An Ocean Away: The Ties That Bind the USA to the OSCE

The Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is not very well known in the United States. Most Americans have probably never heard of it, since it rarely features in our domestic media.

However, the OSCE’s plan to monitor next week’s presidential election gained some attention in the last few weeks, particularly after the Attorney General of Texas announced that “groups and individuals from outside the United States are not allowed to influence or interfere with the election process in Texas” and would be prosecuted if they tried.

Our longtime reader and commenter Egghead has been doing research on the OSCE and its attempts to gain hands-on experience with the American electoral process. The essay below is the first of a series on this and related topics.

An Ocean Away: The Ties That Bind the USA to the OSCE
by Egghead

OSCE? What the heck is that? Oh, the OSCE is the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

So, who cares? It’s probably just a small boring useless working committee — about Europe — in Europe. Right?

WRONG. Recent press mentions of the OSCE in conjunction with OSCE monitoring of the upcoming presidential elections in the United States prompted me to research the role of the OSCE in international politics. Unfortunately, the more that I learn, the more frightened I become of the ever-expanding potential and power of the OSCE to control Americans and other free peoples. In fact, at this point, I definitely have OSCE-phobia.

Let us consider the name of the OSCE ,which is an alphabet soup acronym designed to sound innocuous. Break apart the acronym, and you get the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Notice that the word security comes before co-operation, leading one to speculate that the OSCE prioritizes security over co-operation — which I fear might lead to enforcement of coercive governance.

According to the OSCE website:

“With 56 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America, the OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization. It offers a forum for political negotiations and decision-making in the fields of early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation, and puts the political will of its participating States into practice through its unique network of field missions.”

It is important to note that the political will of participating States (as articulated by elected or unelected leaders) may be different than the political will of the citizens of those states. To wit, where the citizens might seek to overthrow a tyrannical ruler or a tyrannical set of laws such as Sharia Law, the OSCE might choose to enforce the political will of the leaders and their laws upon unruly citizens who might be seen as needing post-conflict rehabilitation. The point is that the OSCE implements State political will rather than the rights of citizens.

As evidenced by its name and its self-description, the OSCE focuses on security rather than co-operation, and also emphasizes the location of Europe. I find it odd that in its self-description North America is listed last when it is North America, specifically the United States’ military, that has largely provided the security for Europe and the rest of the free world since World War II. Indeed, it is Europe’s great reliance on American security that enables Europeans to tax their citizens for their welfare states more than for weapons systems.

So, how does the OSCE define security? It explains:

“The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities.” To summarize, every topic is security!

Who would think that an organization that mentions security as its focus and Europe as its locus would actually determine huge swaths of mutual political, military, economic, environmental, and human policy for Participating States that comprise most of the northern hemisphere, including the Russian Federation, Canada, and the United States, and Partners for Co-operation, which number among their members Israel, Australia, Japan, and South Korea?

Per the OSCE: “All 56 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.” Most shocking is the OCSE’s inclusion of current Communist and Muslim states as equal partners in the policy-making of free peoples. As the leaders of free peoples negotiate policies to appease the leaders of enslaved peoples, world leaders impinge upon the existing human and civil rights of free peoples via international treaties, and of enslaved peoples via military actions.

Representing Muslims in the OSCE, Turkey is a Participating State, and Partners for Co-operation include Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. Is it a coincidence that, excepting Afghanistan which shows a robust resurgence of al-Qaeda, all of the Muslim countries which are co-operating with the OSCE are also affected by the Arab Spring? Perhaps it is a coincidence. But, is the Arab Spring a positive development for the security of Arab Spring countries or OSCE Participating States? The OSCE seems to think so: “OSCE/ODIHR ready to support Mediterranean partners on path to democracy”.

So, let us end this essay with one last consideration of the name of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and note well the emphasis on the final word of Europe. In good conscience, as a compilation of former colonies of England and other European countries, North America must ask whether the OSCE is the tool whereby Europe seeks to re-colonize North America under European political rule. Is the United States military now merely a mercenary force to be deployed according to OSCE policy determined by world leaders? Is our main export to be our American children, as soldiers?

Curiously, on December 6, 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech about monitoring Russian elections in which she truncated the name of the OSCE to be the OSC. If anyone knows the name of the OSCE, it is Hillary Clinton. So, why omit the reference to Europe? Indeed, is Europe become the invisible hand that seeks to rule the world?