http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2015/images/sw_190315.jpgBut the confrontation with Russia has not only destroyed Ukraine -- it has damaged all of Europe. It is, in fact, an open secret that the United States is stirring the conflict with Russia for economic reasons. When the US government talks about human rights, it actually means drilling rights or mining rights. Right now in Ukraine a hell of a lot of shale gas to frack is in prospect. If now, in the framework of the Energy Union, you mention new pipelines and increasing independence from Russian gas, then you should tell the people in honesty what that means: increasing dependence on much more expensive and ecologically devastating US-fracked gas. I do not consider that a responsible view. . . . If you want to defend democracy, Mrs. Merkel, then see to it that the European countries are at last ruled by elected governments -- not by financial markets, not by the one-time investment banker Mario Draghi, and, please, not by you either. If you want democracy, then stop the so-called free trade agreements, stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that would make elected governments just a farce. That would be a defense of European values! That would be a defense of democracy, finally exposing these unspeakable negotiations on the TTIP and similar agreements! If you want a united Europe, then stop humiliating other countries and imposing programs that rob their young generations of their future. Stop prescribing so-called structural reforms in Europe that only lead to growing inequality and an ever-larger low-wage sector. Here in Germany meanwhile, in consequence of these policies, three million people, in spite of having a job, are so poor that they cannot stay warm, do not have enough to eat, and certainly cannot go on a vacation! Instead of trying to explain this export-promotion policy, it is high time -- and very much in Europe's interest -- to correct it, not least because it is the German wage-dumping that is stifling the other countries of the monetary union. Finance Minister Schäuble recently instructed the Greek government: "Well, governing is always just a rendezvous with reality." Here one can only say: That would be good! Well, it would be good if only the German government, too, could finally experience its own rendezvous with reality. Because it was not SYRIZA but rather the sister parties to the CDU/CSU and SPD that over the decades racked up the huge debts, so that they and the upper crust could stuff their pockets. The reality is also that Greece was hopelessly in debt already in 2010 and that it was an irresponsible misuse of German taxpayers' money to pay with it the Greeks' debts to the banks. That is why we said no to that back then. Back then we already called for a haircut. Those who advance credit to one already overloaded with debt will presumably never see their money again, but the responsibility is on you, Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Schäuble, and not on the new Greek government, which is now hardly two months in office. The reality is also that under the protectorate of the troika that you still treasure so much, whose criminal activities you can see in the excellent documentary by Harald Schumann, the Greek debt just got bigger and the Greek billionaires got richer. And you want to keep it up? Then I can only say, "Good night!" If you want our money back, get it from those who took it, and they were not the Greek pensioners and nurses: it was the international banks and the Greek upper crust. Incidentally, you could help the Greek government recover its money from them. . . . Yes, only when we remember, and only when we respect each other -- only then will we find a way back to a policy of being good neighbors, both inside the EU and with Russia.

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