A fissure is still running through it

U.S.-German ties may appear to be better, but the Iraq-fueled discord still glows beneath the surface

DruckenVersendenSpeichernVorherige Seite

11. Februar 2005 By Eckart Lohse
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

When Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is in a good mood, he will speak English in public. Or rather: He will utter a sentence in English, usually a short one. Last Friday, Schröder must have been in an expansive mood because he put two sentences together for the Berlin press corps. It happened during a visit by the new U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to the Chancellery in Berlin, when she began calling the shots at a news conference held with the chancellor.

Without batting an eye, Rice started pointing to the journalist to signal who could ask the next question. In the process, she assumed Schröder's duties as the host. As a result, Schröder decided it was time to put his English to the test in public. “We are in Germany. But that is women power,“ the smiling chancellor said. Rice then apologetically turned to Schröder, and he dismissed her gesture with a wave of the hand.

The scene that played out before the Berlin press has a double meaning. First, Germany and the United States have had little reason to joke around since they had their knock-down, drag-out fight over the potential invasion of Iraq. Second, Schröder's friendly reproach was a small reflection of Germany's new self-confidence in its dealings with the United States. As Rice said, it is time to open a new chapter in U.S.-German relations.

The first highlight of this new chapter will be the visit that President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, plan to make to Mainz on Feb. 23. But this will not be Bush's first effort to work on relations. On Jan. 31, the president called Schröder to express his satisfaction with the elections that were held in Iraq a day earlier.

Despite these shifts, the German-American relationship has feet of clay. Because the dispute over Iraq was so serious, the countries will be unable to quickly repair the damage. Stephen Szabo, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, reports in his latest book, “Parting Ways: The Crisis in German-American Relations,“ just how personally President George W. Bush took the disagreement. When Schröder began sending signals that he was interested in repairing the relationship, Bush ordered his staff not to make any public reaction, Szabo reports.

A second reason why the rapprochement is being approached so gingerly is the understanding on both sides of the Atlantic that the future course will not involve attempts to put the countries' decades-long relationship back on its old, well-worn track. Karsten Voigt, the coordinator of German-American cooperation in the Foreign Ministry, says “geostrategic conditions“ have changed. Because Germany is no longer the center of a global political crisis scenario that it was during the Cold War, it is also no longer an “importer“ of security, Voigt says. Today, Germany is considered to be an “exporter“ of security. But before the country decides to export its security contribution, it has to be sold on the need for the action, he says. “Germany is no longer a yes nation,“ Voigt says.

The efforts of the Bush administration to court Germany have come in conjunction with the elections in Iraq. Both Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer reacted positively to the development. But beneath the surface, their doubts about the overall undertaking remain rock hard. The chancellor says he is willing to continue and even extend the training of Iraqi police officers or soldiers in the United Arab Emirates. But officials in Berlin say that such efforts have not been planned yet and that security remains of utmost importance. In real terms, Berlin's position on Iraq has not budged one inch.

Off the record, German officials also talk about the price being paid for the liberation of Iraq - terrorism. The sharp rhetoric of the past still lurks close to the surface. A negative development in Iraq, a new dispute with Washington or the speech of an election campaigner could bring it back into the open.

The next potential test of the two countries' relationship will be Iran, the nation that the Bush administration fears is developing nuclear weapons. After her hour-long meeting with Schröder - 20 minutes longer than planned - Rice said there was a chance to solve the dispute by diplomatic means. The statement was immediately seen as a positive sign by the Schröder government. But away from the microphones, German officials made no secret of their belief that the United States could choose a non-diplomatic option as well.

But Iran is not the only issue that will turn up on the U.S.-German agenda this year as well. Another is Berlin's desire to obtain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Last Friday, Schröder only discussed the issue in general terms. For its part, Washington has made only vague statements about reforming the United Nations and not said a word about Germany's wish. Rice kept things on general terms as well.

But leaders in Washington certainly have recognized by now that the permanent seat has become one of Schröder's major foreign-policy objectives, that German diplomats are writing down in the greatest detail each opinion expressed by a U.N. member on the issue and that they are keeping a list that tracks the direction of the majority. The seat - which, of course, is much less explosive than the dispute with Iran - will evolve into a further test of the renewed German-American friendship.

DruckenVersendenSpeichernVorherige Seite

Lesezeichen