Raining on our Parade - and Europe's

On this 237th anniversary of the adoption of the American Declaration of Independence from the British crown, the nations of Latin America have declared their indepen-dence from the United States.

The plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales home from a conference in Moscow saw its overflight permis-sions cancelled in mid-flight by France, Spain and Portugal, on American suspicions that Edward Snowden might be on board. Noting that no presidential plane has ever been denied airspace in the world since 1945, Latin American leaders have called a special meeting of their organization, UNASUR for tomorrow. (UNASUR includes virtually every Latin American country and is headquar-tered in Quito, Ecuador and Cochabamba, Bolivia, two countries considering granting asylum to Snowden....)

Meanwhile, France’s President Hollande reminded me of a childhood protest that amused my family when someone tickled me: “Stop it I like it!” France’s - and to a certain extent Europe’s - ‘street walker’ relationship to the United States belies affirmations of independence.  This particular instance of government kowtowing has infuriated all sides of the French political spectrum, who point out that France drafted the original Declaration of Human Rights. Lamely apologizing for ‘faulty intelligence’ about Morales’ plane, Hollande reacted to Snowden’s revelations of outrageous spying by the U.S. with an unconvincing call for the EU - also copiously spied upon - to delay the start of negotiations on the monumental transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) destined to replace NATO as America’s controlling organization in Europe.

The extent of U.S. spying on countries it touts as allies underlines the fact that the Cold War is not over but has simply gone underground. No European took seriously the Soviet Union’s references to a ‘Common European House’ under Gorbachev. Twenty some odd years later, Russia pipes gas to Europe and signs all manner of economic deals with individual countries ever less keen to support America’s wars in the Middle East (except for Syria). The monumental spy scandal involving a country, not an individual, mock America’s tireless assertions of morality and respect for international law, providing Russia with a golden opportunity to defend them.

Sadly, it is unlikely that this irrefutable proof of American duplicity will give Europe the spine to free itself and join the  movement of the most populous countries of the world toward independence from the American Empire.