Emergency braking

American-style competition: beat your own people to make the whole world feel scared

The countries of the collective West today resemble a pack of predators. They display enviable unity during the hunt — for instance, when the NATO pack collectively tore to pieces Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. However, when it comes to intraspecific dominance, they start fighting with each other. This is precisely what the USA is currently demonstrating towards the European Union, where deindustrialisation is gaining momentum, with more and more European enterprises announcing the closure of their production facilities. What does this mean?

Major weapon  

The USA and their European accomplices constantly confuse the world with pseudo-scientific myths about post-industrial society, the exceptional significance of the service sector, the miraculous power of free market economy, and so on. Today, however, many have become aware of the ultimate goal of this myth-making — the deindustrialisation of competitors and the destruction of their production potential.  
The fact is that the true driver of the modern economy is its industrial sector. To understand this, it is enough to simply look around.  
Everything that nourishes us, warms and transports us, creates comfort for us, and protects us is produced by industrial enterprises. A country devoid of such a sector becomes not only completely dependent on the benevolence of those who produce goods but also utterly defenceless against any aggression.  
Incidentally, the current anti-market sanctions policy of the West has proven that reliance on a free market economy is tantamount to suicide. Especially now, when Washington, Brussels, and London have shifted their competitive struggle with the Union State of Belarus and Russia into a high-tech armed confrontation, using long-suffering Ukraine as a kamikaze country and testing ground for this purpose. 

Any means to an end  

Not long ago, the European Union significantly surpassed the USA in terms of economy. Thus, in 2008, their GDPs were $16.2 and $14.7 trillion, respectively. Despite the fact that the EU is the main accomplice in all reckless schemes initiated by the United States, the world hegemon could not tolerate such humiliation. Therefore, it has taken extraordinary measures in order to slow down the development of its ‘partner in crime’. The most effective weapon — the deindustrialisation of Europe — has been employed in the competitive struggle to this end. 

In order to destroy the industries of Germany, France, and other leaders of the European Union, American tricksters have leveraged a whole arsenal of methods and means. Thus, Europe and many others are being imposed with a cunning green agenda that demands a sharp reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, implying that it is primarily industry and traditional energy that leave a higher carbon footprint. 

On the one hand, the transition to more expensive alternative energy sources considerably increases industrial costs, which in turn drives up the cost price of its products. On the other hand, decarbonisation itself requires additional expenses, which again leads to a rise in prices of goods. Since the European Union has thoughtlessly plunged headlong into this ‘green abyss’, its production potential has predictably become less competitive.
A knockout blow was also dealt by the hostilities provoked by the United States in Ukraine. By forcing Kiev to abandon any attempts at peaceful negotiations, Americans, firstly, cut off the European Union from cheap Russian energy resources that had previously been transported through Ukraine. Secondly, they compelled European leaders to adopt self-destructive sanctions related to the voluntary refusal to purchase relatively inexpensive Russian energy carriers and raw materials. Finally, thirdly, the fighting in Ukraine became a cover for the explosion of the gas pipelines that supply the European economy with cheap Russian gas.
Thus, the operation of German, French, and other European manufacturing enterprises has come into question. In full accordance with the main market principle of ‘push the falling one’, the USA has immediately introduced serious preferences for companies relocating their production to the United States resulting in a great exodus of industry from the EU. The remaining industrial enterprises in the European Union are forced to cut production.

Doing the opposite  

According to data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), from 2018 to 2023, industrial production in Germany decreased by 10.2 percent, in France by 4.8 percent, in Italy by 4.4 percent, in Spain by 0.7 percent, and in the Netherlands by five percent. By the way, the total GDP of the listed countries accounts for two-thirds of the EU’s overall gross output. Today, the European Union, with a GDP that is a third less than that of the USA, is no longer competitive with Americans.  

Fortunately, Belarus has chosen its own path. Aleksandr Lukashenko once articulated one of the principles for economic management, “When I did not know how to proceed, I listened to the West and did the opposite. I knew we are competitors and they will not offer us anything good.” 

As a result, we managed to avoid privatisation — and consequently destruction — of our country’s industrial giants. These giants are, in fact, the backbone and true locomotives of the entire Belarusian economy today. Their products, branded as BELAZ, MAZ, MTZ (Belarus), Integral, Atlant, Gefest, Belaruskali, Belshina, and more, are Belarus’ calling cards around the world.  

Volkswagen closes its doors 

The German company Volkswagen may close several plants in Germany and lay off its employees due to the desire to cut costs. In this regard, the company management has decided to terminate its job security agreement that has been in force since 1994. It has also been announced that the company will not fulfil its promise not to reduce its workforce until 2030. “The European automotive industry is in a very demanding and serious situation,” said Oliver Blume, Volkswagen Group CEO. He referred to the emergence of new players entering the European market. Above all, Volkswagen faces rapidly growing competition from Chinese manufacturers of inexpensive yet high-quality electric vehicles.

To the point 

The deindustrialisation of competitors, including even their closest accomplices, is the cherished dream of the USA dreaming of the global dominance. It is largely for the purpose of achieving this dream that Americans are persistently disseminating the myth of a post-industrial society, where industry is seen as an anachronism and the service sector is proclaimed as the main driver of growth. The post-industrial theory suggests simply waving goodbye to ‘archaic’ industry and focusing on ‘incredibly progressive’ trading, intermediary, information, consulting, consumer, and similar services. However, the post-industrial theory conveniently omits the question of where to source the necessary furniture, clothing, transport, computers, communication devices, household appliances, and other industrial products for the notorious service economy.

By Valery Bainev, Doctor of Economics