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June 15, 2023 - 3:00pm
On Wednesday German Chancellor Olaf Scholz presented the country’s first “comprehensive national security strategy,” a document that repeats his by now well-known remarks that Germany is going through a geopolitical “watershed era, a Zeitenwende.” While the term Zeitenwende has since then made it into the English language, there is another saying in German that would probably be more appropriate: “Papier ist geduldig” — which translates into “paper is patient”. In other words, it is easier to write down plans than to actually follow them through.
Unfortunately, this national security strategy seems to fall into the same category. A document full of platitudes without any real commitments: China is mentioned six times, just as often as a new “feminist foreign policy,” while climate appears an impressive 71 times, leaving no doubt that Berlin is still obsessed with the delusion that it will take a leading role in saving the world. How serious this is taken by the rest of the globe was recently demonstrated by Brazil: when German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock visited the country in early June, neither President Lula nor her Brazilian counterpart Mauro Viera took the time to meet her, indicating that Brasilia was in no mood to be lectured on “feminist foreign policy” or climate change.
In the report, China is described as being simultaneously a “partner, competitor, and systemic rival” that disregards “human rights” while also being a partner “without whom many of the most pressing global challenges cannot be resolved.” Translated into plain language this means that Berlin would like to continue criticising Beijing to appease Washington, but also keep asking China to please not threaten Germany’s economic interests.
This kind of doublespeak also applies to NATO: the document emphasises Germany’s “unshakable” commitment to the North Atlantic Alliance, but only up to the point where it comes to actual financial commitments: the 2% of GDP for defence goal will be reached as “an average over a multi-year period,” which is about as non-binding as one could imagine. A country that set aside 12% of its national economic output on energy alone in 2022 apparently is incapable of putting forward a clearly defined schedule regarding its defence spending. At current pace it would take “half a century” to upgrade Germany’s military to where it should be — which likely won’t give Berlin’s partners much confidence in its future security commitments.
In many ways, this document reaffirms the wobbly approach Germany takes on matters of international relations and security issues. Despite the rhetoric, it lacks any substance on how these ambitious goals are supposed to be achieved. Diplomacy and the art of persuasion are important elements in a country’s toolbox, but so are binding financial commitments and clear language — both of which are almost entirely missing. It seems all but certain that Berlin’s allies will take notice of this, and conclude that Germany probably cannot be counted on as a reliable partner in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment.
Ralph Schoellhammer is assistant professor of International Relations at Webster University, Vienna.
Raphfel
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SubscribeWhen you have fools running the country, this is the garbage you get. These people are serious about virtually nothing – foreign policy, economic policy, industrial policy, military policy, energy policy, even climate change. It will be their ultimate demise. Hopefully, there is something left to salvage once the people rebel against this nonsense.
I genuinely hope so. Germany is a wonderful country with a rich and interesting history ruined by a horrid scar. The Greens are horrid, they swallowed up and and destroyed Bundis90. They are destroying Germany. The Greens are a very destructive party. If any political force is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it is the greens, unfortunately the Greens are a lot more dangerous than a wolf.
This is intentional. It is all WEF Lizard 5th Gen Warfare against the West.
This is to destroy the West so Globalism may take over, population be reduced 80%, and the Global Elites become Gods through the AI they create.
This may seem stupid – but it is not. It is Satan making another try at conquering the world. They are merely his useful Idiots. A darkness is spreading over the Earth – can you not see it?
..and migration.
I genuinely hope so. Germany is a wonderful country with a rich and interesting history ruined by a horrid scar. The Greens are horrid, they swallowed up and and destroyed Bundis90. They are destroying Germany. The Greens are a very destructive party. If any political force is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it is the greens, unfortunately the Greens are a lot more dangerous than a wolf.
This is intentional. It is all WEF Lizard 5th Gen Warfare against the West.
This is to destroy the West so Globalism may take over, population be reduced 80%, and the Global Elites become Gods through the AI they create.
This may seem stupid – but it is not. It is Satan making another try at conquering the world. They are merely his useful Idiots. A darkness is spreading over the Earth – can you not see it?
..and migration.
When you have fools running the country, this is the garbage you get. These people are serious about virtually nothing – foreign policy, economic policy, industrial policy, military policy, energy policy, even climate change. It will be their ultimate demise. Hopefully, there is something left to salvage once the people rebel against this nonsense.
Where to start in response to this so-called “strategy”? One might wonder what the likes of Burke or Talleyrand or Bismarck would have made of it – a point entirely lost on persons too ignorant or too priggish to take such figures seriously. One could suggest that it is nothing but hypocrisy designed to mollify the snowflakes at home, but this is a delusion. No, these idiots mean it. And why? Because they are all slaves to the “tyranny of guilt” – that body of delusions arising from Marxism, which blames the state of nature itself on the long term activities of the West, as if no other culture has agency or responsibility and – worse – as if reality itself does not exist but constitutes a “projection” of “ideology”, our “ideology”. In hock to this madness, the current elites of Euro-America seek to “cure” the world by punishing and finally erasing that West. As for their “feminist” foreign policy, will it draw attention to a single, solitary Islamic abuse? Why of course not, because – according to the Marxist stupidity – such abuses are either illusions, or – by some twisted logic – locally justified, or just the long term results of Western iniquity. In crude terms this outlook boils down to nothing less than a form of anti-Semitism recast to catch the whole of “white” Europe in its poisonous trap. It is becoming a matter of urgency that the frankly evil “elite” pushing this toxin should be plucked down from power and punished as soon as possible. Otherwise our future will be one of the very blackest misery.
Where to start in response to this so-called “strategy”? One might wonder what the likes of Burke or Talleyrand or Bismarck would have made of it – a point entirely lost on persons too ignorant or too priggish to take such figures seriously. One could suggest that it is nothing but hypocrisy designed to mollify the snowflakes at home, but this is a delusion. No, these idiots mean it. And why? Because they are all slaves to the “tyranny of guilt” – that body of delusions arising from Marxism, which blames the state of nature itself on the long term activities of the West, as if no other culture has agency or responsibility and – worse – as if reality itself does not exist but constitutes a “projection” of “ideology”, our “ideology”. In hock to this madness, the current elites of Euro-America seek to “cure” the world by punishing and finally erasing that West. As for their “feminist” foreign policy, will it draw attention to a single, solitary Islamic abuse? Why of course not, because – according to the Marxist stupidity – such abuses are either illusions, or – by some twisted logic – locally justified, or just the long term results of Western iniquity. In crude terms this outlook boils down to nothing less than a form of anti-Semitism recast to catch the whole of “white” Europe in its poisonous trap. It is becoming a matter of urgency that the frankly evil “elite” pushing this toxin should be plucked down from power and punished as soon as possible. Otherwise our future will be one of the very blackest misery.
You could weep for Germany. Decades of progress, an enviable and mighty industrial sector ruined by fools who think life carries on as normal without energy. Future Germans will be poorer, and for no good reason.
You could weep for Germany. Decades of progress, an enviable and mighty industrial sector ruined by fools who think life carries on as normal without energy. Future Germans will be poorer, and for no good reason.
No mention of the EU, at least in this article, so if it’s mentioned in the security document it can’t be of much prominence.
Are the remaining nations just concerned with their own borders, all of a sudden? I wonder why?
No mention of the EU, at least in this article, so if it’s mentioned in the security document it can’t be of much prominence.
Are the remaining nations just concerned with their own borders, all of a sudden? I wonder why?
Germany is lost. Ostpolitik from Schroeder onward has been a disaster – indeed, it is mooted in some circles that reunification saw the East take over the West, such is the level of self destruction. Since Germany has been the strategic hub of Europe it will be interesting to watch in the outyears where power flows. Poland is a country to watch for a host of reasons.
Germany is lost. Ostpolitik from Schroeder onward has been a disaster – indeed, it is mooted in some circles that reunification saw the East take over the West, such is the level of self destruction. Since Germany has been the strategic hub of Europe it will be interesting to watch in the outyears where power flows. Poland is a country to watch for a host of reasons.
The country that virtue signalled itself to death. Now I can well imagine that for every German child the moment when they learn of Grandpa’s actions must be a shattering experience but really, get a grip.
The country that virtue signalled itself to death. Now I can well imagine that for every German child the moment when they learn of Grandpa’s actions must be a shattering experience but really, get a grip.