Croatia, the UK, and the Curse of Militarism

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2024/01/23/croatia-military-conscription/

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/48472-john-humphrys-time-for-conscription-to-make-a-comeback

In both Croatia and the UK there is a renewed call for conscription. The statements made by General Sanders of the UK are very troubling as he speaks in terms of mass mobilisation, citizen armies, and preparation for war.

Russia is being used as an excuse for the military-industrial complex to re-assert itself.

It's also a check to nationalist impulses that place NATO and Atlanticism at risk. These leaders are wielding fear and trying to suppress any notions of autonomy or independence.

It's somewhat ironic with the UK in light of Brexit and in some respects is a reaction to it. The EU is part of this militarism as well, but the integrity and argument for NATO's indispensability is paramount. It's worth noting that the Atlanticists in Europe, whether in the military or part of the larger industrial complex do very well by Atlanticism. They don't just believe in it in terms of their own national security. They believe in it because they've given their lives to this and are fully invested in it – and it feeds them financially.

The call coming from the UK strikes one as somewhat absurd. Putin didn't even make it to Kyiv and we're supposed to believe that he's going to be poised to cross the Channel or the North Sea?

In the case of Croatia, the call is also related to the anxiety and fear that overshadows the Balkans and the threat of a new regional war over Bosnia and Kosovo.

Croatian has its interests related to Bosnia and other former Yugoslav concerns and they will not want to sit on the sideline if a war should erupt.

And in the future, military service is also going to be about defending borders or what in the United States is called 'border patrol'. Croatia is not the frontier of the EU but it does represent the frontier of the Eurozone and the Schengen Treaty – important frontiers in their own right. Militaries are going to be used to stop immigration – under the fig-leaf of humanitarianism of course.

The call to national mobilisation whether in Croatia or the UK contains the inherent curse of nationalism and the call to inject a new generation with this idolatrous poison – in reality a rival religion with its own set of ethics and imperatives.

It represents a real crisis for faithful Christians who will be conscientious objectors not just in terms of a military call-up, but also within the context of schools and the workplace. Once again, the call for Christians is one of counter-cultural second-class citizenship and yet given the influence of American Evangelicalism and its Dominionist proclivities – they won't have it and many will erroneously believe that by 'serving' in the military they are somehow defending the supposedly glorious heritage of the Christian West. In this case the New Testament-rejecting idolatry engages in a great deceit – fooling Christians into thinking they're being faithful and even Biblical, even while they sell their souls to a false kingdom and its mores. Though Evangelicals cannot grasp it, this is a far greater threat to the Church than mere secularism.

And thus instead of condemning the idolatry, most Evangelicals will embrace it and their pastors and para-church favourites will have played no small role in steering them to that end. Little do they know that money from the industries that benefit from all this flows through direct and indirect channels into the coffers and pockets of many a denomination and para-church organisation. There is a heresy born of theological error, but there's another angle that often just smacks of old fashioned corruption.

The deception is multi-layered and pervasive. It destroys societies and introduces a cancerous rot within the confines of the Church.