The Weekly Forum - 18 December
22 december 2025 | Forum for Democracy Intl
The National Security Strategy of the United States, published at the end of last month, has been especially rude about Europe, berating it for ‘civilisational erasure’, mass migration, crackdowns on free speech, and so on. These are no doubt matters of opinion. But the document also points out indisputable facts, such as that Europe’s GDP has dropped from 25% of the world total in 1990 to 14% today. It is indeed shocking that the European economy has sunk not only relative to the great Chinese power-house but also relative to very comparable economies such as that of the USA: eurozone per capita GDP now makes us as poor as the 49th poorest state in the Union. But when FVD MP Frederik Jansen started to say that this should be a wakeup call for Europe, and that the criticism should be discussed and addressed, he was interrupted by other MPs saying that the document was itself contested in the US, that the Americans should keep their mouths shut and – absurdly – that there was no such thing as mass migration into Europe. In other words, in today’s Europe, it is more important to maintain illusions, if necessary by silencing or ignoring criticism, than to confront reality or even discuss it.
Watch Frederik Jansen’s intervention here (translated by AI)
The illusionism goes very far and includes abandoning the law of non-contradiction - that everything is what it is and not another thing. This became clear when the caretaker Dutch government – disavowed in recent elections – agreed to send another 700 million euros into the bottomless pit of the Ukraine war. Pepijn van Howelingen tackled an MP from the so-called JA21 party (founded in 2020 by FVD rebels) which voted in favour of this huge sum. ‘Why isn’t the money being spent in the Netherlands?’ Pepijn asked. Incredibly the JA21 MP refused to even accept the basis of the question. She pretended for several minutes that giving 700 million to Ukraine did not mean that this money would not be available in the Netherlands as well. In her Ingrid Coenradie’s looking-glass world, money can be spent twice. Why not three times or four times? Everything is possible once you deny reality.
Watch Pepijn’s questions here (translated by AI)
‘Fantasy’ is how Ralf Dekker described the EU’s plan to seize hundreds of billions of Russian assets, or to use them as collateral for a common EU loan. It is a fantasy to think that the EU financial system can survive such a colossal and blatant act of theft. Never mind what you think about the Ukraine war – if investors see that funds held in EU banks can be seized, they will put their money somewhere safer. Unfortunately, like Hitler in the bunker in the famous scene from Der Untergang, the gradual encroachment of the terrible truth about the war is driving European elites mad. They are increasingly irrational actors, and that bodes very ill for all of us.
Read Ralf Dekker’s speech here
Speaking of irrationality, John Laughland was a guest on the Australia-based TV station, The World Today, to discuss the sanctioning of an EU resident, the former Swiss army officer Jacques Baud, and an EU citizen, the French political commentator, Xavier Moreau. To silence dissident voices, especially when they are as analytical as these two, shows that the European elites are running so scared that they have taken leave of their senses.
Watch John Laughland’s interview here
Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst, joined us on The Forum & Friends this week to discuss the new US National Security Strategy and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Larry is wonderful: if you missed it, you can listen back by clicking below.