Mortgaging long-term U.S.-German ties for short-term electoral gain
UNITED NATIONS Ñ Courting distain and risking marginalization both in the USA and European Union, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder insulted the U.S. and snubbed France Ñ two vital allies and friends. SchroederÕs gaffes came during and after a bitter election campaign that focused more on his cheap anti-American swipes over Iraq policy than with genuine efforts to reform GermanyÕs ailing economy and undertow of growing unemployment. The wafer thin electoral victory of SchroederÕs Socialists and counter-culture Green coalition thus comes at a high price.
Judging from his foreign policy pronouncements concerning SaddamÕs Iraq, Chancellor Schroeder appears to be seduced by the Lorelei of a neutralist Iraqi policy Ñ free of Europe, free of the UN, and peevishly disengaged from America. Thus the remarkable and focused foreign policy constancy and political friendship which characterized relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the USA in the postwar era seems to have been lured by the sirens of isolationism.
Sadly Schroeder has squandered a great deal of political capital built up over the years by both Social Democratic and Christian Democratic governments in their relations with Washington. Strong transatlantic ties revived by Konrad Adenauer, pursued by Helmut Schmidt, and nurtured by Helmut Kohl have been mortgaged for what appears short-term electoral gain.
SchroederÕs myopic rhetoric has jeopardized the accumulated goodwill and respect that the Federal Republic earned in the Cold war era as a tried and true American partner. His actions have derailed a deep-seated conviction in the State Department and Administration that Germany because of its geography and reliability should be a lynchpin in Europe. His glib defiance of Washington emerged as a personal snub to many figures in both Bush Administrations (National Security Advisor Condi Rice among them who worked on German Unification).
As a glib politico the Chancellor no doubt feels the rift is easily mended by a few jokes and bonhomie jibes with George W. Bush. He may well be mistaken. While itÕs genuinely counterproductive for either Berlin or Washington to pursue this political pique, the fact stands that playing vital interests off for votes remains reckless policy.
Dr. Ronald Asmus of the German Marshall Fund opined, ÒWe thought Germany had overcome its history. But now thereÕs a big question mark. People will again ask the question; is Germany a predictable partner in security policy? And not just the Americans will ask, but the Europeans too.Ó
To be sure SchroederÕs SPD/Green political coalition won by a slim majority. The communists who had 37 seats in the previous Parliament were humbled to a mere two. Yet, the Class of 1968Ñthe leftist revolutionaries and Marxists Ñ have grown into the champagne socialists and preachy environmentalists who compose much of the current government. The eco/pacifist Greens hold the key to SchroederÕs survival.
Washington must be particularly careful not to allow its own political rhetoric to mirror the banal demagoguery of Schroeder and some of his Ministers. Plainly for his Justice Minister to have compared President Bush with Hitler was a grotesque affront spoken by a genuine fool who was subsequently sacked.
Wolfgang Schauble, foreign affairs shadow Minister of the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) writing in the Wall Street Journal warned, ÒGerman-American relations are at their lowest since the founding of the state in 1949Éthe Chancellor has put Germany in the unenviable position of being Saddam HusseinÕs favorite Western state, moreover, Schroeder has encouraged a distorted image of America in which the U.S. President is cast as a trigger-happy adventurer set on waging a lone war on Iraq.Ó
On a personal level, IÕve spoken to many Germans who are deeply embarrassed and self-conscious over SchroederÕs remarks and view this dangerous row with Washington as both ruining GermanyÕs reputation and diverting domestic attention from needed economic reforms.
But letÕs not forget that the rift in relations over Iraq policy has shadowed GermanyÕs otherwise steadfast support to the NATO alliance, her troop contributions in Kosova, and her post September 11th support in Afghanistan.
Calling it ÒCounterproductive Populism,Ó the influential Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper editorialized, that despite a growing coalition of opposition to Saddam, ÒThat leaves only Chancellor Schroeder and his Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer red- faced on the international stage The German version of unilateralism, Ôwe donÕt care about UN resolutions,Õ reduces the international pressure on Iraq ... Schroeder the unilateralist, became internationally isolated.Ó
As in the Legend of the Lorelei, such a policy stance can lure Germany to the rocks of isolation from its European Union partners and American friends.
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense
issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
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