Growing conflicts between representatives of the United States and governments in Europe were on display at the Munich Security Conference Feb. 13-15. This exposed how sharply opposing national interests underlie all relations between the rival ruling classes of the imperialist powers. As the world capitalist crisis deepens these contending interests clash more often and more sharply, threatening to explode in new wars.
In his address to the gathering, Secretary of State Marco Rubio bragged about the success of Washington’s bombing of Iran last year and its assault on Venezuela’s sovereignty in January. He urged officials at this annual conference of former Cold War “allies” to fall into line as second fiddles, behind the U.S. imperialist rulers’ drive to defend their place as top dog in today’s “world order.”
To underscore his point, Rubio said the United Nations “has no answers and played virtually no role” in recent conflicts. “It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran. That required 14 bombs” dropped by the U.S. rulers last year. He said the U.N. did nothing to defend what Rubio called “our security from a narco-terrorist dictator in Venezuela. Instead it took American Special Forces.”
Rubio noted the view that the end of the Cold War would lead a “rules-based global order” to “replace national interest” was a “dangerous delusion.” He praised Donald Trump and his administration for pushing to rebuild basic industry, crucial to the U.S. rulers’ ability to amass the quantities of weaponry necessary for their wars that lie ahead.
In the name of his own ruling class and of other rulers in Europe, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took on Rubio. “The United States claim to leadership has been challenged and possibly lost,” he said. “The international order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed.” He pointed the finger of blame for this at Beijing and Washington, the world’s two chief rivals.
“The time has come to bring Europe’s mutual defense clause to life,” European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen told the conference. Her speech reflected the anxiety in many European capitals over the Trump administration’s recent collaboration with Moscow in insisting Ukraine has to be “realistic” and accede to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand for more of its territory in order to end Moscow’s war. The European Union has a “collective commitment to stand by each other in case of aggression,” Von der Leyen said.
Another sore spot for Europe’s rulers is Trump’s threats to seize Greenland, a colony of the Danish rulers.
But the bloc of European powers that Von der Leyen claims to speak for is made up of ruling classes with competing interests, each with their own governments, foreign policies and armed forces. Under capitalism, there never can be a real European “union.”
Merz made it clear the German rulers intend to dominate Europe both politically and militarily. “We will make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe,” he boasted.
He followed this up after the conference, floating the idea of the German air force being equipped with nuclear missiles by the governments of France and the U.K. German laws currently bar the government there from developing its own nuclear weapons.
The German rulers are not just rebuilding their military. A Feb. 14 Wall Street Journal article headlined, “A German general prepares his country for war,” described how Gen. Carsten Breuer has waged “a multi-front campaign to rally German politicians, business people, soldiers and the general public behind efforts to speed the nation’s rearmament and persuade them that they must be prepared to fight Russia.”