 Emmanuel Todd: Frankreich ist nicht Deutschland - dies hervorzuheben ist nicht Germanophobie | Interview in der Zeitschrift "Marianne," 13. Dezember 2011
(übersetzt von Anne-Marie de Grazia)
(.../...) Aber Sarkozy hat doch in Toulon vom deutschen Trauma gesprochen, der mit der Hyperinflation der Zwanzigerjahre verbunden sein soll.
Aber gerade das ist doch interessant! Man spricht von einem psychischen Trauma. Die einzige deutsche Besonderheit, die wir im Stande sind, aufzugreifen, ist pathologischer Art! Die, die Germanophobie bekämpfen sollten, scheinen von einer Wahrnehmung gelähmt zu sein, Deutschland sei ein Schwerkranker, den man nicht aufrütteln darf, vor Angst einen noch schlimmeren Ausrutscher auszulösen... Nicolas Sarkozy und die, die denken wie er, daß man Deutschland schonen muss, sind in der zwielichtigen Geschichte Europas gefangen geblieben. Sie sind nicht im Stande, einzusehen, daß es sich um ein normales Land handelt, das aber eben anders ist, mit seinen Trümpfen und Nachteilen, ein Land welches die - übrigens französische - Entwerfer der Einzelwährung versehentlich in eine dominierende Lage gezwungen haben, in der es sich nicht unbedingt befinden wollte. Deutschland profitiert von dieser Lage weil niemand es wagt, dagegen etwas zu sagen. Befreit man sich von der Deutschlandneurose der französischen politisch-wirtschaftlichen Eliten, gelangt man in eine normale Weltanalyse zurück: da walten ökonomische und strategische Machtbeziehungen, wo wir eine spezifische deutsche Strategie sich entfalten sehen, die ohne Rücksicht auf die europäischen Partner elaboriert wird.
Zum Beispiel: ohne jede vorherige Abstimmung, wenn doch diese Frage ein ganzes Kontinent betrifft, entscheidet sich Deutschland, auf die Atomenergie zu verzichten. Diese Politik setzt ein strategisches Verständnis mit Russland voraus das niemand, vor allem nicht die Grünen, in der öffentlichen Debate erwähnt.
Es gibt eine regelrechte französische Neurose, was Deutschland betrifft, eine Unfähigkeit, Deutschland ins Auge zu fassen, die es untersagt gewahr zu werden, in wie weit Deutschland eine einzigartige Strategie entwickelt, die von jeglicher Idee einer europäischen Solidarität entfernt ist.
(.../...) | | Zur Interview |
| Jacques Sapir: How Papandreou could have avoided the Merkozy diktatThe Greek crisis firmly invited itself to the the G-20 in Cannes. It revealed to its full extent the arrogance of the couple Merkel-Sarkozy. From Monday, October 31th to Friday, November 4th, the hubris of the Chancellor and of the President will have displayed themselves to their full extent. The cause? The project, now abandoned, of a referendum advanced by Prime Minister Papandreou. Yet his initial decision could seem sensible for someone who, while endorsing a profoundly reactionary politic, must yet face incessant attacks coming from the conservative forces in his country. This decision could even have had the claim of being democratic: given the vastness and harshness of the measures decided upon, nothing made more sense than to ask the opinion of the people.
But there was precisely rub. In Europe such as we know it, there can be no way asking the people to intervene, except for applauding decisions taken. One is reminded of the stage directions in the opera Boris Godunov: "The people stand, remaining silent."
The fury of the Merkel-Sarkozy tandem was manifest and nothing was done to hide it. The chief of the executive of a sovereign nation was called up under humiliating conditions and given a dressing down, Greece was threatened with the worst of evils. At the end, pressures were added onto pressures to have the referendum called off, which was done on Friday Nov. 4th. Still, nobody gave credit to George Papandreou for having acted like a loyal partner, an exemplary "europeist" - that is, a partisan of the institutions of the European Union and of the eurozone.
Let's imagine that the Prime Minister had had in mind the interests of his own country instead of those of the eurozone, which after all should be considered normal for a head of government, and even the least one should expect. He could not have ignored the fact that there exists no legal procedure to expulse a country from the eurozone. This has been stated time and again by those in charge of the judicial departments of the Brussels Commission. Therefore, George Papandreou could very well have taken the decision to temporarily requisition the Central Bank of Greece (for a period of one year) and to have it emit an amount of 360 billion euros (the amount of the Greek public debt) worth of advances to the Public Treasury, at an interest rate of 0.5%.
With this money he could then have bought up the debt held by Greek and non-resident creditors. The burden of the interest payments on this debt - which represents as of now some 7.5% of the GDP - could so be brought down down to 0.75%, thus contributing to a substantial decrease of the budgetary deficit. Further advances could have been granted later on, in order do build a "kitty" for the Budget, to which the government could have had recourse to face up to the deficits which would have to be endured until 2015-2016. Freed in so doing from the burden of the accumulated debt, the government could have dedicated itself to the unescapable structural reforms, yet without having to try to return immediately and at all cost to a balanced budget, which would have permitted to soften the murderous austerity measures imposed today on the population.
November 7, 2011
Translated from the French by Anne-Marie de Grazia
(.../...) |
| | | | |  | | "Let the rich pay for the crisis" - Naxos, Greece, July 2010 |
| President Medvedev's Vision, by Jacques Sapir | | An analysis of President Dmitry Medvedev's second State-of-the-Nation Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of November 12, 2009 by French expert Jacques Sapir, of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and of the Moscow Economics Institute. Includes the full text of the speech in the official Kremlin translation, and an interview of President Medvedev by the German news magazine Der Spiegel. | | Go to Jacques Sapir's article |
| Lettres de Kharkov | En mai 2007, toujours l'esprit pionnier, Alfred, mon mari, alors âgé de 88 ans, s'est rendu à l'Institut de Cryobiologie de l'Académie des Sciences d'Ukraine, à Kharkov, pour y recevoir une injection de cellules-souches destinée à le revigorer. De partout, les politiques et les médias nous infligent des controverses hypocrites au sujet des cellules-souches, problème d'éthique hystérisé dans le présent, promesse de miracles dans un avenir qui tour à tour se rapproche et se recule. Sachant qu'il ne pouvait espérer de voir jamais le dénouement de cette charade, Alfred décida de faire un essai par lui-même. Au bout de quelques heures de recherche sur son ordinateur, il découvrit l'Institut de Cryobiologie de Kharkov, avec lequel il tenta de se mettre en rapport. L'Institut de Cryobiologie réagit avec plus de surprise que d'empressement. Finalement, au bout de deux mois, on accepta de nous voir.(...)
| | Cliquez ici pour lire la suite |
| | | Alfred de Grazia devant le monument à la gloire de la participation estudiantine à la défense de Kharkov, Ukraine, ville la plus âprement disputée lors de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, capturée deux fois par la Wehrmacht, deux fois reprise par l'Armée Rouge. |
| | Duplicité des médias: comment Der Spiegel rapporta la création de "La Gauche" | | Au lendemain de la création du parti La Gauche, le 1er décembre 2008, je signalai à des militants du nouveau parti la parution d'un article favorable dans l'édition électronique du magazine allemand Der Spiegel. Les militants me répondirent qu'ils l'avaient lu, mais ne voyaient pas de raison de se réjouir. Intriguée, j'ai jeté un coup d'oeil sur la version anglaise - la seule qui était parvenue à leur connaissance. J'ai constaté que la teneur et l'esprit des deux versions différaient, en effet! J'ai donc traduit les deux, que je publie en regard ici. On aura de bonnes raisons, après cela, de se méfier des articles de la version anglaise du Spiegel. On pourra aussi se demander pourquoi Der Spiegel, qui est tout de même une publication de référence, perd soudain le courage de ses sympathies lorsqu'il s'adresse à ses lecteurs non-germanophones... | | (Lire la traduction des deux articles) |
| An analysis by Jacques Sapir of the Ossetia war: Who trapped whom? Verified data which refute the medias' version of the events |
Jacques Sapir (b. 1954) is one of France's foremost economists and Russia experts. He is also an expert in Russian military matters. He teaches at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and at the Moscow Economics School. His latest books are La Fin de l'Eurolibéralisme and Le Nouveau XXIe Siècle - Du siècle américain au retour des nations.I translate here this important article which was not available until now to the english-speaking public. The questions its raises will not go away. Least of all for the people of Georgia.
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| The Osseto-Georgian Crisis: Who trapped whom? by Jacques Sapir (September 5, 2008) |
The Osseto-Georgian crisis has given rise to diverse commentaries as to its causes. In Le Monde of September 4, 2008, Bernard Dreano maintains that the Georgian authorities were trapped by Moscow who made them believe that Russia was about to give up South Ossetia. In the contrary, Bernard-Henri Levy maintains that Georgia attacked in order to preempt an attack by Russia and that 150 Russians tanks were already on the spot in South Ossetia. This same thesis was used by the Georgian government, who claims that its action of August 7th was a reaction to the massive entry of the Russian armed forces through the Roki tunnel.
In fact, we dispose now of sufficient elements to attempt to sort out the true from the false. I shall present here a certain number of elements which will allow to refute both of these theses, but which also show that there are many questions remaining unresolved concerning this crisis. (...)
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