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Europe Can’t Survive Without America

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  Sven R Larson

But it is not America’s job to save the old continent

The most beautiful place in the world is located smack dab in the heart of northern Europe. It is a small town called Östersund. It stretches along the eastern shore of Storsjön, the “Great Lake”.

Across the strait from Östersund is the island of Frösön. From the farmlands in its center, you can see 30 churches, dense forests, crop fields, and on the far side of the Great Lake a horizon filled with snow-clad mountains. There is a church there, on the Frösön, where the world’s happiest marriages begin: when the bride walks out from the church, she is so overwhelmed by the gorgeous view that she forever loses her ability to speak.

My Swedish hometown is not the only place where Europe brims with beauty. From endless oceanic views in Ireland’s Galway to the meandering riverside cityscape in Budapest; from the midnight sun in Nordkap to the seductive darkness of Palermo; cities that let you marinate in living history, like Munich, Stockholm, Vienna, Rome, and Edinburgh.

Europe has it all. And yet, that continent is slowly, sadly, but inevitably sinking. It is a terrible conclusion to reach, but I see no other path forward for them.

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There are a multitude of reasons for this; the destruction of such a solid piece of civilization does not come easy. Which, in all honesty, is a tribute to the solidity of the Western project in itself: it takes decades of political and economic mismanagement to bring a continet of 500 million people from the top of world prosperity into the murky quagmire of industrial poverty.

However, that is precisely what the Europeans are now doing. Their decline only seems to be reinforced by every new measure to prevent it.

From an American viewpoint, the increasingly depressing state of Europe has not yet risen to the peak of the news cycle. Perhaps it never will, but the transformation of Europe from the world’s most advanced economy (alongside America) to an economy-class Latin America will have major economic, geo-strategic, and cultural consequences.

Before I dissect those consequences, let me point to the main character traits of Europe’s self-inflicted demise.

 

Lack of Leadership

If there is one thing Europe does not have, it is visionary political leadership. Not that our own crop of political heralds in Washington are much to brag about, but the new Trump administration actually does have an idea of how to make America better. By his fast-paced, confident leadership, Trump is now challenging the Democrats to step up to the plate; with a little bit of luck, we will go into the coming elections choosing between candidates running on different versions of “America’s best days are ahead of us”.

None of that exists in Europe. To the extent their leaders formulate ideas for the future, it is all about how government can spend more money, regulate more of the private sector, and dole out grants to NGOs to run the internet era of a billboard campaign themed around some empty political slogan. This is endemic in the EU, and it has tangible consequences: just last year the Europeans realized that America was running away with the path to artificial intelligence, while Europe has not yet even built its own Silicon Valley for old-school computer technology.

The realization among Europe’s political leadership that they are losing the AI race led the EU to issue a report suggesting more regulations on private-sector AI development and more government spending to investigate the potentials of the AI revolution.

Such is the European response to every issue, including the so-called green transition. When Americans elected a new president to end the mad dash into EV transporation—and instead let the free market be the arbiter on how we propel ourselves around town—the EU and national government leaders in Europe waged a virtual economic war on fossil fuels, without being even close to replacing it with “renewables”.

The German energy debacle went so far that major German manufacturers accelerated their foreign direct investments in other countries. This is one reason why there will be a lot more auto industry jobs here in America in the coming years. While European political leaders get fixated on some outlandish economic fantasy, America gets down to business, goes to work, and moves forward.

In addition to the fantasy that the green transition should be shoved down people’s throats by government, Europe’s political leaders have surpassed the Biden administration many times over when it comes to immigration—legal and illegal. Instead of asking pragmatic questions about the balance between a mostly uneducated labor supply and Europe’s perennially high unemployment rates, the elected officials and their unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and other EU capitals forge ahead like drunken cows. They have deliberately unhinged themselves from reality; it is only in a fantasy world free of opposing arguments that you can flood the streets of your cities with endless waves of immigrants, without causing major social, economic, and public safety problems.

 

A War on Democracy

Again, America is not immune to this kind of make-believe leadership, but unlike America, Europe has no voice of opposition. Where the Tea Party turned MAGA movement showed how true democracy works, forging a nationwide organic alliance of voters, Europe has invented institutions, conventions, policies, and a political culture of efficiently suppressing opposition.

There is no First Amendment in Europe, which politicians in both the EU and national governments have taken advantage of. In what can only be described as a war on the core of democracy, the European political elite is fighting an increasingly aggressive battle against dissenting voices. National governments are formed not to further the will of the people, but to quell the voice of dissent.

Coalitions of resentment against the people have appointed prime ministers in Sweden, Finland, Austria, France. A coalition of resentment is trying to form a functioning government in Germany. Where hatred of a common adversary is the only common denominator, there can be no room for visions. All political eyes remain in the rearview mirror, anxiously trying to keep the distance from the last election results.

People are blinded by a common hatred they cannot see the future.

From the viewpoint of policy, the only thing that these coalitions of resentment can produce is a regurgitation of the past. This explains why there is no debate in Europe over the “green transition” and why there is only token talk about immigration. Prevailing paradigms, which caused people to vote for alternative parties, reign unchallenged.

As do their consequences. In other words, the more Europe’s anti-democratic leaders double down on policies that thwart free speech, choke their economy, and fragment cohesive societies, the more they will distance themselves and their continent from the future.

 

A Stupid Economy

Europeans pay far more in taxes than we Americans do. Income taxes often start at 30-40 percent—for the lowest incomes—and there are value-added taxes, VATs, on everything they buy. Excise taxes, “green taxes”, fees and administrative charges run amok.

At the same time, they don’t get much more than we do. If anything, they get less of most of things. In health care (which I hope to have time to write more about in closer detail), Europe’s foremost contribution is the waiting list. You have the right to health care, but that does not mean you can get it.

The same is true for the countries in Europe that have elaborate systems of child care: you have the right to it, but that does in no way mean it can find a spot for your kid when the time comes.

Europeans brag about their paid-leave programs. It is true that, e.g., parents can take a lot of time off from work to be with their kids. They also have long vacations. However, since these benefits are mandated by law, they are in no way reflective of what businesses can afford in terms of an absent workforce. Yes, it is nice to be able to be at home with your baby for the first year or 18 months of its life, but during that time your employer needs to hire a replacement.

When I talk to Europeans about their paid-leave system, they often suggest that we Americans have no paid leave at all. I point out that just because government does not provide it, does not mean it does not exist. We prefer to let employers and employees handle the paid-leave issue as part of a workforce benefits package.

Fixated on letting government take care of as much as possible of their lives, Europeans have created a welfare state that demands taxes close to—and sometimes higher than—50 percent of GDP. This is well above the 40-percent line where GDP growth permanently slows down; once the tax burden crosses that mark and no one cares, the country inevitably sinks into economic stagnation.

There is no advancement in the standard of living. Private purchasing power is no longer adequate to keep businesses going. Capital formation stagnates and eventually moves abroad. The tax base is eroded; a consequence-impaired governing coalition of resentment responds with even higher taxes.

All in all, Europe has ended up in a vicious downward economic spiral. Her leaders are unable to understand the problem, let alone offer a solution. Among the many repercussions of this is the slow decline in standard of living that is already passed on from parents to their children: each new generation of Europeans will find life to be a little less prosperous than their parents did.

 

The Role of America

For all these reasons—lack of leadership, a dwindling democracy, and a stagnant economy—the European continent is unable to break out of its self-inflicted societal stranglehold. But what made it drift into this fog of endless political self-harm?

In one word: America provided the Europeans with a shield of security during the Cold War. Germans, Brits, French, Dutch, Spanyards, and others got so used to living under the protective shield of American military might that they believed they no longer had to think about existential issues. Instead, they could spend their time inventing new entitlements for their welfare states.

Again: make-believe politics. They never thought that their growing welfare states would sink their economies; in fact, economists never thought that this would happen either. I was the first one to point out this relationship, and I did it only a decade ago.

Likewise, Europe’s make-believe politicians thought that they could enjoy free-of-charge American military protection forever. The end of the Cold War did not exactly change their minds: suddenly, they thought they had somehow “won” that war, and that they as the victors could dictate the terms of their own existence—without having to work for it.

When America gradually began orienting itself away from Europe, there was at first massive denial across the old world. Due in no small part to foolish rhetoric from our neocons (both Presidents Bush, Vice President Cheney and his daughter Liz, John Podhoretz, Senator Graham of South Carolina, Irving and Bill Kristol…), the Europeans were led to believe that America would still provide that shield of safety no matter how many other parts of the world we were engaged in.

But not even neocons last forever. Reality began poking through the European bubble of political fantasies during Trump’s first term; after a “breather” during the Biden administration we are now back to the harsh reality where America is asking the Europeans to do what every other nation, or union of nations, is doing: grow up and take responsibility for their own sovereignty.

In other words, America can save Europe, but it is not America’s business to do so.

The rational reaction to this from the Europeans would have been to open a vigorous, public debate over what priorities their countries should make: the welfare state or national defense? But instead of doing just that, they have gone into an Alice in Wonderland-style mental lockdown where politicians in every cardinal direction dispense edicts about throwing Gargantuan amounts of money into military expansion projects that they have no funds for, and no industrial capacity to deliver.

At best, Europe will fragment into regional coalitions of countries, where some will make a future for themselves and others will continue to sink. The four Visegrad states, Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia, are relatively strong economically. So are the Baltic states.

The Nordic countries could form a strong regional economy, but with Sweden suffering from political deadlocks, high crime, a corrupt government, and a perennially stagnant economy, that outlook is no longer possible.

Germany is an enigmatic entity in this context. If they cannot change their own energy policy, they are going to de-industrialize at a rapid rate. That, in turn, will likely lead to growing political tensions; is therean independent, non-communist East Germany in the cards?

Southern Europe is ironically the most resilient part of that continent. Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have survived centuries of prosperity, poverty, war, and peace. They will find a way to muddle through a glacial but politically and economically visible European implosion.

The comparison to Latin America is more accurate than it might seem. Before World War II, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil were among the best, most thriving economies in the world. Then the welfare state happened…

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Crime

How the CCP’s United Front Turned Canada’s Legal Cannabis Market into a Global Narcotics Brokerage Network

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Short-term rentals. Legal weed. Illegal exports. United Front agents built a decentralized drug trafficking network—using Canadian land and export markets to fuel China’s narco-financial machine.

VANCOUVER, Canada — Around the time Canadian police uncovered a massive Chinese drug cash bank in Richmond, B.C.—exposing the so-called Vancouver Model of transnational money laundering—investigators made another stunning discovery that has never before been publicly disclosed.

According to sources with direct knowledge, operatives tied to Beijing’s foreign influence arm, the United Front Work Department, were orchestrating a parallel cannabis trafficking and money laundering operation—leveraging Canada’s legalization of marijuana to export the lucrative commodity to the United States and Japan. The scheme used short-term rental platforms to operate illicit cannabis brokerage houses in Vancouver, aggregating product from vast acreages across Western Canada and shipping it to destinations including Tokyo and New York City. Proceeds were collected in United Front-linked drug cash brokerages in those cities and laundered back through Canadian banks.

As previously reported by The Bureau, the RCMP has observed a two-decade-long consolidation of legal cannabis licenses in British Columbia by Chinese state-linked mafia networks. These groups have exploited illegal migrant labor from Asia—often housed in suburban townhomes and single-family grow-ops across Vancouver—to power what amounts to a parallel, state-enabled narco economy.

But as real estate prices in Metro Vancouver soared—driven in part by drug capital—RCMP investigators noticed Chinese triads strategically selling off high-priced grow-op properties to avoid scrutiny and reinvesting profits in remote farmland across B.C., including in Oliver, Prince George, and the Okanagan Valley.

These rural acreages became production zones. Asian organized crime groups transported cannabis to centralized brokerage houses, where senior Sam Gor figures and affiliated United Front community leaders established hubs for transnational shipment, trafficking, and laundering. The system—structured like a decentralized factory—was engineered to distribute risk and rapidly shift locations.

“They transport it down, and then we started seeing the rise of these brokerage houses again, with United Front control and Asian organized crime links,” a Canadian intelligence source told The Bureau. “New York is a favourite destination. The weed goes out in a variety of routes, the money comes back to be laundered. The process is repeated.”

In the case that triggered the discovery, an RCMP informant observed a steady stream of individuals entering a Vancouver-area home with black garbage bags, heading into the garage, and emerging minutes later with duffel bags of unknown contents. To detectives from E-Pirate—Canada’s largest-ever casino money laundering investigation—the duffel bags looked strikingly familiar.

This was the same method used by Chinese high-rollers supplied through a Sam Gor-linked cash brokerage in Richmond. In that case, associates of Paul King Jin and Jian Jun Zhu received large cash deposits at a bulletproof-glass storefront called Silver International—funds delivered by drug traffickers from across Western Canada. Couriers from Alberta and B.C. drove proceeds into Richmond, dropped off suitcases of cash, and each transaction was meticulously recorded in paper ledgers. Sam Gor would then transfer the equivalent funds into Chinese bank accounts—often linked to fentanyl production.

The warehoused cash at Silver International was also loaned to Chinese gamblers, with Paul Jin himself frequently delivering bundles to parking lots outside River Rock Casino in Richmond, as well as to other government-run casinos in Burnaby and surrounding suburbs. The funds were laundered through B.C.’s provincially regulated gaming system. This was the Vancouver Model. Chinese high-rollers provided liquidity to the system by depositing funds into United Front-linked bank accounts in China, then receiving their payouts in Richmond—delivered in duffel bags of cash.

The discovery of cannabis collector sites near these casinos resembled the other side of the pipeline—this time focused on cannabis rather than cocaine, fentanyl, or methamphetamine—a ‘legal’ narcotics trade now dominated across North America by Chinese organized crime networks operating in tandem with CCP-linked regional officials, according to former DEA Special Operations Division leader Don Im.

In this operation, RCMP investigators recorded license plates of drivers arriving at the suspected brokerage house. They matched many of them to vehicles also seen at Paul Jin’s Richmond boxing gym—an establishment tied to the highest levels of Sam Gor and UFWD figures in Vancouver.

“It was just phenomenal,” a Canadian intelligence source said. “And all of it links back, ultimately, to the exact family and community of people that we’ve talked about for years. You’d see a girlfriend—the girlfriend’s car of some well-known guy that goes to Paul Jin’s gym—would be showing up at this place for five minutes, would drive away, and then somebody else’s car which was associated to this guy’s girlfriend.”

In one RCMP raid on a brokerage house, investigators seized not only cannabis, but packaging materials and branded labels imported from Asia via commercial carriers—designed for a recognizable brand of cannabis sold online.

“What these guys were doing,” the source disclosed, “was securing rental houses through VRBO or other short-term platforms—one, two, three months at a time—and using them as brokerage houses. Then they’d move to another location. And they would bring in labor from overseas.”

That labor, often undocumented immigrants from China and Vietnam, was found living in squalid, makeshift conditions.

“Mattresses on the floor,” the source said. “This is where we get into the CBSA piece—where they found people at these locations who were overstays, undocumented, all the rest of it—and they would boot them out.”

The level of sophistication in these narcotics brokerage operations—essentially the mirror image of Chinese cash collection hubs uncovered by DEA agents in the United States—stunned RCMP intelligence officials.

They noted unintended consequences stemming from cannabis legalization under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in 2018.

“Since legalization, Asian organized crime has emerged as the dominant force behind cannabis in Canada. Product from grow ops in the interior of B.C. gets consolidated at a variety of VRBO and short-term rental houses in the Lower Mainland,” one source texted to The Bureau. “Brokers bid on product and provide packaging services for online sales.”

“In one case, the brokerage house was in the east end of Vancouver,” the source, who could not be named, said. “It was equipped with a cryptocurrency ATM. Come in, pay by Bitcoin, leave with your weed.”

The discovery of these covert brokerages prompted RCMP transnational crime investigators to dig deeper.

“And that led to a couple of other investigations,” the source said. “And that led to marijuana that we knew was getting shipped to New York State. They really liked B.C. Bud.”

According to the source, the cannabis was often transported overland across Canada in commercial vehicles, hidden inside consumer goods.

“We found evidence of water coolers and stuff like that, or on-demand water heater systems—gutted and repurposed just to move the product. They’d drive it across the country with this stuff packed inside.”

And Sam Gor operatives transported Canada’s “legal” weed through Ontario and across the border into the United States.

“They would get it over into New York State,” the source said. “And then we actually—years previous to this—we did a money laundering file where we were receiving back the money from those proceeds, coming back through the United States from New York. So it showed you a full circle of it.”

Meanwhile, a source added that a small island in the Fraser River, near River Rock Casino, has drawn law enforcement attention due to warehouses allegedly controlled by Sam Gor associates and underground bankers connected to the Silver International case and United Front networks.

“There’s a whole series of warehouses there that are of extreme interest to CBSA and to us,” a source said, explaining that consumer goods from across Western Canada are exported from the location, with narcotics secreted inside, and product labels altered to evade international customs scrutiny.

“What they did is they secreted—they would cut open the bags and they’d put marijuana inside those bags, and then they were going to export to Japan,” the source said. “So that’s the kind of thing that we’re seeing going on here as well—these brokerage facilities are multipurpose. Some of the product is also moved to other locations where they’re actually altering packaging and everything else to head off detection.”

“That use of brokerage houses—just moving it around—is extremely common now,” the source added. “In fact, that’s been known for years—even over in Australia.” Describing a typical “shore party” tactic, the source said:
“They’ll send a local guy from Vancouver down to Sydney. He’ll stay in a VRBO at Bondi Beach. While he’s there, a UPS package arrives. He takes it to a drop point, gets paid, spends a few days on the beach, and flies home. From the AFP’s perspective, they find that, obviously, quite difficult too.”

Asked whether these Sam Gor and United Front-linked cannabis trafficking and money laundering networks were also dealing in fentanyl, one source responded bluntly:

“No doubt. When you are in one aspect of the biz, what’s the disincentive not to be in fentanyl too? Or wine, or cigarettes.”

Former DEA Special Operations Division leader Don Im, a veteran expert on China’s transnational narcotics and money laundering architecture, reviewed the evidence cited in this story for The Bureau. Decades ago, as a young agent in New York City, Im said he witnessed the early evolution of Triad-linked money laundering networks—surveilling Colombian heroin traffickers forging connections in Chinatown.

Prior to his retirement in 2022, Im said he had direct visibility into how Chinese Communist Party-linked drug barons—operating through Sam Gor and allied Triad syndicates—seized control of cannabis cultivation across much of the world. These networks, he explained, have repurposed the same smuggling corridors, laundering systems, and brokerage house infrastructure to traffic a range of narcotics, from synthetic opioids to methamphetamine.

“This playbook was being mirrored throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe,” Im said of the cannabis brokerage system described in this story.

“The Chinese have become the dominant cultivators of marijuana in North America, in my opinion. They’re doing it in Europe, too. Why? Because it’s legal in most places—with little to no risk of imprisonment. So they’re generating literally tens of billions from marijuana alone.”

Im said U.S. law enforcement began noticing the pattern around the same time Canadian police observed Triads consolidating medicinal marijuana licenses in British Columbia.

“We started seeing it in the mid-2000s—Chinese workers coming into indoor grows, especially in Colorado,” he said. “At first, we thought it was an anomaly. But it wasn’t.”

“Now, China holds an annual hemp trade fair because they’re trying to corner the global hemp industry. They bring in thousands of companies and individuals to expand the global marijuana market.”

According to Im, Chinese Communist Party officials—particularly in provincial governments—view global decriminalization trends as a strategic opening to dominate transnational black markets with minimal legal risk.

“The global drug markets have become the ad hoc bank not just for Chinese citizens seeking to move capital abroad—but for CCP officials, provincial governors, and state-owned enterprises,” Im said. “They use drug proceeds to pay off massive debts, fund capital projects, finance Belt and Road operations, and carry out influence campaigns. It’s a cycle.”

“People think, ‘Oh, marijuana is a benign drug.’ Okay? It’s still a drug. And the value it generates—the profit—is massive,” Im continued. “Even on a conservative estimate, we’re talking half a trillion to three-quarters of a trillion dollars annually. That’s off the streets and across the world—not just Europe and North America.”

“People think I’m crazy when I say it generates that much,” he added. “But the RAND Corporation and the U.N.—they track the value of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, ecstasy, and marijuana. That’s the number.”

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International

First American pontiff says ‘build bridges’ to peace

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From The Center Square

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The first American pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church offers a simple vision for the future: build bridges and receive each other with open arms.

It’s a message grown from the roots of 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost’s consecration to the Order of St. Augustine, a 4th century bishop revered for his blend of contemplative prayer and public ministry.

And now, as Pope Leo XIV, the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics – and beyond – wonder how the Chicago native turned Peruvian bishop will navigate the ever-blurring line between secular politics and doctrinal authenticity.

His first remarks from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome favored the latter. He opened his brief and emotional speech with the first words of the “risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God.”

“Peace be with you,” he said. “I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you.”

Like Pope Francis before him, Prevost values a synodal church in which the ordained lead with humility and weigh the needs of its members equally, as opposed to two millennia of hierarchical structure based in scripture and tradition.

This viewpoint drew sharp criticism and dented Francis’ legacy. The former pontiff’s penchant for choosing political sides that many conservative critics viewed as borderline Marxist drove partisan divisions deeper.

Coupled with his “radical” commitment to synodality, many argued that Francis led the church astray by pushing progressive views on immigration, LGBT inclusion, climate change and anti-capitalism.

It was Francis himself who tapped Prevost to serve as Bishop of Chiclayo, in northwestern Peru, and a cardinal just last year. He also ascended to an influential role in the Holy See: running the Dicastery of Bishops, which oversees the selection and management of bishops worldwide.

Prevost’s harshest critics believe his administrative oversight is lacking. In March, the Survivors Network of Abused by Priests said that he’d failed to investigate sexual misconduct claims against two priests serving in the Diocese of Chiclayo.

The network sent a letter to Prevost on Thursday asking him to hold disgraced priests accountable.

“While the priest and other offenders may have stolen our bodies, it is the cardinals and bishops of the church, along with three successive popes before you, who have stolen our voices,” the network wrote. “Imagine our heartbreaking disappointment and despair if we discover that this includes you.”

Vatican observers note that Prevost, however, favors more conservative social and political values, though he remains “open to dialogue.”

He said as much himself on Thursday.

“God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God,” Pope Leo XIV said. “Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light. Humanity needs Him like a bridge to reach God and his love. You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace.”

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