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Humanitarian intervention as a Trojan Horse for Europe?


Systematic Humanitarian Blackmail via Aquarius? (Part #2)

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"Helen of Troy" and the "Trojan Horse"? Evocation of an ancient symbol system through Aquarius, suggests the merit of exploring another foundational myth of particular iconic significance for Europe, namely the Trojan Horse.

As noted by Wikipedia, the Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the subterfuge used to enter the independent city of Troy and win the war. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the besiegers constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside. The besiegers pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the select force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the besieging army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The besiegers entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war. Metaphorically a "Trojan Horse" has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place.

In the myth, the Trojan war was a consequence of the most beautiful woman -- Helen -- having been abducted to Troy. Is the highest value of Europe now to be considered as having been "abducted" in some manner -- from some more universal sphere? Europe as Troy?

Considerable controversy has already been evoked by use of that metaphor (Donald Trump, Syrian Refugees 'Could Be The Great Trojan Horse', YouTube, 6 October 2015; Hungary's Leader Calls Migration 'Trojan Horse' of Terrorism, Associated Press, 7 March 2017; Europe refugee policy is 'Trojan horse of terrorism', says Orban, Financial Times, 30 March 2017; Refugees: the Trojan horse of terrorism? OpenDemocracy, 5 June 2017; Brian C. Joondeph, Is the Migrant Caravan a Trojan Horse? American Thinker, 4 April 2018). The metaphor can be readily understood as framing a "heartless" perspective in contrast to any "headless" approach.

Use of the metaphor has evoked the considered reflection of Bulent Senay (Deconstructing the Trojan horse: towards non-essentialist discourse, DOC Research Institute, 22 January 2018):

Cultural essentialism is a form of violence through which one constantly judges people without knowing anything about them. These views and stereotypes are often found to be untrue, and even dangerous. They develop in an environment of anxiety provoked by propaganda....

In relation to discussion of the migration *crisis*, the Trojan horse is not only a metaphor but has also now become a discourse. It is an *essentialist* discourse. This essentialism benefits from Western 'human rights discourse' which has traditionally been used to carve out a moral high ground in missionary zeal towards 'the other'. Current 'human rights' ideology plays a structuring role in the Trojan horse discourse....

A central deconstructive argument is that, in all the classic dualities of Western thought, one idea or meaning is privileged or 'central' over the other. The privileged, central term is the one most associated with hegemony and essence. What is perceived as central (in this case Western *human rights discourse*) has been classically conceived as original, authentic, and superior, while the other (non-Western, migrant) is thought of as secondary, derivative, or even 'parasitic'.

In this context, Trojan horse discourse operates as a homogeneous, culturally essentialist view of the Muslim faith as potentially dangerous. This creates binary oppositions and 'violent hierarchies'.

Reservations aside, is it Angela Merkel who is now to be understood as the embodiment of the highest humanitarian value -- as duly recognized in her receipt of the highest Catholic award (The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel received the 'Lamp of Peace', Euronews, 12 May 2018; Merkel receives Franciscan 'Lamp of Peace' in Assisi, Italy, DW, 12 May 2018)? This followed her receipt of the Charlemagne Prize in 2008.

Humanitarian intervention as a Trojan Horse? This issue has been variously explored more generally:

Aquarius as a "false flag" operation? However, is it Merkel who has effectively been complicit in eliciting the current siege of Europe? Does this complicity extend to tacitly arranging for Aquarius to function "innocently" as a humanitarian Trojan Horse? There is of course unfortunate confirmation that until the time of writing Aquarius was sailing under a false flag (Gibraltar) -- rather than revealing its German origins (Migrant rescue ship Aquarius to be stripped of Gibraltar registration, Sky News, 13 August 2018; Gibraltar ship stripped of flag amid dispute over migrants stranded at sea, CNN, 14 August 2018). What else has it been endeavouring to conceal?

Should Aquarius be considered a German false flag operation consistent with the imposition on Europe by Merkel of controversial strategic policies regarding refugees? The focus on Aquarius recalls the role of the French government in stealthily arranging for the sabotage of the Rainbox Warrior in 1985 in New Zealand -- a vessel of Greenpeace seeking to obstruct secretive nuclear testing in the Pacific. As might be expected, responsibility for the sinking of the vessel was initially denied.

Framed otherwise, it could be asked what might now be concealed by an innocent-seeming cloak of "humanitarian stealth" -- whether inadvertently by some or deliberately by others? Questions are now evoked following exposure over past decades to "white-washing", "blue-washing" and "green-washing" -- each variously deprecated. Racially prejudiced though it may appear, is there now a case for recognizing a form of "brown-washing" by which any reference to the influx of migrants from other continents may be justified? The term is already defined as the conspicuous over-representation of racial minorities in advertising -- disproportionate to the population. Similar use may be made of "yellow-washing". Give use of this laundry metaphor, is there any legitimate concern with whether the colours might "run"?

Curiously, given the implied "astrological" metaphor, the public relations initiative of Aquarius calls for critical assessment in terms of so-called "astroturfing". This is the process whereby organizations can hire fake advocates who create the illusion of real support for their message -- a process which can warp the public perception of anything (John Oliver, Astroturfing, Last Week Tonight, 12 August 2018)

Is the humanitarian intervention of Aquarius a covert enabling strategy consistent with the influx famously anticipated by Nostradamus (David Montaigne, Nostradamus and the Islamic Invasion of Europe, 2017)?

Recognizing a humanitarian "cloaking device" -- a "humanitarian shield"? As a pattern, there is a tantalizingly elusive similarity to several other strategic agendas whose proponents vigorously and defensively claim unquestionable humanitarian justification:

  • Security initiatives, specifically evoking fear of terrorism -- whether or not that fear may be evoked by "false flag" operations to convince any doubters. Much is made of the covert agenda in promoting a culture of fear in order to justify expenditure by the security and intelligence services, and by the military-industrial complex more generally (Indians? Witches? Natives? Jews? Islamists? ETs? 2017; 30 Questions for the Counter-terrorism Experts of the World, 2017)
  • Aerospace initiatives, typically framed as the ultimate symbol of human creativity in progress towards the stars, with benefits to health research, ecology and communications. The media focus carefully sidelines any mention of the huge amount of space debris that has been accumulating in orbit as a result of launching satellites into orbit (more than 400 in 2017, over 4 times the yearly average for 2000-2010). It is estimated that there are some 20,000 human-made objects in orbit, from working satellites to small shards of solar panels and rocket pieces.(The quest to conquer Earth's space junk problem, Nature, 5 September 2018).
  • Political correctness as this may be related to repression of dissenting opinion. This frames the expectation that everybody is expected to "like" everyone else, irrespective of preferences which may be otherwise expressed. Failure in this respect is then held to justify labels of the form fascist, sexist, or racist -- and any trial by media thereby enabled (Elaborating a Declaration on Combating Anti-otherness, 2018; Global Civilization through Interweaving Polyamory and Polyanimosity? 2018).
  • Gender equality especially in contexts of social power and gender dominance -- irrespective of other dynamics in the complex relationship between genders and the manner in which it is variously exploited (Golden Globes Confusing Cleavage, Hype and Hypocrisy, 2018; Cultivating the Myth of Human Equality, 2016)
  • Health provisions, variously conflated with safety and security such as to justify otherwise questionable regulations and excessive expenditure which cannot be reasonably challenged -- a pattern indistinguishable from the marketing agendas for pharmaceutical products, food products, safety equipment, and the like. (Fake news and distrust of science could lead to global epidemics, Wired, 9 January 2018)

Is there indeed a subtle form of subterfuge to be recognized?

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