Liz Truss a leader and perhaps the leader of the Tory Revolutionary Party, whose mission is to disrupt capitalism and see what happens, is in Taiwan.
She has made a speech but is reportedly there for five days so this is really a holiday at the expense of the Taiwanese Government. Boris Johnson may be jealous, supposing that Taiwan is on his list of desirable locations.
In the speech Truss repeated her call for an Economic NATO. This of course is part of Truss’s general warmongering agenda but there is a wider context whether she appreciates it, or more likely doesnt.
NATO was formed after the Second World War and, as Keir Starmer often reminds us, Labour Foreign Secretary Ernie Bevin played a key role. Bevin was a cold war warrior but the logic of NATO is too little noted. It got the US on board to pay a good deal towards the defence of Europe (against Russia, also part of Europe) but in return the US got military bases in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Hence the socialist slogan neither Washington or Moscow.
In recent times the US, certainly Trump and now Biden, are looking for Europe to pay for its own defence. Biden is more interested in warmongering with China, particularly if a never ending war in Ukraine can keep Russia occupied. The US has persauded Germany to pay a good deal towards this and Britain is already by far the biggest European spender on military aid to Ukraine.
The EU has been actively talking about a ‘war economy’. Of course post-Brexit Britain is not part of that except in practice its leading it.
So an Economic NATO in effect already exists although not quite on the 1948 model as Europe is shouldering a good deal more of the cost. Armanents and the warfare state are central to modern capitalism.
Meanwhile Truss is posting pictures on Insta from Taiwan.
Leave a Reply