International Class War
BERLIN/BRUSSELS/PARIS (Own report) - The European Union is planning to extend its military barrier operations shielding Europe from those fleeing the poverty stricken South, according to a recent study published by the official EU think tank for foreign and security policy ("EU Institute for Security Studies", EUISS). As the EUISS writes, the "full spectrum of high intensity combat" must be applied to stabilize the "global class society". The German Chief Executive of the European Defense Agency describes the necessary arms enhancement measures to be taken: increasing the availability of helicopters for counter insurgency in the developing countries, enhancing the capability of comprehensive maritime surveillance, deployment of unmanned air vehicles ("drones"). According to the EUISS, the use of civil know-how to improve military capabilities is central for the implementation of these arms programs.
The Bottom Billion
According to a recent study published by the EU's "Institute for Security Studies" (EUISS) future wars will not be fought between states, but between "unequal global socioeconomic classes of society". On one side of this "hierarchical class society" are the metropolitan elite, consisting of transnational corporations, the OECD member states and the "rapid transition states" India, China and Brazil. These are confronted with "increasingly explosive tensions" from the other side, the global poor. To prevent a "global systemic collapse", the Institute calls for applying the "full spectrum of high intensity combat" against the "bottom billion".[1]
Barrier Operations
Preventing the influx of those fleeing the misery of the South is a "major military task," writes the EUISS. Large scale "barrier operations" must be aimed at "shielding the global rich from the tensions and problems of the poor". The EUISS estimates that the ratio of the world's population "living in misery and frustration" will continue to rise. Therefore the EU must reinforce its already rigid border regime ("strengthen our barriers").[2]
Universal Treasures
For the EUISS, warding off economic refugees is directly linked to the management of global ecological crises. Natural catastrophes, caused by climatic change, could lead to "sudden refugee or migration flows within the EU", which would call for military management. The EUISS therefore calls on the rich nations of the North, to use "more robust power" to "protect" natural resources, such as tropical rain forests and fish breeding areas in the poverty-stricken regions of the South, against unwanted seizure, because they are "universal treasures, beyond the sovereign jurisdiction of any single state."[3]
Arms Program
The German, Alexander Weis, describes the arms required for the EUISS study's projected global intervention strategy. Before becoming Chief Executive of the "European Defence Agency", EDA in 2007, Weis was Chief of Staff in the Directorate General of Armaments in the German Defense Ministry. According to Weis, the development of weapons systems will call for numerous "concrete activities", above all creating a counter-insurgency helicopter fleet in the developing countries. Even though the EU has over 1,700 combat helicopters, many of these are not equipped for the deployment in "demanding environments" such as deserts or mountainous terrain. According to Weis, other aspects needing to be enhanced include maritime surveillance as well as air transport to deploy troops and military hardware in the EU's regions of intervention. To spare the EU's armed forces and avoid a large number of casualties In future wars of intervention, more unmanned air vehicles, so called drones, would have to be deployed, asserts Weis.[4]
Dual Use
Insisting particularly on enhancing space-based earth surveillance, Weis is pushing for the "civil-military" cooperation with the European Space Agency", ESA. He claims that this has "nothing to do with 'militarising' civilian projects." But "dual use" of certain technology for civilian and military purposes should be reinforced to prevent "that the money has to be spent twice".[5]
Strategic Position
The EUISS, on whose behalf Weis reached his conclusions, was inaugurated in Paris in early 2002. As an "autonomous agency" - as it calls itself - it is elaborating projects for the European Security and Defense Policy, ESDP.[6] Germany is holding a strategic position in this agency. Sabine Fischer, political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, who has previously been a research fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, deals with EU-Russia relations. EUISS considers Russia as adversary and simultaneously a potential partner in the projected international class war.[7]
[1], [2], [3] Tomas Ries: The globalising security environment and the EU. In: EU Institute for Security Studies (Hg): What ambitions for European defence in 2020? Paris 2009
[4], [5] Alexander Weis: Improving capabilities for ESDP's future needs. In: EU Institute for Security Studies (Hg): What ambitions for European defence in 2020? Paris 2009
[6] About us; www.iss.europa.eu
[7] see also Bär und Drache and Metamorphoses