EU Values on Bright Display
Of Gardens, the Law of the Jungle, and the Pending Admission of Ukraine
Remember Josep Borell, the EU’s ‘chief diplomat’ (ahem)? A bit over a year ago he reportedly said the following during a speech in Belgium (my emphases):
‘Europe is a garden’, Borrell had said as part of a broader theme of building alliances in order to avoid conflicts and tensions with outside nations. ‘Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden’, he added.
He spent a lot of time in the speech exploring this ‘garden/jungle’ analogy. ‘Europe is a garden. We have built a garden. Everything works. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity, and social cohesion that humankind has been able to build—the three things together’, he had said.
Offering the imagery which many especially outside Europe have taken offense at, he went on to say:
‘The rest of the world [is] not exactly a garden. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it, but they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden.’
‘The gardeners have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.’
The remarks appeared akin to the ancient and medieval distinction between ‘civilization’ of empire and ‘barbarian’ lands outside those political and cultural bounds.
Why would I bring this up today?
[left] Ukraine Admits to Murder of Politician, 6 Dec. 2023
The pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Ilya Kywa was found dead near Moscow. According to Ukrainian defence circles, its secret service SBU organised the murder.
[right] EU Agrees to Open Accession Negotiations with Ukraine, 14 Dec. 2023
The EU Summit cleared the way for accession negotiations with Ukraine. This was only possible due to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán leaving the meeting.
Yes, Mr. Borell later apologised for his controversial 'garden vs jungle' metaphor but continued to ‘defend [his] speech’, according to Euronews.
After days of mounting international backlash, Josep Borrell, the European Union's outspoken foreign policy chief, has apologised for his controversial remarks in which he described Europe as an idyllic ‘garden’ of prosperity and the rest of the world as mostly a ‘jungle’.
‘Some have misinterpreted the metaphor as “colonial Euro-centrism”’, Borrell wrote in a blog post on Tuesday evening. ‘I am sorry if some have felt offended.’
But he did not reject the figure of speech and instead doubled down on it, arguing the term jungle is an apt illustration of the lawlessness and disorder that currently rule world politics.
‘My reference to “jungle” has no racist, cultural or geographical connotation’, the diplomat said. ‘Unfortunately, the “jungle” is everywhere, including today in Ukraine.’…
But over the weekend, the ‘garden vs jungle’ metaphor gained traction across social media, fuelling backlash against the diplomat for what many saw as condescending, out-of-touch and racist undertones and a stark reflection of the Western sphere's superiority complex over the Global South.
Bottom Lines
Predictably, Mr. Borell’s remarks were covered by legacy media in the most inane ways possible, which, yet again, completely missed the mark.
However, given what is transpiring before our eyes with respect to the the EU’s ‘values’, such as they exist, being on full display these days.
So, next time some Eurocrat babbles something about, I suppose it’s best to call it what it is: a lie, packaged in BS (apologies to cattle), and spoken by a hypocrite.
This is all so disgusting as it is predictable.
Time’s running out for these chaps, by the way, and soon this nightmare will be relegated to the trash heap of history.
The outcome of a system is largely determined by its design aims. EU is the globalist empire’s project. EU aims serve those Masters and not either European countries or any of its peoples. The political class of Europe is captured, along with the media, state “security” apparatus, etc. Too many Europeans are brainwashed into believing that EU is fundamentally a good thing. How can something designed to screw you be good for you?
To be beneficial EU would have to be fundamentally changed. At this moment, just like other peoples of imperial vassal states, Europeans appear to be effectively in a perpetual check. In order for real changes to occur we must do things differently from what we have been doing. First step must be for a critical mass of us to unplug from the propaganda and jump start our own capacity for independent thought. Doing this other measures become possible; not doing it assures more of the same - a general slide into a dystopian totalitarian nightmare. The clock is ticking.
How a nation is, depends on the people living there.
As I've used as an example many times, swap the populations of Norway and Venezuela.
Norway populated by venezuealns would become the corrupt dump that is Venezuela today, and Venezuela populated by norwegians would become the power-house of South America inside five years.
He's not wrong, with his "a nation is a garden"-metaphor either. Weeds you must remove and uproot. Parasites, diseases et cetera must be prevented and quickly removed.
Or you don't have a garden, just wilderness.