From Zero Hedge:

Merkel To Europe: “Prepare To Cede Sovereignty”

I LIKE it!  Shades of the goose-stepping troops of the Wehrmacht on parade.  This time the takeover comes in the form of international monetary control.  Don’t need no stinkin’ blitzkreig, not when your targets are lying on ther backs, strapped for cash, BEGGING for rescue.

I’m not usually the financial warfare type, but I find the idea of Europe under a German thumb yet again, shall we say, “interesting”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that euro zone members must be prepared to cede control over certain policy domains to European institutions if the bloc is truly to overcome its debt crisis and win back foreign investors.

Speaking at an event hosted by Deutsche Bank in Berlin alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Merkel also defended her approach to the crisis against critics who argue she has put too much emphasis on austerity, saying Europe must find a way to deliver both growth and solid finances.

The comments came two months before European leaders are due to gather in Brussels to discuss moving towards a so-called “fiscal union”.

Sounds almost benign, doesn’t it? After all, this is the Europe that thousands spilled blood over to free from, uh, Nazi Germany, and that only decades after the previous generation sent thousands to spill blood to stop Imperial Germany.

And what did we offer in replacement to Germany? Bailed out (again) France and subjugated Italy and neutral Spain surrounded by a constellation of little countries, some on the northern edge of the continent doing well, others on the south (can you say ‘Greece’?) already over the edge of the cliff. I will leave it to you as to why some countries prosper and others don’t, when ALL of Europe is party to varying forms of socialism.

Look at France and Germany. Both of them were devastated by WW II, both recovered, both are industrial powerhouses, but one, France, is in a lot worse financial shape than the other. Or why, for instance, is the Netherlands doing well and Italy is a basket case? Or what’s Spain’s excuse? They sat out WW II entirely.

The punchline:

“We seem to find common solutions when we are staring over the abyss,” Merkel said. “But as soon as the pressure eases, people say they want to go their own way. We need to be ready to accept that Europe has the last word in certain areas. Otherwise we won’t be able to continue to build Europe,” she added.

Two conclusions here: Europe will be “staring over the abyss” very soon once again, and where Merkel says “Europe” she means Germany.

Perhaps the comfort in this new Reich will be that the combatants will be accountants and bankers this time.