CONFIRMED:
3
hours ago 3 99
Germany
continues to drift further from US policy in more ways than one.
While the tensions over North Korea appear to be
dying down, the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has thrown the weight of
the EU’s most influential member behind the join Sino-Russian plan which calls
for total de-escalation on both sides of the Korea conflict.
Russia and China continue back a plan, first
articulated by Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi, the Foreign Ministers of Russia and
China, respectively, in July of this year. The plan calls for North Korea to
cease its missile tests and covert weapons programme and also calls for the US
to halt all deliveries of the THAAD missile systems to South Korea.
Additionally, Russia and China have called on the US, South Korea and Japan to
cease its military drills in and around the Korean peninsula.
Thus far, the US has de-facto rejected the plan. The
THAAD systems keep coming and America and South Korea’s missile tests continued
to occur long after the joint statement by China and Russia.
Recently however, the peace minded South Korean President Moon Jae-in has stated that he
seeks to avoid war at any costs.
This was followed by a carefully
worded olive branch to the United States by North Korea which affirmed
North Korea’s position as one which is ultimately defensive.
Now, Germany appears to be the most influential
member of NATO to come out in favour of the Sino-Russian peace plan.
The German Foreign Minister stated the following during a phone call with Wang Yi,
“Germany appreciates the important role played by
China in resolving the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula. Germany
understands and supports China-proposed ‘double freeze’ initiative”.
While Germany has supported US actions in Libya,
Ukraine and Syria, this would appear to be the first time that Germany has
backed a significantly different proposal in respect of US military action
since 2003 when the German government of Gerhard Schröder staunchly
opposed George W. Bush’s Iraq war.
Germany’s outspoken position in favour of the
Russian and Chinese solutions to the Korean crisis are likely motivated by a
general ‘America fatigue’ that is setting in among the German political elite. Whether
it be the anti-Russian US sanctions which are seen in Europe as crude attempts
to force countries like Germany to purchase expensive US imported liquefied
natural gas or Donald Trump’s admonition to EU NATO members to pay their fair
share of fees to NATO, Germany is gradually establishing an independent voice
that simply did not exist during the Obama years.
Seeing as Angela Merkel and her government are
likely to remain in place after the forthcoming elections, a Germany that is
increasingly ill at ease with the Trump administration is going to be a
defining feature of trans-Atlantic relations for the foreseeable future.
At the same time, the business community in Germany
has made increasingly strong statements in favour of continuing business dealings
with Russia in spite of both US and Eu sanctions which are increasingly seen as
bad for Germany’s powerful business community.
This is a further indication that the fall-out from
the rapidly de-escalating Korea crisis has done far more damage to US prestige
than it has done anything to change North Korea.
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