occupiers
Most Europeans: "Yankees, go home!!"
Translated by J. Arnoldski

According to an opinion survey published on September 27th by Sputnik Opinion, Europeans do not trust the foreign military bases stationed on their countries' territories to resolve national security problems. Only 4% of German respondents and 5% of Italians believe that foreign military bases can handle the defense of their countries' better than their own national armies.

This survey was commissioned by Sputnik International News Agency and Radio in cooperation with, among others, the oldest French research company, IFop, and conducted from June 28th to July 4th, 2016 in Germany (1004 respondents) and Italy (1002 respondents).

According to the report of the US Department of Defense, 587 US military facilities were stationed beyond the country's borders in 2015. According to the Pentagon, the highest number of US military sites in Europe are to be found in Germany and Italy.

Given the sheer number of US military bases on the territory of Europe, it follows that Europe should be recognized as a continent under American occupation. Such a state of affairs was formed as a result of the Second World War and the ensuing Cold War. The confrontation between two world systems headed by the US and USSR respectively was used to justify the stationing of US military bases in the countries of Western and Southern Europe.

The policy of detente pursued by Gorbachev, however, and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact Organization created a fundamentally different military, political, and ideological situation on the European continent. As is known, Gorbachev's decision to withdraw Soviet soldiers from the Warsaw Pact countries was accompanied by NATO's verbal promise not to expand the North Atlantic Alliance's borders further to the East. The Americans and NATO subsequently broke their word and Gorbachev claimed that they had deceived him.

Nevertheless, these mutual accusations and rebukes do not change the essence of the issue: following the end of the Cold War and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the countries of Eastern Europe, the pretext of "defending against an external threat" for the presence of American troops on the continent became void. The late Soviet Union, and later Russia, no longer represented such a threat. Moreover, they were overtaken by a wave of Western policies and became an integral part of the Capitalist World-System (Immanuel Wallerstein's term).

The continued presence of American armed forces in Europe and, moreover, the expansion of NATO eastwards, including into the former Soviet republics, is evidence of the aggressive nature and policies of this bloc. NATO's efforts are directed at two main goals: opposing Russia (including even the weak and pro-Western Russia of Yeltsin) and opposing Europe itself. The presence of several hundred American military bases on the continent is a reality that not only concerns the military dimension, but also creates a fundamentally different political system.

Europe is an occupied continent and American military bases in Europe are the anchor of the political model of "united Europe." The famous Italian writer and columnist Max Bonelli clearly and definitively expressed this reality in an interview for Fort Russ when he said: "Italy is not an entirely sovereign state. 133 American bases are located on the territory of Italy..."

A definitive trend of recent years is Europeans' growing dissatisfaction with the American military occupation regime, a fact which is attested to by the results of Sputnik and IFop's opinion poll. So far, the majority of the continent's inhabitants have expressed their discontent in a passive form, while individual leaders and activists are protesting more actively.

In March of 2015, activists of the National Democrats party of Czech Republic organized a human chain against the "Dragoon Ride" of American occupation forces in Eastern Europe. The party's leaders, Adam Bartoš and Ladislav Zemanek, were prosecuted under false pretenses for this action of resistance. The leader of the Polish political party Zmiana (Change), Mateusz Piskorski, was also arrested and absurdly charged with the crime of working for Russian and Iranian intelligence.

The real reason for all of these arrests and prosecutions is the inadmissibility of any manifestations of patriotism by European forces. Adam Bartoš and Mateusz Piskorski are not "pro-Russians," but pro-Czech and pro-Polish politicians. This is precisely why they are a threat to the American military and political system in Europe. If one is to believe this survey and other evidence, then it appears that the continent is beginning to wake up and shake off its former passivity.