Actually interesting article with more imperial-minded framing than typical from jacobin, which is nice to see

As time passed, the design for a new German hegemony expanded to include the entire continental space. The austerity imposed on member states and the boundless eastward enlargement of the EU were the pillars that supported the construction of Germany’s neoliberal empire.

EU enlargement has enabled German industry to be able to stretch value chains to geographical areas dense with relatively cheap, skilled labor and that have “friendly” tax regimes. At the same time, austerity gave German capital a threefold competitive advantage: First, it allowed Berlin to finance public spending at (even) negative interest rates through the “spread” mechanism (i.e. the difference between bond yields in different eurozone member states, as a measure of market confidence). Moreover, it turned the productive apparatus in potential competitor countries into a desert. Added to that, it offered the ruling classes of peripheral countries the ideal motivation to cut wages in areas destined to fit into a subordinate role in German industry’s supply chains, thus lowering the costs of these supplies.

The grim part for germany and humanity is the seeming bloodlust of all political parties in the next elections (cdu/greens/spd under pisstorius/afd (*maybe not against russia, but america seems to be able to fix those oversights see:italy)