The Migrant Crises, Jean-Claude Juncker And The Project To Revive Militarist Nationalism In Europe

By Theodore Shoebat

Jean-Claude Juncker, the soon to be former head of the European Union, was also once the Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013. His long position in office ended after a conversation leaked out that linked him to a series of twenty bombings in Luxembourg that were done by members of the intelligence agency in the country. The bombings were done as part of Operation Gladio, a NATO apparatus in which a network of paramilitaries and European intelligence agencies did bomb attacks and shootings for the purpose of attributing the violence to Communists in order to spark nationalism in Europe. Spiegel did a piece on the Luxembourg Gladio (in light of Juncker) in which it said:

“In the 1980s, Luxembourg spies were involved in a puzzling series of bombings, the circumstances of which remain unclear today. Together with military and intelligence agents from multiple European countries, they were part of Operation Gladio, a clandestine illegal paramilitary organization. They worked as a parallel police force within the country that did what they liked and spied on whomever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Even the prime minister, their constitutionally defined boss, could not rein them in.”

The story of the exposing of Juncker’s ties to Gladio goes back to the year 2007 when Juncker had a conversation with the Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. What Juncker did not know, was that Marco Mille, the intelligence chief, who was present with him, was wearing a wristwatch that had a recording device on it and was recording the entire discussion. We do not know what was completely said in this conversation, but one detail that the public has been allowed to glean from is that Juncker mentioned the Grand Duke and his ties with MI6 (British Secret Service). An investigation was done by the Parliament Commission and it mentioned Juncker as leader of the intelligence service, and thus linked him to the Gladio project. Juncker later denied that the Grand Duke had any connections with British Intelligence and called Mille’s wiretapping an “extreme breach of trust” but refused to have Mille punished because he did not want to jeopardize his relationship with Luxembourg intelligence. 

Juncker was a fall guy who the intelligence agency could just put the blame on for public eyes. There was obviously deeper forces at work as the Gladio operation involved all of the intelligence agencies of NATO and officials from Washington and the Pentagon. Juncker was obviously just one official who knew about Gladio, but obviously not the complete mover and shaker. He did indeed have ties to intelligence since as Prime Minister of Luxembourg he was technically the head of intelligence.

But here is what makes this story so interesting and so relevant to today’s political situation in Europe. Juncker got kicked out from his position of Prime Minister in 2013 for having ties to Gladio; he would become the head of the EU commission in 2014; and it was in 2015 that the migration crises began. The purpose of Gladio was to conduct false flag attacks that would be blamed on Communists to then stoke European nationalism. What did the migrant crisis cause more than anything else? A reinvigoration of nationalism and tribalism, especially due to the numerous terrorist attacks that took place within the European Union in the years 2015 and 2016. A major aspect as to the effects of the Jihad in Europe is a surge in interest in a pan-European army with a state that has shook off dependence on the United States for defense. Juncker has been a vocal backer of this idea. On September 14th, 2016, Juncker did a speech in Strasbourg entitled, Towards a better Europe – a Europe that protects, empowers and defends. There is a section of the speech called “A EUROPE THAT DEFENDS” in which Juncker said:

“We must defend ourselves against terrorism.    Since the Madrid bombing of 2004, there have been more than 30 terrorist attacks in Europe – 14 in the last year alone. More than 600 innocent people died in cities like Paris, Brussels, Nice, or Ansbach. Just as we have stood shoulder to shoulder in grief, so must we stand united in our response. The barbaric acts of the past year have shown us again what we are fighting for – the European way of life. In face of the worst of humanity we have to stay true to our values, to ourselves. And what we are is democratic societies, plural societies, open and tolerant. But that tolerance cannot come at the price of our security.

That is why my Commission has prioritised security from day one – we criminalised terrorism and foreign fighters across the EU, we cracked down on the use of firearms and on terrorist financing, we worked with internet companies to get terrorist propaganda offline and we fought radicalisation in Europe’s schools and prisons.

But there is more to be done.

We need to know who is crossing our borders.”

From being a supporter of mass migration, Juncker here then shows another side of himself, a more ‘tough on borders’ side. A little later in the speech Juncker speaks of a united European military force that would be independent of the US:

“Europe can no longer afford to piggy-back on the military might of others or let France alone defend its honour in Mali.

We have to take responsibility for protecting our interests and the European way of life.

Over the last decade, we have engaged in over 30 civilian and military EU missions from Africa to Afghanistan. But without a permanent structure we cannot act effectively. Urgent operations are delayed. We have separate headquarters for parallel missions, even when they happen in the same country or city. It is time we had a single headquarters for these operations.

We should also move towards common military assets, in some cases owned by the EU. And, of course, in full complementarity with NATO.”

Now, Juncker does not mention the United States, but since the EU has been relying on and controlled by Washington and her military for decades, the implication is obvious. He also mentions “a single headquarters” for this military, which means a pan-European army led by Germany. This has to be the case since Germany is the most powerful country within the EU and leads the entire bloc. When they speak of “Europe” they are speaking of a bloc ruled by Germany. While Juncker does speak of this military enterprise as being “in full complementarity with NATO”, this is simply diplomatic talk that helps to conceal the true motivations of a German led by militarist apparatus. In an address to Belgium’s Flemish regional parliament, Juncker emphatically exclaimed:

“At this point, we have to replace the United States, which as an international actor has lost vigor, and because of it, in the long term, influence”

The statement was said as a response to the United States pulling out of the Iran Deal, a move that has angered Brussels on account of trade interests between Europeans and Iran. Ultimately what we are witnessing is the polarization between the United States and Europe; it is a severance that is happening with the help of the US due to its open encouragement of Germany to pay for its own military defense, which has been being used in German political discourse to justify militarism.

Here is the point: In the Gladio project, NATO wanted nationalism to spark in Europe and was willing to use terrorism to make this happen; Juncker was tied to the Gladio operation and has pointed to terrorism and the migration crises as a reason for pan-European militarism and military independence, and he has talked about replacing the US as a global power. Gladio, the migrant crises and Islamic terrorism are intricately tied.