What’s the Deal with Germany?

Why is Germany sending weapons to Ukraine? Don’t they realize these weapons will be used to kill Russian soldiers? Don’t they realize these weapons will be given to Nazi combatants who tattoo swastikas on their arms and march in torchlight parades? Don’t the German people care about that?

In World War II, the German Wehrmacht killed 27 million Russians. Isn’t that enough? How many Russians have to die to satisfy Germany’s bloodlust? Another million or so? 5 million? 27 million? How many?

And, how does a country with Germany’s history justify the killing of more Russians today? Alot of people would like an answer to that question? I know I would.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz thinks that Germany has a moral obligation to back Ukraine in its war against Russia. In a televised speech to the nation he said, “We defend law and liberty on the side of the party under attack. We support Ukraine in its battle against the aggressor.”

What Scholz failed to mention were the numerous (Ukrainian) provocations that took place prior to the Russian invasion. He failed to mention Kiev’s stepped-up bombardment of east Ukraine where 14,000 ethnic Russians have been killed in the last eight years.

He failed to mention the 30-or-so Ukrainian bio-weapons labs where lethal pathogens –that target specific ethnicities and spread highly-contagious diseases around the world– are being secretly developed.

He failed to mention that President Zelensky had threatened to rebuild Ukraine’s nuclear weapons program which would put nuclear missiles on Russia’s western border.

And he failed to mention that Ukraine had become a defacto member of NATO via its joint-military drills, logistical support, training and arms shipments from the Alliance. All of these have created a grave threat to Russia’s national security. But Scholz failed to mention any of them. Instead, he used the entire presentation to whip up support for another US-led bloodbath.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear,” Scholz said emphatically. “So, we have decided to deliver arms.”

Scholz is simply acknowledging what everyone already knows, that he got his marching orders from Washington, and he is complying with those orders. That much is obvious. Here’s how the World Socialist Web Site summed it up in a recent article:

“The historic decision to let German tanks roll against Russia once again is not driven by “security and peace” and least of all the protection of the Ukrainian population. Instead, Germany and the other NATO powers have systematically provoked Russia’s reactionary invasion to allow them to wage a proxy war against Russia on the backs of the Ukrainian population….

In the months leading up to the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government, with massive support from the US and Germany, has been preparing to bring the areas held by pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country under its military control. A war against Russia in Crimea was also planned…. All restrictions imposed on Germany after the world war are to be removed, and the Bundeswehr will be rebuilt into the largest European army….

The German government has already delivered tanks from former East German stockpiles to Ukraine and announced further heavy arms deliveries. These include anti-aircraft tanks and self-propelled howitzers that are capable of enormous destruction. Germany and NATO are ready to lay waste to Ukraine in order to defeat Russia…

With its heavy weaponry, Germany is equipping the Azov Battalion and other neo-Nazi units. These groups are the political descendants of Bandera’s Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which was responsible for the murder of thousands of Ukrainian Jews.” (“On anniversary of defeat of Nazi regime, German Chancellor Scholz delivers war speech”, World Socialist Web Site)

How did we get here? How did we reach a point where no one is concerned about the reemergence of German militarism?

It can all be traced back to Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gorbachev lifted his objections to German reunification and “agreed that a unified Germany will be free to choose which alliance it will belong to, and Chancellor Helmut Kohl told Gorbachev that Germany wanted to stay in NATO.”

Got that? Gorbachev gave Germany the green light to join NATO.

Can you see what a terrible mistake that was? Can you see that German reunification and the entry of Germany into a hostile, Russophobic military alliance (NATO) paved the way for the current conflagration?

Germany’s entry into NATO was followed by three waves of expansion that pushed the Alliance further and further eastward until today, NATO’s combat troops, military bases and missile systems are on Russia’s doorstep just a few hundred miles from Moscow.

And NATO’s eastward push will not stop at Ukraine either, any more than Hitler or Napolean stopped at Ukraine. Ukraine is just the last whistlestop on the way to Moscow. That’s the real strategic endpoint; Moscow. So, eventually, NATO will push deeper and deeper into Russian territory destroying everything in its path and killing anyone who gets in its way. That’s where all this is headed, in fact, the Pentagon warlords don’t even try to hide it anymore. “We want weaken Russia,” they say. “We want to break Russia’s back”. And, that is the plan. They want to crush Russia and seize its resources. Nothing is concealed. All of this is being stated publicly.

And it’s all Gorbachev’s fault. The crisis Russia faces today, can be traced back to Gorbachev.

What was he thinking? Was he thinking that NATO would honor its word and not “move one inch east” like they promised? Was he thinking Germany would not eventually ‘get back on its feet’ and resume its habitual march eastward? Was he thinking that leaders in the west had miraculously changed their spots and become more trustworthy, unselfish and peaceful?

What a stupid, stupid man. Gorbachev’s breezy liberalism has brought NATO’s weapons systems and NATO’s shock troops to Russia’s doorstep. He has cleared the path for another agonizing and bloody conflict that will plunge the entire region into chaos and ruin. Is it any wonder why western leaders sing Gorbachev’s praises at every opportunity? Check out this excerpt from an article at RT:

“Large-scale NATO military drills started in Estonia on Monday. The exercise dubbed ‘Hedgehog 2022’ is one of the largest in the Baltic nation’s history, according to the military bloc. The drills will involve some 15,000 troops from 14 nations, including both military bloc members and their partners.

Soldiers from Finland, Sweden, Georgia and Ukraine are among those that will take part in the exercise… The drills will include all branches of the armed forces and will involve air, sea and land exercises, as well as cyber warfare training, according to the broadcaster. According to a NATO statement, the drills will also see the US Navy Wasp-class landing ship ‘Kearsarge’ take part in the exercises….

The drills started just a day after Finland and Sweden officially announced their plans to join NATO...

The exercises in Estonia are, however, just one part of NATO’s large-scale military activities near the Russian border. Another Baltic state, Lithuania, is hosting the ‘Iron Wolf’ exercise, which involves 3,000 NATO troops and 1,000 pieces of military equipment, including Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks.

Two of NATO’s biggest exercises – ‘Defender Europe’ and ‘Swift Response’ – are taking place in Poland and eight other countries, involving 18,000 troops from 20 nations, according to NATO’s statement on Friday….

The NATO Response Force is currently taking part in the 7,500-strong ‘Wettiner Heide’ drills in Germany. The Mediterranean Sea is about to witness ‘Neptune series’ naval drills involving the USS ‘Harry S. Truman’ carrier strike group that will be placed under NATO command. This will only be the second time since the end of the Cold War that a US carrier group has been transferred under the military bloc’s command, NATO has said.

In June, the Baltic States and Poland will host what NATO describes as “Europe’s largest integrated air and missile defense exercise,” which would involve 23 nations. In late April, Finland hosted NATO naval drills. Now, it is also hosting a joint land exercise, in which troops from the US, the UK, Estonia and Latvia are participating.

The massive military wargames are taking place amid heightened tensions between Russia, NATO and some of the military bloc’s partners. Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, and Sweden decided to reconsider their long-standing policy of non-alignment following a major change in public opinion after the launch of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.” (“NATO starts drills near Russian border”, RT)

What will it take for the American people to see what’s going on right before their eyes?

NATO and the US are simulating a war on Russia because that’s the plan. These are massive, integrated, combined-arms exercises that are structured in a way that best addresses the strengths of a particular​ enemy. And that enemy is Russia. Can’t you see that?

And have you noticed how it’s suddenly okay to talk openly about war with Russia? Among the cadres of retired generals that appear regularly on the cable news channels and their chest-thumping allies in the Democrat party, all sense of caution has been completely abandoned. They’re no longer deterred by the threat of nuclear war because– according to them– the US will prevail in a nuclear war and, besides, they all agree that it is worth the risk. Maybe you think I’m kidding, but I’m not kidding. The prevailing view among establishment elites has fundamentally changed. These people want a war with Russia and they want it now. Their lust for war has completely eclipsed their fear of nuclear annihilation. It’s madness.

And Germany has joined the rush-to-war despite the fact that it will trigger an unprecedented energy crisis followed by a severe economic slump that could last for years. In short, Scholz has committed economic hari-kari to placate his masters in Washington. Here’s more from the WSWS:

“Germany is using the war to remove all obstacles that previously stood in the way of unrestrained rearmament… First, the German government increased the arms budget by €100 billion… and abandoned the principle of not supplying weapons to war zones. Ukraine was first supplied with light and then with heavy weapons. In the meantime, Ukrainian soldiers are also being trained on German soil...

The German government’s preparations for a Third World War are not limited to arming the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) and providing military support to Ukraine…. The former editor-in-chief of finance daily Handelsblatt, Gabor Steingart, speaks bluntly about this in his “Pioneer Briefing” on Tuesday. Without the slightest qualms, he discusses the question of what is required to make a world war “manageable”:

“The waging of a Third World War is not just a military issue,” he proclaims. It is “first and foremost an economic issue. For without economic disentanglement along the power and military blocs, effective warfare that can be sustained over a longer period is impossible, as we can already see from Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas.”

“Whoever wants to make world warfare manageable must first unbundle world trade,” Steingart emphasises. “Economic independence is more important than billions more for the Bundeswehr. So, it is not only the soldiers and their military equipment that must be gathered into an offensive formation, but also economic resources.”

“Viewed with this economic eye,” he then states, “the preparations for making a Third World War manageable are in full swing.”..

The insane policy of preparing a third world war and making it “manageable” is supported by all parties represented in the Bundestag… Germany must “urgently define its national interests against the background of the new reality” and “adopt a national show of strength to implement and safeguard them,” it says. “To meet this challenge, comprehensive military capabilities are needed, which will also entail many a sacrifice and burden.” (“Germany’s preparations for a third world war in full swing“, World Socialist Web Site)

Do you still think the idea of a Third World War is far-fetched?

Of course, not. The preparations are already underway. The elites want war because they see no other way to preserve the western-centric world order. That is why the threat of German militarism has been ignored by the media and foreign heads-of-state. Because they now think that German militarism can be used to defend America’s global primacy. And that’s what they want.

Here’s a bit more background from an interview with Norman Finkelstein

“The Russians were promised that there would be no NATO expansion to the East, that was the quid pro quo for the reunification of Germany after the decomposition of the Soviet Union. The Russians were promised that but the West went ahead. We’re talking about the 1990s: the promises were given, but the West then went ahead and started to expand NATO …. there was the first tranche, then the second tranche … Then NATO starts expanding in Georgia and in the Ukraine (which crosses) a red line.

To stop this, (Russia) offers a perfectly reasonable resolution: just neutralize Ukraine like we neutralized Austria after World War II, neither aligned with an Eastern bloc nor aligned with a Western bloc. That seemed to me perfectly reasonable…

And then the reasonableness of those demands,… have to always be seen in context. So, what’s the context? The context is the Soviet Union, the former Russia, it lost… the estimates are about 30 million people during World War II….

And now there’s this Ukraine, where Nazis are playing an outsized role. (and they), are aligned with a formidable military bloc called NATO (and) NATO keeps advancing and advancing and advancing, closing in on Russia, trying to suffocate it… And beginning around 2016, under Trump, begins to arm the Ukraine, pouring in weapons, engaging in military exercises with NATO, behaving very provocatively. And then the Foreign Minister Lavrov finally says we’ve reached the boiling point.

… (So, for) more than 20 years… Russia has tried to engage in diplomacy; (to make Ukraine neutral) like Austria after World War 2… (So) if you agree that was a legitimate demand, and if you agree that the West was expanding and expanding NATO, and if you agree that Ukraine had de facto become a member of NATO, with weapons pouring in and engaging in military exercises with NATO; and if you agree… that Russia lost 30 million people during World War II because of the Nazi invasion,…, then the simple question is: What was Russia to do?

… I’m not a general and I’m not a diplomat, so I’m not going…. so, I’m not going to say it was the wisest thing to do…. But I will say … that they had the right to do it….They had …. the historic right to do it. 30 million people (killed during WW2), and now you’re starting again, now you’re starting again? No, no,… I can’t go for those who acknowledge the legitimacy of the arguments made by Putin but then call the invasion criminal. I don’t see that.” (“Norman Finkelstein : Russia has the historical right to invade Ukraine“; Listen to the whole interview, The Saker)

Yes, Putin has every right to protect his country from another foreign invasion. And, he’d be foolish to think that that’s not what Washington has in mind, because that’s precisely what they have in mind. What Washington really wants is a subjugated Russia languishing permanently beneath Uncle Sam’s bootheel.

So, Putin must do everything in his power to prevent that from happening. And, so far, he’s done just that.

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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Michael Whitney is a renowned geopolitical and social analyst based in Washington State. He initiated his career as an independent citizen-journalist in 2002 with a commitment to honest journalism, social justice and World peace.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

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