A packed house in the European Parliament yesterday heard Professor Jeffrey Sachs outline the cold realities of US power, and Europe’s subordination to it. At an event titled The Geopolitics of Peace, hosted by former UN Assistant Secretary General and current BSW MEP Michael von der Schulenburg, Professor Sachs warned the audience, ‘To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal,’ and urged Europe to have an ‘real’ and independent foreign policy – ‘A foreign policy that is realistic, that understands Russia’s situation, that understands Europe’s situation, and that understands what America is and what it stands for.’
Professor Sachs also spoke about the run-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, describing a phone call with former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan: ‘I had an hour call with Jake Sullivan in the White House begging Jake, avoid the war. You can avoid the war. All you have to do is say NATO will not enlarge to Ukraine. And he said to me, “Oh, NATO is not going to enlarge to Ukraine. Don’t worry about it.”
‘I said, “Jake, say it publicly.” “No, no, no, we can’t say it publicly,” he replied. I said, “Jake, you’re going to have a war over something that isn’t even going to happen?”
He said, “Don’t worry, Jeff, there will be no war.” These are not very bright people. I’m telling you, if I can give you my honest view, they’re not very bright people.’
He criticised European leaders for their approach to geopolitics, saying: ‘The stupidest idea of NATO is the so-called open door policy. Are you kidding? NATO reserves the right to go where it wants without any neighbour having any say whatsoever? Well, I tell the Mexicans and the Canadians, don’t try it. You know, Trump may want to take over Canada. So Canada could say to China, why don’t you build a military base in Ontario? I wouldn’t advise it. And the United States would not say, “Well, it’s an open door, that’s their business, that’s not our business.” But grownups in Europe repeat this – in your commission, your High Representative. This is nonsense stuff. This is not even baby geopolitics.’
Von der Schulenburg concluded the event by saying: ‘ I just want to end with an appeal. I think we both agree that the war will end within a month or two. And that means the fighting will end. It doesn’t mean that we will have peace in Europe. The peace in Europe, that has to be done by us, by Europeans, not by a president from the United States.
‘We have to create this peace, that is, Europe [has to]; which includes, of course, Belarus, Russia and all these other countries. So we have to do something. And we are here, a parliament. We represent the people.
‘We are the only legitimate, democratic, legitimate institution in the European Union. Maybe we should become all a little bit more proactive in trying to move this peace process forward across party lines. I think that we can talk to each other without saying, “You’re from this party, you’re from that party.” I think we really have to concentrate [and] take more initiative. We are representing the people, and the people in Europe want peace, and that’s where we should go.’
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