What a Week! ... and It's Only the Opening Act

I think we all probably feel a little punchy after enduring the week the markets dragged us through. Thing is, at this point it all means so much more than just economics and living standards.

Look around and you will see that nations and alliances are recalibrating all over the world. Everything's different now. Some recognize it already, more will soon.

J.R. Nyquist today posted a provocative commentary on a budding potential partnership between Germany and Russia. In fact, he references STRATFOR's George Friedman as having introduced the facts a few days earlier. This is an ABSOLUTE-MUST READ. The link is below (click on his title) along with a short excerpt.

My comment--If geopolitical history teaches us one thing, it it that nation-states are fickle in their loyalties. And unfortunately that is out of necessity.

National survival is a complex and delicate operation. Interacting international economies, competing military maneuvers, ethnic mixing and/or segregation, cultural head banging, and elitist puppeteering are just a few of the upper level gears that grind and quake.

Eventually, it all seizes up, breaks down, and demands demolition before reconstruction can take place.

I suspect that where we really are now is a point where nations are going to have to make a clear choice as to what side of the battlefield they will line up for the great demolition derby.

The Monster at the Bottom of the Abyss
by J. R. Nyquist
Weekly Column Published: 10.10.2008

In an October 6 article titled The German Question, STRATFOR’s George Friedman poured a pitcher of cold logic on America’s plan for NATO’s future. It appears that Germany is determined to block NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia. The long-term implications of this decision are stunning. “Since NATO operates on the basis of consensus,” wrote Friedman, “any member nation can effectively block any candidate from NATO membership.” The Russian invasion of Georgia has forced Germany into this position. The conflict in Georgia has forced the Germans to clarify their geopolitical thinking. What we see now, quite clearly, is Germany turning away from NATO. They can call it whatever they like. They are thinking as Germans. Russia’s thrust into Georgia was a masterstroke because it successfully redirected Germany’s political sensibility from a NATO-centered view to a German-centered view. In Europe there is one question that stands above all others, and the Germans must give the answer. Either Europe will confront Russia in a new Cold War, or Europe will become Russia’s partner. According to Friedman’s logic, Germany has already decided on partnership with Russia.

Imagine a partnership between Russia and Germany. The Russians supply the military muscle, the natural resources, and cheap labor. The Germans supply the technology, the money, and European finesse. Friedman says that Germany’s energy situation is “desperate,” and that German leaders are merely looking after their country’s national interest.

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