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It wasn't supposed to be like this. Germany would begin to match its economic power with diplomacy and join its allies in confronting the myriad global crises. Earlier this year the German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier promised a more robust foreign policy:
'In Germany we've gotten very used to commenting on the behavior of others. We often know exactly what the English, French and Americans are doing wrong. But we are not willing to do more ourselves. I'd like to change that: We shouldn't wait until the kid is already lying at the bottom of the well."
And the German president Joachim Gauck promised that Germany would live up to its international commitments, even if that meant using military force – always a delicate issue in Germany:
Gauck argued that, in light of its changing international position, Germany should take on a mediating role in international conflict situations wherever it can and shouldn't shy away from using force if necessary.
But in the two most pressing global crises – the advance of ISIS in the Middle East and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa – Germany is nowhere to be seen. The French and the British have joined the United States and its Arab allies in the aerial assault on ISIS positions in Iraq, while Germany's armed forces continue to be plagued by mechanical malfunctions and failures.
Germans, it seems, are content to be "World Champion Observers" on the global stage:
Und wir schauen zu. Denn wir sind Weltmeister im Zuschauen. Wir haben nicht nur in Ruanda zugeschaut, sondern auch in Srebrenica und Gorazde, in Halabdscha und Ghouta. Wir haben rote Linien gezogen, nur um zuzusehen, wie sie überschritten wurden. Wir haben immer nur mit "Konsequenzen" gedroht, aber keine umgesetzt.
(And so we watch. For we are the world champions in watching. We stood by and watched not just in Rwanda, but also in Srebrenica and Gorazde, in Hatabdscha and Ghouta. We drew red lines, only to watch as they were crossed. We always threatened "conequences" but never carried them out. }
Well, at least one German politician is tired of just watching and wants to take action. Christine Buchholz of the Left Party (Putin's Fifth Column in Germany) has been protesting the bombing of ISIS in Syria by "imperialist US forces" and urging dialogue and support of "leftwing Kurds" in their struggle against the "ruling classes" in the region. No doubt the ISIS forces – systematcally beheading and enslaving those who reject their fanatical extremist ideology – are impressed by Frau Buchholz's brave activism.
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Mit Luftschlägen wird man IS in Irak und Syrien genausowenig vernichten, wie die Taliban und Al Qaeda in Afganistan. Diese Organisationen müssen nicht auf dem Schlachtfeld siegen, es reicht, wenn sie nicht verlieren. Das wird so bleiben, bis eine große internationale Koalition willens und in der Lage ist, den Fruchtbaren Halbmond vollständig zu besetzen – und wenn man gerade so schön in Schwung ist, Saudi-Arabien gleich mit, um das Übel an der Wurzel zu packen. Somit rede ich also von mehreren Armeen und nicht darüber, welchen Sinn oder Unsinn es hätte, steuerte auch Deutschland ein paar Bomber bei, was sowieso nur eine symbolische und weitgehend nutzlose Geste wäre. Von völkerrechtlichen Fragen haben wir dabei noch überhaupt nicht geredet, aber darauf kommt es wohl auch nicht an. Der Weltpolizist USA wird die Legitimation schon irgendwie an den Haaren herbeiziehen, bzw. ist das im Falle der Bombardierung Syriens ja schon geschehen. Friedensnobelpreis 2.0
Der Kunstgriff, eine großangelegte Invasion herbeizuführen, liegt vielleicht darin, den IS zu einem Angriff auf Israel zu verleiten. Das wäre doch mal was für die CIA – oder sind die da schon dran?
David I think you misunderstood those pledges towards a more active role of Germany in the world.
They were made to prepare the German people (and not the world) towards a more active role in the world whenever German interest requires it (and not whenever our allies would like it). Also there is little we can do to change the situation in those two crises.
As much as I dislike Augstein, I believe he was right in this article:
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundeswehr-pannen-von-der-leyen-in-der-kritik-a-995043.html
So in 10 years we may very well consider these pledges towards a more active role as the beginning of a change. A change however, which cannot be conducted quickly.
There is one thing we are doing right now: Hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Due to this situation, I received the following recently:
“A German, an Arab and a Romanian drink together.
At some point the Romanian throws his beer mug above him only to draw a revolver and shoots his mug to pieces.
He smiles and says ‘glass is so cheap in Romania that nobody must drink twice from the same’.
This prompts the Arabian to finish his nonalcoholic beer and throw his mug in the air. He unlocks his AK-47 and makes his mug burst to a thousand pieces.
The Arabian laughs ‘there is so much sand in our lands to make glass from, we would never have to drink twice from the same either!’
Consequently the German finishes his beer and likewise throws his mug above him. He pulls his Walther, shoots both the Arabian and the Romanian, catches his mug and orders a new beer saying ‘We got so many foreigners here in Germany, you’ll never have to drink twice with the same”.
😉
As Broder writes:”Heute sind wir Zuschauer. Morgen könnten wir Kurden sein.”
I also like koogleschreiber’s idea of provoking Israel. You could not accuse the IDF of being just “Zuschauer”.