Wolfgang Effenberger

The 58th Munich Security Conference, which was dominated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, came to a close on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. At the conclusion of the three-day deliberations, outgoing leader Wolfgang Ischinger noted, "I have the impression that this weekend sends a message of transatlantic unity and resolve."(1) He then expressed regret that Europe should fear a new war. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the BBC at the conference of a war on the scale of World War II, saying "it could really be the biggest war in Europe since 1945."(2)
Just in time for the start of the Munich Security Conference, the escalation screw in Ukraine was turned up. The theory that the escalation on the contact line is a mere information operation on the part of Russia and the rebel republics is not at all supported by the OSCE report.(3)
With the war-fueling headline "Putin's henchmen shell Ukrainian kindergarten"(4) the BILD newspaper pours oil on the fire.

Since every war so far has been started with a lie, the media should ask themselves where such reports come from, who verified them, and who benefits from them. In 1990, the media adopted without verification the report that Iraqi soldiers, during the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the beginning of the Second Gulf War, had torn Kuwaiti premature babies from their incubators and thrown them onto the cold stone floor, where they died. This gave U.S. President George H. Bush the UN authorization to wage war against Iraq.
Only after the US-led military intervention to liberate Kuwait did the story turn out to be an invention of the American PR agency Hill & Knowlton. They had been paid by the exiled Kuwaiti government to support a reconquest of Kuwait by means of public relations.
Since mid-January 2022, according to the U.S. government, there have been warnings of a so-called false flag attack ("false flag operation") on the part of Putin. Russia, they said, wanted to create a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine: "We have information indicating that Russia has already established a group of operatives to carry out a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine ... that could start between mid-January and mid-February."(5)
So far, however, the U.S. has shown itself to be a true master at using "false flag" operations and lies.
The 1964 Vietnam War, for instance, was justified by the "Tonkin Incident" off the coast of North Vietnam, an ostensible North Vietnamese torpedo attack on the U.S. destroyer Meddox on August 4, 1964. It has long been proven that there was no torpedo attack at that time.(6)
The Vietnam War claimed up to 6 million lives (of which about 60,000 were U.S.).

The 2003 Iraq War was justified by the U.S. government on the grounds of "Iraqi weapons of mass destruction" and an "Iraqi connection to Al Qaeda terrorists." On February 5, 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Powell presented alleged evidence of Iraq's NBC weapons to the UN Security Council, all of which turned out to be fabricated by mid-2004. And the July 2004 report of the 9/11 Commission refuted the alleged link to al Qaeda.  And the list of contrived reasons for war is not exhaustive.(7)
On February 20, 2022, BILD ran the headline: "Buy when the guns are thundering!"(8) High time for war profiteers.

On April 2, 1917, U.S. Senator George W. Norris, in his rebuttal speech, rejected Wilson's reasons for entering the war against Germany and - quoting from a customer letter of the "New York Stock Exchange" - pointed out the interests of Wall Street: "Canada and Japan are at war and prospering more than ever. On the outbreak of immediate hostilities, stocks would react swiftly, clearly and heatedly with a gratifying look. The old-fashioned bull market would enjoy it as it did at the outbreak of war with Spain in 1898. By contrast, the onset of peace would adjust commodity prices downward and most likely inhibit enterprise."(9)
Reflecting on Wilson's declaration of war on April 6, 1917, the "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums" made a decisive reference to the duplicity Wilson had engaged in, when "from the beginning of the war he permitted, approved, perhaps even encouraged, the American factories to supply our enemies with ammunition, arms, and all manner of war equipment. This was done by no truly neutral state except America. Already by this support of our enemies the United States ... has shown itself for nearly three years, in spite of its alleged neutrality, to be an opposing power. Not we, then, but they are the authors of this war."(10)

In 1934, when fears of a new war were running rampant in the U.S. and the development of the "Rainbow War Plans" was underway, a committee of inquiry ("The Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry") under the chairmanship of Senator Gerald P. Nye began work in the U.S. Congress on the reasons for the entry into the war in 1917.

After a careful two-year investigation, the so-called Nye Committee was able to show convincingly that bankers and munitions industrialists, in addition to price-fixing, had exerted strong influence on U.S. foreign policy before and during the war, thus "tricking" the country into war.(11)

The net profits of some arms manufacturers showed exorbitant increases:

Net profits in comparison in %: 1911/1914 to 1915/1918

At Du Pont, net profits increased by almost 1000 percent during the war! Incidentally, in the 2008 U.S. election campaign, Morgan's name appeared among Obama's biggest donors - just behind Goldman Sachs and ahead of Citigroup.(12)

In 1935, the American artist Mabel Dwight created a monument to the profiteers of war and crises with her lithograph "The Merchants of Death".

"The merchants of death are tough and long-lived ... their sole interest is self-interest, their sole god is profit. ... As politicians, their interest is directed toward a strong ruling class and the pooling of privileges ... What they rarely realize, however, is that Death is their leader. He loves them because he knows that sooner or later they will line his pockets. He knows that they hatch wars and revolutions ... their stubbornness and their time-honored stupidity exceed any understandable measure. We are talking here about beings who are decidedly perceptive, yet incurably short-sighted. In this country, they hate the ideal of democracy, but they are happy with the loose reins and the freedom it gives them."(13)

Following the regime change orchestrated by the West in Kiev in February 2014, the demons of 1914 resurfaced in the fall of 2014: The strategy paper "TRADOC 525-3-1" Win in a Complex World 2020-2040" assigned the armed forces the task of eliminating the threat posed by Russia and China. It does not focus on direct conquest of individual states, but on a targeted dual strategy of destabilization and influence via nongovernmental organizations and intelligence agencies. In other words, first the creation of chaos, then the establishment of the desired structures. The four escalation stages of the destabilization script were already described in detail in the predecessor paper "525-5" of 1994 and can be illustrated by the example of Ukraine: Turmoil - Crisis - Conflict - War.
On December 4, the U.S. Congress passed H. Res. 758 by an overwhelming majority (only 10 votes against). On the same day, Congressional legend Ron Paul commented on it on his homepage with the article "Reckless Congress 'Declares War' on Russia."(14) He wrote:
"Today in the U.S. House of Representatives, in my opinion, one of the most evil pieces of legislation was passed. This resolution "strongly condemns the actions of the Russian Federation under President Vladimir Putin as a policy of aggression against neighboring states aimed at political and economic dominance."(15) At the end of the long series of mostly unproven or questionable accusations come 22 demands designed to force Congress and the President to act. Among other things, the president is supposed to
- U.S. allies and partners in Europe and the other states of the  
  world to impose targeted sanctions against the Russian Federation
  and its leadership, as well as to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops and their
  equipment from Ukrainian territory,
- in coordination with Congress, assess the status
  and readiness of U.S. forces and the forces of the other NATO
  countries, as well as take seriously the kollektive defense obligation
  that arises from the mutual assistance clause (Article 5).

As was the case a hundred years ago, the main danger in the United States is seen in possible cooperation between Germany and Russia, a point made surprisingly clearly by George Friedman, founder and chairman of the leading private U.S. think tank STRATFOR, on February 4, 2015. The U.S. has no "relationship" with Europe, he said; there are only bilateral relations with individual states. "The main interest of U.S. foreign policy during the last century, during World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, has been the relationship between Germany and Russia.... For a century, the main goal for the United States has been to prevent the unique combination between German capital, German technology and Russian raw material resources, Russian labor."(16)

In 2017, participants at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) called for the accelerated transformation of the EU into a wartime alliance. According to a recent study by the MSC, management consultants McKinsey, and the elite Hertie School of Governance the European confederation should be able to carry out a "mission" comparable to the 2011 military operation against Libya at any time. It calls for drastic increases in the defense budgets of EU member states and investment in modern war equipment. The goal is to unify European defense standards and further expand government research funding. In June 2017, the U.S. Army War College stated in its one-year study that the world had entered a completely new phase of transformation in which U.S. power was waning, the world order was decaying and the authority of governments everywhere was crumbling. This now needed to be countered.
In early November 2017, NATO called for greater EU involvement in efforts to strengthen deterrence against Russia. Demands included better roads for tank transports. On December 11, 2017, the foreign and defense ministers of 25 European member states signed the
EU Defense Initiative for Permanent Structured Cooperation. An important component is the improvement of infrastructure for the redeployment of U.S. and NATO forces from Paris, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Hamburg toward Kiev. To prepare for a possible emergency, the EU then called for better roads, more stable bridges and more sustainable rail links at the end of March 2018.(17) As of February 2022, these infrastructure measures are now well underway.

The current reports give rise to fears that a war-like situation is already prevailing. Why war? Is it, as in all previous wars, about hard economic interests? Is Russia to be eliminated as an important energy supplier so that Germany then has to buy the dirty gas from the USA? Who would profit from a war in Europe? A few will increase wealth and power and millions will lose everything. Have we forgotten that stable relations between Germany and Russia also provided stability in Europe? Otto von Bismarck had internalized that. But today's transatlanticists in the German government seem to be primarily stooges of the U.S. financial lobby, approvingly accepting the widespread destruction of Europe.

Notes

1) https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/br24live-9-25-uhr-muenchner-sicherheitskonferenz-geht-zu-ende,SxuxbQr
2) https://www.gmx.net/magazine/politik/boris-johnson-fuerchtet-groessten-krieg-europa-1945-36622268
3) Daily Report 38/22 vom 18. Februar 2022: die Mikrophone und Kameras der „Special Monitoring Mission“ SMM haben den Einschlag der Geschosse im Kindergarten nicht registriert.
4) https://www.bild.de/video/clip/video/angriff-in-der-ost-ukraine-kindergarten-beschossen-79187400.bild.html
5) https://rp-online.de/politik/ausland/ukraine-usa-unterstellen-russland-false-flag-sabotage-plaene_aid-65324579
6) Die Pentagon-Papiere von 1971 und die Memoiren des damaligen US-Verteidigungsministers McNamara zeigen, dass die US-Regierung die Tonkin-Vorfälle bewusst falsch darstellte, um ihren seit 1963 geplanten direkten Kriegseintritt durchzusetzen. US-Staatssekretär George Ball gab später zu, dass die US-Schiffe im Golf von Tonkin einen Kriegsgrund provozieren sollten und dass die sofortigen „Vergeltungsschläge” seit Monaten vorbereitet waren.
7) https://dei-lenk.lu/2019/06/17/jeder-krieg-beginnt-mit-einer-luge/
8) https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/geld/mein-geld/politik-inland/stimmt-diese-boersen-regel-kaufen-wenn-die-kanonen-donnern-79208822,view=conversionToLogin.bild.html
9) Senator Norris Opposes U.S. Entry into the War. In: Congressional Record, 65th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. LV, pt. I, pp. 212-13
10) AZJ Nr. 15 vom 13. April 1917, S. 171
11) Report of the Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry (The Nye Report), U.S. Congress, Senate, 74th Congress, 2nd session, February 24, 1936,3-13.
12) https://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638
13) Mabel Dwight: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Lithograhs, Smithosonians Institution Press, 1997
14) http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2014/december/04/reckless-congress-declares-war-on-russia/
Ronald Ernest „Ron“ Paul (*1935) ist US-amerikanischer Arzt und Politiker, Mitglied der Republikanischen Partei und war zwischen 1976 und 2013 (mit Unterbrechungen) Abgeordneter im Repräsentantenhaus der Vereinigten Staaten. Er war bei der US-Präsidentschaftswahl 1988 Kandidat der Libertarian Party und Bewerber um die republikanische Kandidatur für die Präsidentschaftswahl 2008 und 2012.
15) https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-resolution/758/titles
16) Wolfgang Effenberger: Auszug aus Aus "Europas Verhängnis – Die Herren des Geldes greifen zur Weltmacht" unter http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=25000&css=print
17) https://www.idowa.de/inhalt.vorbereitung-fuer-moeglichen-ernstfall-eu-fordert-strassen-fuer-panzer-und-truppen.5d2e61d3-89f8-4873-b7be-ad065cd5c4b7.html