given the comparatively HUGE level of funding in academics and research in the US, one would think such analysis is common everywhere in the US. But you would hadly find such there at all.
So its not an intellectual decay in Europe.
What's going on in Europe is, in my view, that in Europe, both EU-level and national level political institutions are captured by what are very clear US puppets. Von Der Leyen, Starmer, Stoltenberg, Rutte, Kallas etc. These are intellectual midgets, hand picked by the neocon faction of the US oligarchy. Handpicked precicely for that quality being dillgent "prison guards" of Europe: intellectual midgets who will do what they are told without question. But they are not representative
Similarly the entire major media and social across Europe are captured and subjected what studies show are censorship of thought, censoship of facts (e.g genocide and terror acts by "allies") and manipulative mis-framing. Its at these three levels (top level politics, mainstream media and social media) that the intellectiual level in Europe has gone to zero.
But at the grass roots levels in academia and in independent media, it seems to me Europe remains alive and vibrant, on a level that the US does not have at all. What passes for progressive thinking in the US is still very limited.
And many of the average people in Europe undertstand something is off, is not right. That they are being lied to.
But Europe actuallly has much better prospects for regenerating out of the current mess, because of that difference - the intellectual leadership is there, its alive, its not stunted by centuries of US style brainwashing from birth.
But: even in Europe among the masses in the middle are afraid to speak up - in this world of social media mentality, its "haram" in the west now for those who need to accepted to speak uncomfortable truths among themselves.
The task still remains for this vibrant grassroots intellectual leader in Europe to break the bubble of gaslighting that is going on above in the captuured institutions. But its possible, in Europe. All the pieces are here - they FAKE, PUPPETS above need to be named and shamed by the intellectuals, so that the masses in Europe can feel more comfortable to speak the truth to each other. This is how the spell can be broeken
That strong level of potential change in Europe, is not the case in the US where they have at least a full generation (20 years+) of intellectual growth needed, so things will get worse there before they get better.
Smart people fall into stupid demise because of flaws in personality and mentality.
One thing here is people are obsessed with hierarchy. Think of the RKI files, state authorities have corrupted science. The governments are corrupted by foreign agents.
You cannot do that with a fierce civilisation.
I support your views, but I have looked into that a lot already, and to me the answer is Dr. Jose Rizal about colonial know-how, and he suggests to smash every taboo and withdraw all respect from the corrupted colonial elites, especially those with a "High" in their titles. Fear makes no sense, the horrors have just begun and will become unbearable anyway, and this is the real appeasement - not fighting the virtual/communicative colonizers, not calling them out as the beasts that they are.
The other one is Heinz von Foerster about communication and cybernetics. He was one of the founders of American technology regarding control of huge systems. He told the world a lot about systemics, and one of his books has the title "Truth is the Invention of a Liar".
What's going on in Europe is, in my view, that in Europe, both EU-level and national level political institutions are captured by what are very clear US puppets. Von Der Leyen, Starmer, Stoltenberg, Rutte, Kallas etc. These are intellectual midgets, hand picked by the neocon faction of the US oligarchy. Handpicked precicely for that quality being dillgent "prison guards" of Europe: intellectual midgets who will do what they are told without question. But they are not representative
Similarly the entire major media and social across Europe are captured and subjected what studies show are censorship of thought, censoship of facts (e.g genocide and terror acts by "allies") and manipulative mis-framing. Its at these three levels (top level politics, mainstream media and social media) that the intellectiual level in Europe has gone to zero.
I agree with you that Europe still has quite a bit of intellectual power, which is currently suppressed by the media bias. However, I don't know if I agree with you that the Brussels clique is not representative. I have talked a lot with friends, workmates, etc, and some don't give a damn, while others are well convinced that we are the good guys and we must act against Russia, lest evil prevails. Just look at the German elections. AfD didn't perform as expected (not the solution anyway in my opinion), and BSW flopped. The greens are out of the government but remain influential. It is very difficult to defend in Germany anything that doesn't align with the anti-Russian views. They blame Russia for all their problems, a bit in the same way that they blame Hamas for their past sins.
First of all its not a "Brussels clique". Its all European capitals - puppets of the neocons are in place in charge of government in virtually every single captial. Sometimes despite elections where people vote for left wing socially-focussed change (the past elections a couple of years ago in the UK and in Norway), the "opposition" enters power and reveals itself as yet another set of hidden puppets.
Secondly, this poll (see below), taken frequently by the EU, showed a clear trend that after the initial barrage of shock and propaganda, people came to their senses, with a steady decline in support for the needless proxy war in Ukraine:
"....the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the east German region where the Nord Stream pipeline comes ashore after running from Russia under the Baltic Sea, 49% of Germans want a return to Russian gas supplies, a poll carried out by the Forsa institute found..."
Like I am telling you, there is a TOP-DOWN corruption going on in Europe. This is not the same as an intellectual stunting of everybody across Europe. Its not the same as the situation in the US where the intellectual brainwashing and xenophobia is top to bottom and cradle to grave.
If I was Titian, now, and should have to paint Europa, I would paint somewhere central on the canvas the secretary of the North Atlantic Armed Forces group as the rapist, and those who are meant with "Brussels" today, around the act of raping, and applauding.
" Its only moment of diplomatic unity—the premature recognition of Slovenia and Croatia in 1992"?
Nope, Germany did that unilaterally. What was agreed at European level at that time was not to recognize any independance before a comprehensive plan for the whole Yugoslavia.
The Germans cause the wars in the ex-Yugoslavia, and their role in provoking the war in Ukraine is more central and pivotal than reported.
I'm a bush-dwelling Australian, yet whenever I've had the chance to travel it's always been to that south and west strip of Europe: France, Italy, Greece, Spain. Never been anywhere else, except for stopovers, not even to the Ireland of my forebears. Never thought about why. Just went there.
Whatever Europe is, I sense I'm its product. And I'm sensing that Europe is now to make some bother on one side of the map so the chief mischief-makers can divert their efforts to the other side. Hence the clownish and rehearsed rejection of Zelensky in favour of Gaza real estate, Greenland and Mars (or are those last two the same?)
Agreed -diversion is the key. What are we not seeing, not hearing - somebody always learns, shares, analyzes. Now we can broadcast for ourselves to us. Thank you Pascal Lottaz for shouldering more than your share.
This cycle we've fallen for again&again. Please add to the timeline.
This is 18th century culture. Picky rules by a meaningless but rich oligarchy, mannerisms, cheating, eventually murder.
This seems to me where Europe is heading.
But there is a whole new level of epistemic corruption and distorted perception.
How can the people not see that USA is basically a Hyda with many heads but only one relevant body. It was the previous government that ruined Europe, especially by capturing means and styles of communication.
It was not the current administration, they are just funny enough to scold and ridicule the Europeans for being so extremely stupid to trust the fake liberals and stumble into all of their setups. This is why whole Europe will turn into Ukraine. It is the same stupidity, like falling prey to the preachings of foreigners at the Maidan protests, and these foreigners are hydra heads that want the natural resources and the fruitful black soil.
Whole Europe becomes victim to charismatic liars, and will end up in destruction. How stupid.
The occupation of Europe by USA for the last 80 years has taken its toll. USA military bases, ostensibly for "protection" (mafioso style) in every nation plus the endless broadcast of USA/UK narrative has eroded European culture. Add to that the notion of the EU which has been the creeping takeover of national sovereignty & you have the shell of Europe we see today.
Very sad, but it had to be told, thank you so much for that.
I thought about both factors myself since a couple of years:
1. Inner colonisation (but we must find out its structures and ways of virtualisation that makes it invisible to most people), and
2. this obsession with Moby Dick, falling into such an Ahab role by a small but super powerful elite, networked with the legacy media and gazettes, and especially crowding super trashy TV discussion formats with their snake oil preachers.
There are two other factors:
3. The EU is becoming some Babylonian Tower, in that people are falling out with each other, the generations cannot understand each other (worse than ever), and factions of political stakeholders cannot understand each other. Chaos was injected by Antifa, NAFO, and by fake liberals acting in disruptive mode a la Saul Alinsky (role model was Hillary, one of the inventors of "Russiagate").
4. Various obsessions are now triggering some "Blaumilchkanal" story (Ephraim Kishon), where a guy who was mentally ill and not knowing what he was doing, stole a compressor hammer and dug up the main street in Tel Aviv. And then, the great mission creep began. No one knew what this was about, and no one could admit it was an error and nonsense. All the powerful people in the municipal elite tried to invent explaniations about what this project was meant to be. They took part in wild quarrels by the side of the madman. They gave him other construction workers as helpers, and it began to look like a canal. There was some kind of happy ending, and they celebrated the completion of the Blaumilch Canal, that had reached the sea, and the city became another Venetia.
I don't think Europe will have a happy ending, because of the parallelity of these aspects.
The 800 bln debt will become the worst temptation to greed, violence, more lies, and limitless corruption, given that the weapon trade and proliferation regarding Ukraine supplies half the Levante and Northern Africa with heavy guns, artillery and probably drones. There is an old route of weapon trade through the Balcans.
The Euro will not be able to buy the desired masses of weapons anyway, because it will crumble from the debt spiral and money printing.
Do they really want "Arbeitspolitik", with pushing the unemploayed into the weapon manufactures, for food stamps and this is it?
I believe it is abuse of constructivism in depth. Everything is logical and can be derived from other statements.
But it is still a constructed world, based on "values" that are out of sync with reality.
We actually can construct a world without the looming destruction, when we adopt views and values from outside the white, "judeo-christian" universe which has become the epitome of hell, shown in the conflicts around Jerusalem, especially what transpires in Gaza. 85 percent of humanity take that as the "value" of the West.
We must deconstruct all of this, or history will actually repeat.
@pascal, you are a light in a sea of darkness. Comments such as those below also offer hope. One major problem with the EU are its appointed, non-elected institutions. These should be disbanded. Only the EU parliament should be left - we can say that it is the only resemblance to representation of the (European) people. Thank you.
From my limited view the problem is the EU itself. A non democratic mega bureaucracy incapable of allowing legitimate political participation and- I agree, captured by the US neocons which, paradoxically, are being rejected by a still functioning US voter base.
Excellent. I do love a Moby Dick metaphor. I think the USA is Ahab, driven by resentment at losing omnipotence, and the EU is Starbuck, loyal but unable to stop the disaster. Both will go down with the Pequod.
Does not the refusal to follow legal laws (humane, moral, agreed) raise the complementary question of law abiders not following senseless inhumane dictates?
The problem is NOT that Europe is intellectually dead.
In fact the overall intellectual level of analysis and understanding of the world witnin Europe is actually leaps and bounds ahead of anything you can find in the US.
This Neutrality Studies publication is one example, but there are many others based in Europe like his. Given the comparatively HUGE level of funding in academics and research in the US, one would think such analysis is common everywhere in the US. But you would hadly find such there at all.
So its not an intellectual decay in Europe.
What's going on in Europe is, in my view, that in Europe, both EU-level and national level political institutions are captured by what are very clear US puppets. Von Der Leyen, Starmer, Stoltenberg, Rutte, Kallas etc. These are intellectual midgets, hand picked by the neocon faction of the US oligarchy. Handpicked precicely for that quality being dillgent "prison guards" of Europe: intellectual midgets who will do what they are told without question. But they are not representative
Similarly the entire major media and social across Europe are captured and subjected what studies show are censorship of thought, censoship of facts (e.g genocide and terror acts by "allies") and manipulative mis-framing. Its at these three levels (top level politics, mainstream media and social media) that the intellectiual level in Europe has gone to zero.
But at the grass roots levels in academia and in independent media, it seems to me Europe remains alive and vibrant, on a level that the US does not have at all. What passes for progressive thinking in the US is still very limited.
And many of the average people in Europe undertstand something is off, is not right. That they are being lied to.
But Europe actuallly has much better prospects for regenerating out of the current mess, because of that difference - the intellectual leadership is there, its alive, its not stunted by centuries of US style brainwashing from birth.
But: even in Europe among the masses in the middle are afraid to speak up - in this world of social media mentality, its "haram" in the west now for those who need to accepted to speak uncomfortable truths among themselves.
The task still remains for this vibrant grassroots intellectual leader in Europe to break the bubble of gaslighting that is going on above in the captuured institutions. But its possible, in Europe. All the pieces are here - they FAKE, PUPPETS above need to be named and shamed by the intellectuals, so that the masses in Europe can feel more comfortable to speak the truth to each other. This is how the spell can be broeken
That strong level of potential change in Europe, is not the case in the US where they have at least a full generation (20 years+) of intellectual growth needed, so things will get worse there before they get better.
Smart people fall into stupid demise because of flaws in personality and mentality.
One thing here is people are obsessed with hierarchy. Think of the RKI files, state authorities have corrupted science. The governments are corrupted by foreign agents.
You cannot do that with a fierce civilisation.
I support your views, but I have looked into that a lot already, and to me the answer is Dr. Jose Rizal about colonial know-how, and he suggests to smash every taboo and withdraw all respect from the corrupted colonial elites, especially those with a "High" in their titles. Fear makes no sense, the horrors have just begun and will become unbearable anyway, and this is the real appeasement - not fighting the virtual/communicative colonizers, not calling them out as the beasts that they are.
The other one is Heinz von Foerster about communication and cybernetics. He was one of the founders of American technology regarding control of huge systems. He told the world a lot about systemics, and one of his books has the title "Truth is the Invention of a Liar".
I watched this documentation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Great_Powers
China has great analysis on the whole West. We better explore their wisdom, and not their anger...
What's the use of knowledge if one does not act upon it?
Best comment of the day!
What's going on in Europe is, in my view, that in Europe, both EU-level and national level political institutions are captured by what are very clear US puppets. Von Der Leyen, Starmer, Stoltenberg, Rutte, Kallas etc. These are intellectual midgets, hand picked by the neocon faction of the US oligarchy. Handpicked precicely for that quality being dillgent "prison guards" of Europe: intellectual midgets who will do what they are told without question. But they are not representative
Similarly the entire major media and social across Europe are captured and subjected what studies show are censorship of thought, censoship of facts (e.g genocide and terror acts by "allies") and manipulative mis-framing. Its at these three levels (top level politics, mainstream media and social media) that the intellectiual level in Europe has gone to zero.
I agree with you that Europe still has quite a bit of intellectual power, which is currently suppressed by the media bias. However, I don't know if I agree with you that the Brussels clique is not representative. I have talked a lot with friends, workmates, etc, and some don't give a damn, while others are well convinced that we are the good guys and we must act against Russia, lest evil prevails. Just look at the German elections. AfD didn't perform as expected (not the solution anyway in my opinion), and BSW flopped. The greens are out of the government but remain influential. It is very difficult to defend in Germany anything that doesn't align with the anti-Russian views. They blame Russia for all their problems, a bit in the same way that they blame Hamas for their past sins.
First of all its not a "Brussels clique". Its all European capitals - puppets of the neocons are in place in charge of government in virtually every single captial. Sometimes despite elections where people vote for left wing socially-focussed change (the past elections a couple of years ago in the UK and in Norway), the "opposition" enters power and reveals itself as yet another set of hidden puppets.
Secondly, this poll (see below), taken frequently by the EU, showed a clear trend that after the initial barrage of shock and propaganda, people came to their senses, with a steady decline in support for the needless proxy war in Ukraine:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/en/be-heard/eurobarometer/public-opinion-on-the-war-in-ukraine
The evidence above was so damning, that after a while the EU stopped publishing that poll!
Why would they do that? That tells you, it showed the Europea people have their own brains still, and they didnt all buy into the brainwashing.
And here is one example in Reuters this morning regarding the intellectually bankrupt EU policy of not buying energy from Russia:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/back-russian-gas-trump-wary-eu-has-energy-security-dilemma-2025-04-14/
"....the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the east German region where the Nord Stream pipeline comes ashore after running from Russia under the Baltic Sea, 49% of Germans want a return to Russian gas supplies, a poll carried out by the Forsa institute found..."
Like I am telling you, there is a TOP-DOWN corruption going on in Europe. This is not the same as an intellectual stunting of everybody across Europe. Its not the same as the situation in the US where the intellectual brainwashing and xenophobia is top to bottom and cradle to grave.
"Goddess Europa getting caught in her own weaponry...."
There is another painting of Europa: "The Rape of Europa" (by Titian)
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10978
If I was Titian, now, and should have to paint Europa, I would paint somewhere central on the canvas the secretary of the North Atlantic Armed Forces group as the rapist, and those who are meant with "Brussels" today, around the act of raping, and applauding.
" Its only moment of diplomatic unity—the premature recognition of Slovenia and Croatia in 1992"?
Nope, Germany did that unilaterally. What was agreed at European level at that time was not to recognize any independance before a comprehensive plan for the whole Yugoslavia.
The Germans cause the wars in the ex-Yugoslavia, and their role in provoking the war in Ukraine is more central and pivotal than reported.
I'm a bush-dwelling Australian, yet whenever I've had the chance to travel it's always been to that south and west strip of Europe: France, Italy, Greece, Spain. Never been anywhere else, except for stopovers, not even to the Ireland of my forebears. Never thought about why. Just went there.
Whatever Europe is, I sense I'm its product. And I'm sensing that Europe is now to make some bother on one side of the map so the chief mischief-makers can divert their efforts to the other side. Hence the clownish and rehearsed rejection of Zelensky in favour of Gaza real estate, Greenland and Mars (or are those last two the same?)
Agreed -diversion is the key. What are we not seeing, not hearing - somebody always learns, shares, analyzes. Now we can broadcast for ourselves to us. Thank you Pascal Lottaz for shouldering more than your share.
This cycle we've fallen for again&again. Please add to the timeline.
Media, 1976,
https://archive.org/details/michael-parenti-inventing-reality-the-politics-of-the-mass-media-1986-st.-martins-press_202012
Media, 1988,
https://chomsky.info/consent01/
Media 2019,
https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/hate-inc/
"Strictly Ballroom"
Do these kind of people still exist?
This is 18th century culture. Picky rules by a meaningless but rich oligarchy, mannerisms, cheating, eventually murder.
This seems to me where Europe is heading.
But there is a whole new level of epistemic corruption and distorted perception.
How can the people not see that USA is basically a Hyda with many heads but only one relevant body. It was the previous government that ruined Europe, especially by capturing means and styles of communication.
It was not the current administration, they are just funny enough to scold and ridicule the Europeans for being so extremely stupid to trust the fake liberals and stumble into all of their setups. This is why whole Europe will turn into Ukraine. It is the same stupidity, like falling prey to the preachings of foreigners at the Maidan protests, and these foreigners are hydra heads that want the natural resources and the fruitful black soil.
Whole Europe becomes victim to charismatic liars, and will end up in destruction. How stupid.
The occupation of Europe by USA for the last 80 years has taken its toll. USA military bases, ostensibly for "protection" (mafioso style) in every nation plus the endless broadcast of USA/UK narrative has eroded European culture. Add to that the notion of the EU which has been the creeping takeover of national sovereignty & you have the shell of Europe we see today.
Very sad, but it had to be told, thank you so much for that.
I thought about both factors myself since a couple of years:
1. Inner colonisation (but we must find out its structures and ways of virtualisation that makes it invisible to most people), and
2. this obsession with Moby Dick, falling into such an Ahab role by a small but super powerful elite, networked with the legacy media and gazettes, and especially crowding super trashy TV discussion formats with their snake oil preachers.
There are two other factors:
3. The EU is becoming some Babylonian Tower, in that people are falling out with each other, the generations cannot understand each other (worse than ever), and factions of political stakeholders cannot understand each other. Chaos was injected by Antifa, NAFO, and by fake liberals acting in disruptive mode a la Saul Alinsky (role model was Hillary, one of the inventors of "Russiagate").
4. Various obsessions are now triggering some "Blaumilchkanal" story (Ephraim Kishon), where a guy who was mentally ill and not knowing what he was doing, stole a compressor hammer and dug up the main street in Tel Aviv. And then, the great mission creep began. No one knew what this was about, and no one could admit it was an error and nonsense. All the powerful people in the municipal elite tried to invent explaniations about what this project was meant to be. They took part in wild quarrels by the side of the madman. They gave him other construction workers as helpers, and it began to look like a canal. There was some kind of happy ending, and they celebrated the completion of the Blaumilch Canal, that had reached the sea, and the city became another Venetia.
I don't think Europe will have a happy ending, because of the parallelity of these aspects.
The 800 bln debt will become the worst temptation to greed, violence, more lies, and limitless corruption, given that the weapon trade and proliferation regarding Ukraine supplies half the Levante and Northern Africa with heavy guns, artillery and probably drones. There is an old route of weapon trade through the Balcans.
The Euro will not be able to buy the desired masses of weapons anyway, because it will crumble from the debt spiral and money printing.
Do they really want "Arbeitspolitik", with pushing the unemploayed into the weapon manufactures, for food stamps and this is it?
To contribute to a conclusion to this topic,
allow me to point out a quintessential thread that shows us the full severity of what is going on, looked at from either way, truth or construction.
https://x.com/joni_askola/status/1915097467294466125
I believe it is abuse of constructivism in depth. Everything is logical and can be derived from other statements.
But it is still a constructed world, based on "values" that are out of sync with reality.
We actually can construct a world without the looming destruction, when we adopt views and values from outside the white, "judeo-christian" universe which has become the epitome of hell, shown in the conflicts around Jerusalem, especially what transpires in Gaza. 85 percent of humanity take that as the "value" of the West.
We must deconstruct all of this, or history will actually repeat.
❤️
@pascal, you are a light in a sea of darkness. Comments such as those below also offer hope. One major problem with the EU are its appointed, non-elected institutions. These should be disbanded. Only the EU parliament should be left - we can say that it is the only resemblance to representation of the (European) people. Thank you.
As I was saying …
Trump as Captain Ahab with a bad case of Moby Dick.
https://substack.com/@annachenwrites/note/c-107739428
From my limited view the problem is the EU itself. A non democratic mega bureaucracy incapable of allowing legitimate political participation and- I agree, captured by the US neocons which, paradoxically, are being rejected by a still functioning US voter base.
Excellent. I do love a Moby Dick metaphor. I think the USA is Ahab, driven by resentment at losing omnipotence, and the EU is Starbuck, loyal but unable to stop the disaster. Both will go down with the Pequod.
Does not the refusal to follow legal laws (humane, moral, agreed) raise the complementary question of law abiders not following senseless inhumane dictates?
Great Text! Would were able to wrap it all and deliver the way out of horrible dystopia. Thank you Pascal!