German Foreign Policy (DE/FR/EN)

(Own report) - Leading German media are demanding that the German government transform the EU into "an effective counterforce to Trump" and, thus become "the savior of the free world." Berlin must assume "a leading function" in the EU and assure that the rest of the member states "follow." Germany must take the "responsibility for leadership." It is "Europe's last powerhouse," one journal writes, in a snub to France, which, over the past few years, was unable to contend with Germany in the power struggle, and has lost much of its influence. Non-German observers doubt that Berlin will be able to sustain its claim to leadership within the EU. In Germany's capital, an abundance of "triumphalism and sense of mission" is felt, reported an experienced foreign policy expert. There is a widespread conviction that "Germany has a mission in Europe, to lead the others down the right path." Berlin refers particularly to France "with contempt." "The French have no idea and must be disciplined." The expert sees the possibility of coalitions in opposition to Germany being formed among EU countries. The German government is launching a new appeal for a common military policy and for "sticking together against Russia and the new US administration."

(Own report) - The German Fraport Company is preparing, under very strong protests from Greek trade unionists, to take over the operation and management of 14 of Greece's airports. The concessions, which Fraport was awarded back in late 2015, will entrust the German company with the operational and management functioning of Greece's most profitable regional airports - for a duration of 40 years. Annual profits are estimated to begin at 90 million Euros. The Greek state with retain 23 regional airports, including several that are in acute deficit, but must still be expensively maintained, as links between remote islands and the Greek mainland. One of the most powerful Greek oligarchs has a share not only in Fraport's profits from the current takeover, but has for years been involved in operating the Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. Fraport is one of the few German companies still investing in Greece. Many others are withdrawing from the country. The country's crisis had led to a massive reduction in consumption, which does not permit attractive profits. The most important exception to this rule is the tourism sector, from which the Fraport airports can make profits in processing vacation flights.

(Own report) - Germany's top politicians are calling on the EU to close ranks behind Europe's "central power," Germany, following President-Elect Donald Trump's recent declarations in an interview. Trump suggested the possibility of "deals" with Russia, predicted the further disintegration of the EU and pointed to Germany's dominant role within the EU. A new Russian-American world order is looming, according to Elmar Brok (CDU), Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, it is therefore imperative that the EU "close ranks." Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed a similar opinion. Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, called for Russian and US disarmament and for enhancing the EU's militarization. He recommended that "German nuclear armament" not be discussed - at least "at the moment."

(Own report) - Berlin's efforts to influence developments in Libya are on the brink of failure. The "Government of National Accord," installed in Tripoli on behalf of the United Nations by the German diplomat Martin Kobler, is on the verge of disintegration. Following an Islamist militia coup attempt in October, its "Prime Minster" Fayez al-Sarraj, the West's main partner, was barely able to retain his position against insurgents within his ranks, earlier this year. Last fall, his strongest opponent, General Khalifa Haftar, who is cooperating with the elected Libyan parliament, has conquered Libya's most important oil shipment port and seems to be able to extend his power base. In case al-Sarraj and the "Government of National Accord" cannot hold their ground, Berlin and the EU would not only loose their main Libyan partner for warding off refugees. They would also loose ground in Libya to Russia's advantage, which had recently begun to cooperate with Haftar. As in Syria, this cooperation is based on a common struggle against Islamist militias.

(Own report) - The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa, the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations), founded 100 years ago, had been a leading institution for the Nazi's "Germanization" policy in Eastern Europe, as historians have exposed in their research. The institute, which celebrated the anniversary of its January 10, 1917 founding yesterday - with the German foreign minister attending - is also active today in cultural exchange activities. For more than four decades, it has been coordinating Germany's contribution to the Biennale in Venice on behalf of the German foreign ministry. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the institute's staff had been engaged in using their contacts to members of German-speaking minorities abroad also for purposes of espionage. Following Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, members of the institute's staff, such as Karl Stumpp, carried out ethnic surveys of settlements in today's Ukraine, thereby contributing to the annihilation of East European Jews. The institute, which had been disbanded by the Allies in 1945, was re-established in 1951 under the leadership of a former high-ranking cultural functionary of the Nazis. Still today, the institute is nurturing relations with German-speaking minorities abroad for use in the interests of German foreign policy.

(Own report) - Representatives of Namibia's Ovaherero and Nama peoples have filed a class action complaint, while Berlin is trying to get off cheap in the dispute over compensation for Germany's colonial crimes. The victims' descendants are demanding compensation for the seizure of their land and cattle and for the genocide perpetrated on their ancestors in South West Africa, a German colony at the time. The German government was poised to reach a negotiated settlement with the Namibian government in the compensation dispute. Windhoek was supposed to renounce all compensation claims and, in return, receive a "Future Foundation" to appease the Ovaherero and Nama peoples - who would otherwise be left empty handed - with memorial sites and other projects of cheap "commemorative culture." Berlin sees good chances to ward off compensation lawsuits. The relevant norms of international law, at the time, offer no basis for proceedings against the massacres in German South West Africa, according to an expertise of the Reference and Research Service of the German Bundestag. Genocide is a criminal offense only since 1948, and therefore cannot be retroactively prosecuted. The "Future Foundation" was scheduled to be soon inaugurated with an official apology by Germany's president. The class action complaint has now put this timetable on hold.

(Own report) - In light of the western powers' possible massive loss of influence in the Middle East, German foreign policy-makers are intensifying their threats of sanctions on Moscow. Norbert Röttgen (CDU), Chair of the Foreign Policy Committee of the German parliament calls for economic punishment to be imposed for suspected or actual war crimes committed by the Russian military in East Aleppo. The renowned British Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk, strongly criticizes the rampant propaganda campaign raging - also here in Germany - around the hard fought battle for East Aleppo. Fisk notes that it is remarkable that the militias in East Aleppo are being euphemized as "rebels," because one of the most powerful among them is an Al Qaeda subsidiary. After all, that embellishes and is protective toward those responsible for 9/11. Besides, the large number of civilian casualties caused by western air raids in the war against IS is being ignored. A renowned NGO source in the USA estimates currently more than 2,000 civilians killed. The notorious double standards of western propaganda are accompanying the US and European powers' unsuccessful efforts to thwart Russia's rising influence in the Middle East.

(Own report) - The EU will significantly increase the number of its military interventions. This was one the results of the EU heads of state and government summit meeting, held yesterday in Brussels. The member countries will also intensify cooperation of their armed forces. This coincides with demands repeatedly put forward by the German government during its campaign, launched last summer to promote the militarization of the EU. Recently, after the EU defense ministers, along with other bodies, including the European Parliament, passed several resolutions, the EU Commission published a "Defense Action Plan," which provides for annual expenditures from a "European Defense Fund" of half a billion Euros for weapons research, beginning in the early 2020s. Most recently, the European Parliament called for the EU to upgrade its military to be able to use "its full potential as a world power." The objective, according Hans-Peter Bartels (SPD), Parliamentary Commissioner for the German Armed Forces, is to establish an EU army.

(Own report) - German business circles are discerning a clear reversal of trend in business with Russia, despite the EU's alleged prolongation of sanctions against Moscow. In the third quarter of 2016, German exports to Russia have increased for the first time since sanctions were imposed. German investments in Russia are again growing already reaching a volume of two billion Euros this year. The Daimler Group, for example, is currently planning to construct a plant worth 300 million Euros near Moscow. The gradual growth in business relations is flanked by negotiations at the state secretary level, with the preliminary groundwork being laid by leading think tanks. However, that President-elect Donald Trump, who, together with his designated Foreign Minister, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, intends to change course and cooperate more closely with Russia, at least on a punctual basis, is not seen very favorably from the German perspective. It would undermine the traditional division of labor among western countries in relationship to Russia that had been to Germany's advantage. While Washington was usually exerting massive pressure on Moscow, Berlin could often assume an advantageous mediator role - with a consensus on exerting pressure on Moscow to submit to western policy, while enhancing its own business relations.

(Own report) - When the German foreign minister appeared in the synagogue in Thessaloniki (Greece), he was met with strong protest from prominent members of the Jewish community. In his speech at the synagogue on December 4, (published by the German Foreign Ministry) Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) praised "our German hands to be used in the life of your community" - after Jewish life was eradicated under the Nazis. In his historical reflections, the German foreign minister alluded to the more than 50,000 Jewish Greeks, who, in 1943, had been forced to buy "Reichsbahn" tickets to Auschwitz, where they were murdered upon arrival. He did not utter a single word about the German receipts (89 million Euros) from those trips taking them to their death, or about Berlin's refusal to pay its debts. Neither did Steinmeier mention the reimbursement of the several million Euros in racist "ransoms" as the Jewish community demands. Prominent Jewish Greeks were outraged because Berlin's foreign policy is obviously undermining the legal claims of Nazi victims with moralist avowals and non-committal monetary hand-outs. Protests were also raised against Steinmeier's being offered "honorary membership" in Thessaloniki's synagogue. Steinmeier made similar appearances in relationship to Italian victims of Nazi mass crimes.

(Own report) - Shortly after the conservative candidate in the French presidential elections was decided, Berlin began to apply pressure on François Fillon, who had won his party's nomination. Even though Berlin is applauding Fillon's neoliberal austerity measures - which include an increase in the value added tax and the firing of half a million civil servants - his foreign policy plans clearly run counter to Berlin's policy, according to experts. A fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), for example, criticizes the fact that Fillon "aims" to "retake France's sovereignty" and to have a cooperative relationship with Russia. Invoking "European civilization," Norbert Röttgen, chair of the German Bundestag's Committee on Foreign Affairs, declared with an air of an ultimatum that this "obviously must be discussed with François Fillon." Even France's experts are assuming that should Fillon win the presidential elections - according to polls a real possibility - he would not be able to pursue a policy toward Russia independent of Berlin's.

(Own report) - Following Italian Prime Minster Matteo Renzi's defeat in Sunday's referendum, Berlin is urging Rome to quickly form a "capable government" and resume its adjustment to the German model of austerity. "The economic problems have to be tackled at the roots," said Jens Weidmann, head of Germany's central bank, yesterday. German financial experts are floating the idea of a cabinet of technocrats, modeled on the Mario Monti government. Monti ruled for a year and a half beginning in November 2011, without having been democratically elected and initiated an austerity program considered extremely harsh. Time is pressing: the bank crisis, caused, to a large extent, by bankruptcies due to German austerity dictates, which has been festering in Italy for a long time, is threatening to escalate. The Monte dei Paschi di Siena tradition bank's recapitalization planned this week is acutely endangered. It cannot be ruled out that its bank crisis could soon spread to other Italian credit institutions and to German banks.

(Own report) - Recent media reports have, for the first time, disclosed US American interference in German business deals with recalcitrant countries. US authorities intervene directly, if German companies carry out financial transactions, for example, with Iran. Repeatedly, Washington has successfully blocked business deals - even though they had been legal in Germany - and had the respective employees and board members fired from their jobs, using the justification that (German) companies with sites in the USA are subject to US law. This also applies to bilateral US sanctions imposed, for example, on Iran. This means that Washington actually succeeds in transposing US domestic law onto other countries, including Germany. The most recent example: Washington is considering a veto on a Chinese company's taking over Aixtron, a German chip equipment manufacturer. President Obama is expected to announce his decision today, Friday. These US-practices have been disclosed at a time of political transition, as Berlin is reinforcing its efforts to create an EU armed forces, to achieve "strategic autonomy" and become a world power. This arrogant US interference in the German-European economy is a taboo that cannot be tolerated on the road toward the long anticipated "superpower Europe."

(Own report) - Thanks to Donald Trump's electoral victory, Berlin sees its opportunities for pushing for the creation of EU military structures and possibly European nuclear armed forces growing. Wolfgang Ischinger, the influential diplomat and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, is "hoping" that the "Trump shock" has "dramatically increased" the willingness to militarize the European Union. Last week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that includes setting up an EU Operational Headquarters, establishing a "political leadership" for EU military operations, and raising the military budgets of all member states to at least 2% of their GDP. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Federica Mogherini, continues to promote the idea of an "EU superpower." Leading politicians and commentators are beginning to pick up the idea, previously launched by a number of experts, of the EU developing its own nuclear military forces on the basis of French and British nuclear weapons. However, for this, the French and British arsenals would be insufficient, according to a suggestive article published in one of Germany's leading opinion-forming dailies.

(Own report) - In the wake of the war against IS (Daesh), the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, which is supported by Berlin, is forcibly displacing the Arabic-speaking inhabitants, aimed at a consolidation of the Kurdish dominated territory, as was reported by Human Rights Watch (HRW). According to HRW's investigation, the Kurdish Peshmerga has deliberately destroyed the homes of Arabic-speaking Sunnis in at least 21 villages and towns in northern Iraq, while leaving intact the Kurdish-owned houses. The Kurdistan Regional Government under President Masoud Barzani is striving to incorporate as many areas as possible - particularly the oil rich region Kirkuk - into the Kurdish autonomous region before seceding from Iraq. For decades, Barzani and his clan have been cooperating closely with politicians from the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin was also promised access to the large oil reserves in the autonomous region. In return, Germany, above all, has been supporting the Peshmerga in its war against Daesh, while refusing similar aid to the Baghdad government. The German government is also ignoring the eviction of the Arabic-speaking inhabitants of the predominantly Kurdish region.

(Own report) - Foreign policy experts are calling for the EU's concerted effort in opposition to a future USA governed by Donald Trump. According to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a unified European stance is necessary to increase "leverage" over Washington. If the US President-elect ignores Europe's interests, Europe should consider going its own way in global policies, writes a German author in the leading US foreign policy periodical. It may be necessary "to consider whether to develop a European nuclear umbrella." These demands began to be heard after liberal Western media and members of the foreign policy establishment had declared Merkel the new "leader of the free world," and characterized outgoing US President Barack Obama's visit to Germany as "passing the baton" to Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany is setting out to take on "America's status as torchbearer of liberal democracy." "It is befitting for Merkel to speak in the name of what we have been calling the West, for the past seven decades," according to the business press. Journalists describe the predominant attitude in Berlin already as being "the guardians of the international post-war order."

(Own report) - Under German pressure, the EU is pushing toward the establishment of military structures, independent of NATO, as is evidenced by recent decisions taken by its defense ministers. At their meeting, ending yesterday, the defense ministers decided, as a first step, that particular EU countries should enhance their military cooperation. The EU will establish a logistic hub and explore the creation of a European Medical Command. They planned the setting up of a nucleus for an EU civilian-military headquarters that, according to Italy's foreign minister, could grow to become a European general staff. These structures could serve NATO, but in the end, are suitable for an EU army. Berlin's attempt to pit the EU against the USA, by ostentatiously taking a distance to President-Elect Trump, has encountered opposition from the UK and several eastern EU countries. Leading European foreign policy makers called the EU a "superpower" expected to be a "global security provider."

(Own report) - In its struggle against Russia for influence, Berlin has just suffered a severe setback with the results of Moldova's presidential runoff elections last Sunday. Official German representatives were relying on the liberal conservative candidate Maia Sandu to win the elections in the Republic of Moldova, located between Romania and Ukraine, with its population of 3.5 million. Sandu sought to maintain the country's pro-EU orientation. However, the Socialist Igor Dodon won the elections. He not only has recognized Crimea's joining the Russian Federation, he also wants to terminate Moldova's EU association. Dodon's victory is another sign that Germany and the EU are loosing influence in that country. Most recently, proponents of the country's neutrality formed the government and began putting a distance between their country and NATO. Now even closer ties between the Republic of Moldova and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union seem conceivable.

(Own report) - After Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential elections, the German government announced that it will continue its close cooperation with the United States and is calling for enhancing Germany's position in the transatlantic relationship. Chancellor Angela Merkel "offered" President-elect Donald Trump "close cooperation" on the basis of particular conditions. Jürgen Hardt, the German government’s Coordinator of Transatlantic Relations, spoke of the "necessity for us Europeans, and particularly for us Germans, to assume more responsibility." This "responsibility" would "grow" under a US President Trump and this concerns "all ... instruments of foreign and security policy." The call for more German influence reiterates positions recently voiced in Berlin's foreign policy establishment, demanding "not to leave stability policy proposals up to the USA," but to independently evaluate how to "shape the future global order." German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, are linking this demand to a call for significantly increasing the German military budget.

(Own report) - Wednesday, the German government decided to extend the Bundeswehr's deployment in South Sudan at least until the end of 2017. Therefore, up to 50 German soldiers will participate in the United Nations Blue Helmet Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS). At least 50,000 people have been killed since late 2013 in this region's civil war - according to experts, it could be many more. Observers had warned against South Sudan's July 2011 formal secession and the possibility of an escalation of the vicious battles. However, together with Washington, Berlin, pursuing the geostrategic goal of significantly weakening the Arab dominated Sudan, pushed for secession to deprive it of a large portion of its oil deposits. They succeeded and the South Sudanese population is paying the price in blood. German politicians and media are silent on this fact because German interests are not affected.