Dialog International

Sahra Wagenknecht: The Party Crasher

The Washington Post just published a piece on Russia's efforts to orchestrate a "peace movement" in Germany which features Sahra Wagenknecht - Germany's most famous left-wing politician - who is considering forming a new political party.  The piece began with a scene from several weeks ago.  Wagenknecht had summoned thousands of her admirers to Berlin for a massive "peace" demonstration where she spoke out against NATO and the coalition government of Olaf Scholz for their military support of Ukraine.  

"When 13,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Feb. 25 to call for an end to weapons supplies to Ukraine, the protest was led by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of parliament for Germany’s far-left Die Linke party and a firebrand with national ambitions. Wagenknecht decried the prospect that German tanks, soon to be delivered to Ukraine, could once again be used to shoot at “Russian women and men.”“We don’t want Germany to be drawn deeper into this war,” she said, as she called for the creation of a new peace movement and condemned the bloodshed in Ukraine, without mentioning Russia’s invasion."

But it wasn't just Wagenknecht's traditional left-wing supporters who enthusiastically cheered her message of 'peace'.  Also in the audience were neo-Nazis and supporters of the far-right AfD party:

"Among the crowd in Berlin was Jürgen Elsässer, editor of a far-right-wing magazine, and dozens of members of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party who cheered Wagenknecht’s calls to cut off Ukraine. Elsässer’s Compact magazine had recently declared on its cover that Wagenknecht was: “The best chancellor — a candidate for the left and the right.”"

There is a tradition in Germany dating back to the Weimar Republic of far-right and left-wing dissidents joining forces in a Querfront ("Cross-Front") in order to fight against democracy and capitalism in favor of some sort of ne0-fascist authoritarian order. The Querfront of the Weimar Republic was eventually subsumed into the national- socialist NSDAP, which used a combination of populist economics and hyper-nationalism to attract working class voters. What a new Querfront-party led by Sahra Wagenknecht would look like an stand for is unclear, but initial polling indicates it could conceivably attract up to 20% of the electorate - and potentially much more in eastern Germany, where Sahra enjoys strong support.

Last week Der Spiegel published a profile of Sahra Wagenknecht and outlined what a Wagenknecht-Querfront political party might look like:

"Wenn alles gut für sie läuft, will Sahra Wagenknecht Ende des Jahres eine eigene Partei gründen und möglicherweise das erste Mal bei der Europawahl 2024 für sie antreten. Die Partei soll Wähler einsammeln, die sich nicht mehr gehört fühlen: nicht von den Linken oder den Grünen, nicht von der Union oder der SPD, Leute, die gegen die Fokussierung auf das Gendern sind und für die Enteignung von Wohnungskonzernen, gegen die Waffenlieferungen an die Ukraine und eine offene Flüchtlingspolitik, für flächendeckende Tarifverträge und eine liberale Coronapolitik. Es wäre eine Partei jenseits der alten Milieus, von der der Politikwissenschaftler Benjamin Höhne sagt, sie »würde den Nationalstaat als entscheidenden Raum betonen, um soziale Gerechtigkeit durchzusetzen«, politisches Neuland also,"

 

(If everything goes well for her, Sahra Wagenknecht wants to establich her own party at the end of the year and possibly stand as candidate for the first time in the 2024 European elections. The party should attract voters who no longer feel heard: not from the Left or the Greens, not from the Union or the SPD, people who are against the focus on gender and for the expropriation of housing groups, against the arms deliveries Ukraine and an open refugee policy, for nationwide collective agreements and a liberal corona policy. It would be a party beyond the old milieus, of which the political scientist Benjamin Höhne says it "would emphasize the nation-state as a decisive area for enforcing social justice", in other words new political territory.

One aspect of Sahra Wagenknecht was mostly left out of the Spiegel profile: her animosity towards America (and NATO).  For Wagenknecht and her followers on the left and right, Germany is a vassal state of the United States.  In her view, in terms of culture and values, Germany has much more in common with Russia.  Putin and the strategists in the Kremlin see an opening here:

"In early July, Putin declared that “even in the countries that are still satellites of the United States, there is a growing understanding that their ruling elites’ blind obedience to their overlord, as a rule, does not necessarily coincide with their national interests, and most often simply and even radically contradicts them.”

If Sahra Wagenknecht does follow through with her idea of establishing a new Querfront party it could become overnight the largest opposition force in the Bundestag - surpassing the AfD and the Left Party (Die Linke). How this would impact Germany's position in NATO and its strategic alliance with the United States is unknown

9/11 Truther Daniele Ganser Lectures Dresden "Jazztage" Audience

Why in the world would the conspiracy theorist Daniele Ganser be invited to speak at a festival celebrating jazz music?  That's what happened over the weekend in the Dresden Ostra-Dome before an audience of several hundred.  Ganser has made a fortune giving "lectures" in Germany about how Jewish-Americans (along with the CIA and Mossad) engineered the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center.  His appearance in Dresden was to promote his recent book „Imperium USA - Die skrupellose Weltmacht“. This time Ganser reverted to an old favorite conspiracy - namely that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA:

"Gansers These, die CIA habe Kennedy ermorden lassen, ist so alt wie die Klage über den Tod dieses den Kalten Krieg beenden wollenden Präsidenten. Und dass der US-amerikanische Geheimdienst mit seinen schmutzigen Händen sowie zwielichtigen Helfershelfern in zahlreiche Morde und Kriege verstrickt war und ist, stellt eine traurige, aber ebenfalls altbekannte Binsenwahrheit dar."

Evidently Ganser's two-hour "lecture" was enthusiastically received by the audience.  Presenting the United States as the source of all evil in the world is always a hit with German audiences.  But not everyone - mostly fans of jazz music - was happy about Ganser's presence at the Dresden Jazztage:

Der erst im Sommer 2020 gegründete Jazzverband Sachsen kann die Einladung Gansers nicht nachvollziehen. Der Verband wendet sich in einem offenen Brief an Kilian Forster und fordert eine Stellungnahme des Intendanten.  Vorstandsmitglied Robert Lucaciu sagte MDR KULTUR: "Es ist zunächst generell irritierend, dass Herr Ganser bei den Jazztagen auftritt, da er selbst unseres Wissens nach gar keine Verbindung zur Jazz-Musik pflegt oder hat." Dass ein Historiker mit Nähe zu neurechten und antisemitischen Kreisen bei dem Festival unwidersprochen Vorträge halte, sei sehr problematisch.

It is particularly sickening that a speaker spreading hateful conspiracies about America was invited to a festival celebrating jazz music - an art form invented in America.

It was also pointed out that most in the audience were not wearing masks and there was zero social distancing.  This fits perfectly with Ganser's latest (money-making) conspiracy theory - namely that COVID-19 is yet another hoax propagated by America - in this case the American billionaire Bill Gates. 

Putin's Useful Idiots on the Far-Right (AfD) and Far-Left (LINKE)

Usually the right-wing AfD and the left-wing die LINKE parties in Germany are at loggerheads with very different policy ideas for the nation.  But they are united in their disgust for liberal democracy:  the AfD would like to establish a type of Volksgemeinshaft consisting only of ethnic Germans while the Left Party is nostalgic for a soviet-like nationalization of industry and abolishing market capitalism.  So I guess it is not so surprising that both extreme parties admire Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin.  This embrace of Putin by both the far left and the far right has come to the forefront with the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.  While all the evidence point to yet another assassination attempt engineered by the Kremlin, leaders of the LINKE and the AfD promote a conspiracy theory that Navalny was the victim of a "false flag" operation carried out by opponents of the Nortstream 2 gas deal between Russia and Germany:  

For example, Gregor Gysi, the former left-wing party leader of the Bundestag, made sure people sat up on Friday. In the MDR, the 72-year-old warned of bias against the Russian president. What interest should Putin have in ordering something like that? He knows it will deteriorate relations with the West. He has enough penalties on his neck. Putin would have been particularly stupid if he had to order that, and so I don’t believe it. “

Instead, Gysi speculated about agents who might have gone insane, or talked about troops trying to torpedo the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. ‘It may also be an opponent of the natural gas pipeline to Germany. Or an opponent in command who knew: if you stage such a murder, which is then blamed on the government, it will deteriorate relations. And you see: it really works. Gysi said that instead of threatening sanctions now, the Russian government should first be given the opportunity to open an investigation.

[...]Gunnar Lindemann (Bundestag member of the far-right AfD)  went so far as to claim that Navalny was poisoned  “to find a reason to justify further sanctions against Russia”, as he wrote on Facebook. Navalny is therefore an American front man, paid for by the Soros Foundation and the “Clinton-Obama Clan”.

Sascha Lobo, the columnist for Der Spiegel, sees these pro-Putin conspiracies as yet another manifestation of reflexive anti-Americanism in Germany:

Antiamerikanismus ist in Deutschland außerordentlich anknüpfungsfähig in eine Vielzahl verschiedener Milieus und Gruppierungen hinein, von hart links bis rechtsextrem, in den Geschmacksrichtungen antikapitalistisch bis antifreiheitlich. Manche Menschen, die mit der Komplexität der Welt Probleme haben, sehen dann in Putin einen Gegenpol zu den USA, und wenn man das eine hasst, muss man das andere lieben. Dieses Schwarz-Weiß-Denkmuster wird von russischer Propaganda angereichert mit jeder Menge Nato-Feindschaft, ohne Rücksicht auf Geschichte, Gegenwart und Grauwerte. Als Gemeinsamkeit taugt eine tiefe Ablehnung gegen "die da oben".

Meanwhile, Navalny is recovering in a Berlin hospital and will likely continue being a thorn in the side of the Kremlin and its German allies.

Ken Jebsen Must Be Banned From YouTube

I strongly support the First Amendment and freedom of speech.  But spreading false information on social media that potentially endangers the safety of the public violates this basic freedom.  Ken Jebsen has been spreading conspiracy theories for years on his KenFM YouTube channel.  Most of this is the usual drivel about how the CIA and Mossad (or Israel) are the root of all evil in the world (Jebsen stated once that the Holocaust was a public relations stunt).  The content was dumb but basically harmless - much of it was a regurgitation of conspiracies promoted on the Russian propaganda outlet RT Deutsch. 

But recently Jebsen's profile in Germany has been enhanced by the coronavirus pandemic and the containment/prevention policies of testing, social distancing and contact tracing implemented by public health officials and Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Jebsen promotes the conspiracy theory that the pandemic is a giant hoax concocted by Bill Gates - who "owns" the World Health Organization as well as the entire media and political establishment of Germany. Jebsen has "proof" that Gate's intention is to further enrich himself by producing an unsafe vaccine and then forcibly injecting it into all Germans through an "Impfpflicht" (mandatory vaccine).  Also, Gates is behind the requirement to wear protective face masks in order to inspire fear in the population. The coronavirus, Jebsen insists, is no more dangerous or deadly than the seasonal flu. These "theories"  are of course totally preposterous and should just be ignored - except that hundreds of thousands of Germans seem believe there is some truth to this conspiracy.  Jebsen outlined his "theory" in a video - Gates kapert Deutschland ("Gates is hijacking Germany"), which has been viewed over 3 million times. Last weekend there were large "resistance" demonstrations in Berlin, Stuttgart, and elsewhere where demonstrators carried banners and placards attacking Gates and the chancellor.  The danger is that these demonstrators - who refuse to wear masks or adhere to social distancing - are risking infections of themselves or people they come into contact with.  The longer-term danger is that when an effective vaccine does become available  a large segment of the population will refuse to get vaccinated because they follow Jebsen, RT Deutsch, and other conspiracy outlets. 

I have contacted YouTube, Google, and the YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki about blocking KenFM on the platform.  In a recent interview Wojcicki spoke about YouTube's policy concerning false information pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic: 

YouTube Susan Wojcicki has suggested that the video platform will remove content that contradicts the World Health Organization's advice on COVID-19.In an interview with CNN published Sunday, Wojcicki said YouTube would be "removing information that is problematic" including "anything that is medically unsubstantiated."For example, she said, content that claimed vitamin C or turmeric would cure people of COVID-19 would be "a violation of our policy" and removed accordingly.She continued: "Anything that goes against WHO recommendations would be a violation of our policy and so remove is another really important part of our policy." Wojcicki acknowledged that YouTube had had to quickly update its policies in response to the virus, and the accompanying spread of misinformation.

Clearly Ken Jebsen - through his KenFM YouTube channel (half a million subscribers) is spreading false and dangerous misinformation and should be immediately removed from the platform.

Covid-19: Let the Conspiracy Theories Begin

As the scope of the coronavirus pandemic became apparent, it didn't take long for conspiracy theories to begin circulating.  As is customary in Germany, the United States plays a prominent role in many of these theories.  The Hamburg politician Mehmet Yildiz - a prominent member of the Left Party (Die LINKE)- stated recently at a public forum that the virus was "developed in a laboratory", presumably by the US military, as a "weapon of war" to attack America's political rivals China and Iran:

„Die USA haben unter dem Vorwand des Schützens der Menschenrechte, der Bekämpfung des Terrorismus oder dem Akteuren wie der syrischen Regierung ohne Beweise zugeschriebenen Einsatz von Chemiewaffen Kriege gegen andere Länder begonnen aber sie werden China keinen Krieg erklären. Aufgrund dieses Virus wurde nun jedoch die chinesische Wirtschaft empfindlich getroffen. Iran und Italien, die nach China die meisten Infektionen haben, sind ebenfalls erklärte Feindbilder der USA (Iran) oder einer der größten Handelspartner Chinas (Italien)."

On the far-right, Compact Magazin, published a similar theory about the origins of the corona virus where again the US is the bogeyman:

„Mehrere Forschungsgruppen haben berechnet, dass sich das Virus etwa Mitte November 2019 auszubreiten begann – was die These unterstützt, dass die Ausbreitung vor den mit dem Markt verbundenen Fällen stattgefunden haben könnte.“ Es könnte, so Zhao, zu diesem früheren Zeitpunkt durch US-Athleten eingeschleppt worden sein, die im Oktober an den Internationalen Militärspielen (Military Games) in Wuhan teilnahmen. Die US-Sportler ihrerseits hätten sich zuvor an einem „amerikanischen“ Coronavirus angesteckt, der aus dem Biowaffenlabor auf dem US-Militärstützpunkt in Fort Detrick entwichen sei. Tatsächlich hatte das US-Seuchenamt CDC Detrick im August 2019 geschlossen."

Did these proponents. of the "American Virus" come up with this conspiracy theory on their own?  No, it was spread by a "reliable source>" 

"Laut einem aktuellen EU-Papier soll Russland aktuell eine „bedeutende Desinformationskampagne“ gegen den Westen gestartet haben. Demnach sollen Fake News in Englisch, Spanisch, Italienisch, Deutsch und Französisch verbreitet werden, damit es den Staaten der EU schwerer fällt, ihre Reaktion auf die Corona-Pandemie zu kommunizieren. Russland wolle „Panik erzeugen“, „Misstrauen säen“ und „die Auswirkungen des Coronavirus verschlimmern“, wie die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters aus dem EU-Papier zitiert. „Das übergeordnete Ziel der Desinformationsstrategie des Kreml ist eine Verschärfung der Krise der öffentlichen Gesundheit in westlichen Ländern“, heißt es in dem neunseitigen Papier."

Funny how the far left and far right both embrace Putin and his propaganda network. 

Did DieWelt spread Fake News about Trump and German biotech firm CureVac?

On March 15, the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, in an article titled, "Donald Trump Poaches German Vaccine Company," reported that U.S. President Donald J. Trump had offered "a large sum of money" to buy the privately-held Tübingen-based company CureVac, which is working to produce a vaccine against the coronavirus. But here is what was explosive about the article: The newspaper reported that according to anonymous persons within "German government circles" (deutschen Regierungskreisen), Trump wanted to "secure the drug exclusively for his country."

"Der US-Präsident bietet der deutschen Firma angeblich einen hohen Betrag, um sich ihre Arbeit zu sichern. Von einer Milliarde Dollar ist in Berlin die Rede. Besonders problematisch ist: Trump tue alles, um einen Impfstoff für die Vereinigten Staaten zu bekommen. „Aber eben nur für die USA“, heißt es in der Bundesregierung."

The report sounded the alarm bell in Berlin.  German foreign minister Heiko Mass alerted his colleagues throughout Europe and Asia about Trump's evil intent: „Dieses Virus werden wir nur gemeinsam besiegen, nicht gegeneinander“ Interior minister Horst Seehofer expressed his outrage about the greed and the arrogance of the Americans.  When asked how he learned about Trump's effort to steal German intellectual property, Seehofer responded he learned about it from "colleagues in the cabinet."  Trump's attempted treachery even caught the attention of Angela Merkel and nearly sparked a trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis. 

Unfortunately, none of the politicians in Berlin bothered to check the veracity of the Welt am Sonntag article.  Nor did anyone bother to check with CureVac.  On Monday the acting CEO of CureVac, Franz-Werner Haas, tweeted:

To make it clear again on coronavirus: CureVac has not received from the US government or related entities an offer before, during and since the Task Force meeting in the White House on March 2. CureVac rejects all allegations from press.

— CureVac (@CureVacAG) March 16, 2020

In a call with reporters and investors Haas elaborated on his denial of any deal with Trump or the United States:

In einer Telefonkonferenz am Dienstag hat das Management des Unternehmens nun aber erklärt, solch ein Angebot habe es ohnehin nie gegeben. Weder habe die US-Regierung versucht, das Unternehmen zu kaufen, noch sich exklusive Fertigungskapazitäten in Tübingen zu sichern. Auch Wissenschaftler seien nicht direkt angesprochen worden, hieß es bei CureVac.

Meanwhile, Die Welt has not apologized for the false report, nor even explained how it got published.  Some of its readers have expressed disgust at the editorial oversight of the daily:

Der Relotius-Moment der Welt-Redaktion. Die Redaktion sollte sich rasch von der Autorin und allen trennen, die nicht mit der gebotenen Sorgfalt recherchiert haben. Zudem solle eine Richtigstellung veröffentlicht werden - bewusst analog derjenigen, die auf rechtliche Richtigstellung hin erfolgen. Alles andere schädigt den Ruf und die Glaubwürdigkeit des wichtigen Mediums "Die Welt", und schädigt die vielen, die für diese Zeitung sauber recherchierte Arbeit abliefern

There are ample reasons to criticize Trump and his administration without having to manufacture Fake News.  What is sad is how the article played into anti-American sentiment in Germany. Even at the highest level of the German government.

Anti-Americanism and the German SPD

Hatred of America has always been a cornerstone of both  pro-Putin parties Die LINKE and the right-wing extremist AfD.  But what about the mainstream center-left SPD?  Here is an excerpt from Hating America: A History:

"The victory of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who had been suffering during the campaign because of the country's poor economy, was probably due to his demogogic anti-American appeals. Among other things, Schoeder made a nationalist appeal by stating that to go along with American policy would make Germany a puppet of the United States. His justice minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, went so far as to compare Bush to Adolf Hitler, which in Germany was no mere rhetorical flourish.

Indeed, Schroeder's German Social Democratic Party became a consistent sponsor of anti-Americanism. Ludwig Stiegler, a member of parliament, likened Bush to an imperialist Roman emperor bent on subjugating Germany.  Oskar Lafontaine, the party's deputy co-chairman, called the United States "an aggressor nation." Rudolf Hartnung, chairman of the youth organization, accused the United States of "ideologically inspired genocide" in Central America and other places.  State legislator Jurgen Busack claimed, "the warmongers and international arsonists do not govern in the Kremlin.  They govern in Washington. The United Statesmust lie, cheat, and deceive in an effort to thwart resistance to its insane foreign policy adventures."

Some of the most outlandish September 11, 2001 conspiracy theories have been promoted by SPD officials - often with an anti-Semitic slant.  The former SPD minister Andreas von Bulow wrote the perennial bestseller (in Germany) The CIA and September 11 which asserted the World Trade Center attacks were actually a joint "operation" between the CIA and Mossad, and that the Saudi terrorists were actually alive and well.  The former SPD official and aide to Willy Brandt Albrecht Müller has also promoted the "CIA and Mossad"  conspiracy theory on his influential blog NachDenkSeiten - also implying that the WTC attacks were masterminded  by the "Jewish billionaire" George Soros.  In general NachDenkSeiten and other German conspiracy sites see the CIA as an all-powerful force behind virtually everthing that happens. Jens Berger, Albrecht Müller's junior editor, has implicated the CIA with everything from the shooting down of MH17 in the Ukraine, to organizing the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The site also republishes and shares content with the Kremlin propaganda network RT Deutsch.  So pro-Russian sentiment is also something they share with the Left Party and the right-wing AfD.

Widespread Anti-American Sentiment in Germany

The other day the Frankfurt daily FAZ had a piece about the talk show "Anne Will" with the ironic title "Das hat es in einer deutschen Talkshow noch nicht gegeben" ("this never happened before in a German talk show").  What was so unusual about this particular show?  The topic was foreign policy and there was practically no attacks on the United States:

"Es wird über einen internationalen Konflikt geredet und die Vereinigten Staaten werden nicht erwähnt. Niemand gab einem amerikanischen Präsidenten gute Ratschläge, wie er alles besser machen könnte."

German pundits and journalists in particular don't usually spare an opportunity to comment negatively on U.S. society and politic. Bashing America for bringing peace and prosperity to Germany for the past 75 years has always been popular, and not just in the press.  No doubt German anti-Americanism has gotten much worse since Donald Trump became president.  As conservative columnist Max Boot points out, Trump is the personification of the "ugly American.":

"It never occurs to Trump that he is confirming every anti-American stereotype on the planet. If you think the United States is a rapacious imperialist bent on despoiling the planet and looting other countries with an army of mercenaries, Trump seems intent on convincing you that you are right. He is the very personification of the Ugly American — and his ugly impact on American standing abroad may take decades to dissipate."

Still, it is one thing to criticize the policies of the Trump administration and another to embrace authoritarian regimes simply because they oppose the United States.  I expect the left-wing Die Linke party and the right-wing extremist party to glorify Putin's Russia as an antidote to America power, but I've been amazed at the support totalitarian regimes such as Iran, China, and Venezuela have in mainstream German opinion.  This disconnect was noted by the Liberal (FDP) politician Frank Müller-Rosentritt in a recent article he wrote for the NZZ:

"Donald Trump mag mit seiner Mad-Man-Strategie oft für Kopfschütteln und Verunsicherung sorgen. Dennoch ist es kaum nachvollziehbar, warum der Präsident eines liberalen, demokratischen Rechtsstaats für 41 Prozent der befragten Bundesbürger eine grössere Gefahr für den Weltfrieden darstellen soll als Antidemokraten wie Kim Jong Un (17 Prozent), Ali Khamenei (8 Prozent), Wladimir Putin (8 Prozent) und Xi Jinping (gerade einmal 7 Prozent). Und wenn man wissen will, welcher Politiker denn «das Richtige» in weltpolitischen Fragen tue, dann nennen im europäischen Vergleich ungleich mehr Deutsche Wladimir Putin und Xi Jinping."

Do they care that Putin has his critics, investigative journalists and political opponents imprisoned? Or that President Xi Jinping in China has detained over a million Uighurs in "reeducation" camps? So far, the support for the pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong, Lebanon, and elsewhere has seemed muted Germany.  Do many Germans now just take democracy and freedom for granted?

"Haben wir schon vergessen, wie sich ein Leben in Unfreiheit in einem Unrechtsstaat anfühlt? Betrachtet man das Bild, das die Deutschen von den USA haben – und in welchem sie durch wichtige Leitmedien regelmässig bestätigt werden –, dann könnte man diesen Eindruck durchaus gewinnen. Dabei sind und bleiben die USA als eine der ältesten Demokratien der Welt unser wichtigster Wertepartner. Kein anderes Land Europas hat den USA so viel zu verdanken. Während anderswo eher die politische Linke antiamerikanisch und das rechte Milieu eher amerikafreundlich eingestellt ist, zieht sich die Ablehnung in Deutschland durch alle sozialen und politischen Gruppen, und das, obwohl wir Deutschen in jüngster Geschichte zwei Regime erlebt haben, in denen Freiheit und Menschenwürde mit Füssen getreten wurden."

("Have we forgotten what it feels like to live under oppression and injustice? If you judge by the image that Germans have of USA - regularly amplified by the mainstream media - one could easily have this impression. But the USA as one of the oldest democracies remains our most important values partner. No other nation in Europe owes so much to the USA. Whereas in other countries the political left is anti-American but the right-wing is more America-friendly, in Germany the rejection of America crosses all political groups, even though we Germans have in recent past experienced two regimes where freedom and human dignity were trampled upon."

 

 

On US Independence Day, German Blog Promotes Anti-American Conspiracy Theories

I rarely check in anymore with the pro-Kremlin blog NachDenkSeiten.  If I want to read Russian propaganda I can go directly to primary sources such a RT Deutsch or, now that my Russian is improving, Pravda. Reading the latest posts I came across a reader's letter quoted approvingly by NachDenkSeiten editor Albrecht ("Der Tod kommt aus Amerika") Müller.  In his letter, the reader explains that America is responsible for a)rise of the Nazis, b) World War II, and c) the Holocaust:

"Ist es unerheblich zu wissen, dass die USA den Konflikt mit Russland, bzw. der damaligen Sowjetunion von Anfang an schürten? Dass entscheidende Geldgeber für die NSDAP aus dem amerikanischen Ausland kamen? Dass die USA das 3. Reich mit kriegswichtigen Gütern versorgte, ohne die die deutschen Panzer Stalingrad nie erreicht hätten – ihnen wäre einfach unterwegs der Sprit ausgegangen. Das US-Unternehmen maßgeblich zur Judenvernichtung beitrugen, weil sie unentbehrliche Teile Logistik stellten. Ist das, oder ist das nicht wichtig, für den Umgang mit den USA?"

For Müller and his team of "journalists", all the evil in the world emanates from the United States - the 9/11 attacks, climate change, the shooting down of MH17 over the Ukraine, etc.  The conspiracy theories that Americans financed Hitler, supplied oil to the Wehrmacht and sold technology that was "instrumental" (maΒgeblich) to the Holocaust are widely held by both left- and right-wing pundits (Querfront) in Germany.  The conspiracy theorist/radio host (and friend of Albrecht Müller) Ken Jebsen famously promoted these as well as the "theory" that the Holocaust was a PR stunt initiated by Madison Avenue:

sie brauchen mir keine holocaus informatinen zukommen lassen. ich habe mehr als sie. ich weis wer den holocaust als PR erfunden hat. der neffe freuds. bernays. in seinem buch propaganda schrieb er wie man solche kampagnen durchführt. goebbels hat das gelesen und umgesetzt. ich weis wer die rassendatten im NS reich möglich gemacht hat. IBM mit hollerithmachinen. ich weis wer wärend des gesamten krieges deutschland mit bombersprit versorgt hat.standartoil also rockefeller.

("You needn't send me any information about the Holocaust.  I have more than you. I know who invented the Holocaust as PR: Freud's nephew Bernays. In his book "Propaganda" he wrote about how one carries out such a campaign. Goebbels read it and practiced it. I also know who made the race data possible in the Third Reich: IBM with its "Hollerith Machines" (mechanical tabulators). I know who supplied Germany throughout the war with bomber fuel: Standard Oil -that is, Rockefeller.")

It is a fact that IBM held a majority stake in the German company Dehomag, which held the license for the Hollerith punch-card technology and sold this to the Nazis.  (IBM lost control of its subsidiary after Germany declared war on America in 1941).  But IBM was just one of hundreds of American, British, Swedish, Swiss etc. companies that did business with the Reich - some up to the end of the war.  "Instrumental" to the Holocaust, however, were the Nazis who crafted the "final solution", the hundreds of thousands of Germans who carried out the mass killings, and tens of millions of Germans who supported the Führer and stood by as their Jewish neighbors were deported to the death camps.  IBM and the other businesses that  sold to the Nazis deserve criticism and should come clean about their past, but can hardly be considered "instrumental" to the Holocaust.  But to admit that would be anathema to Nachdenkseiten and the other conspiracy theorists whose mission is to demonize America and glorify Russia. 

For a comprehensive debunking of these conspiracy theories I recommend Kai Ruhsert's comprehensive essay (with footnotes).

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The Strange Death of NATO

IThis week marked the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the most successful alliance in history that brought peace, prosperity and freedom to Europe.  And yet the celebration felt more like a funeral, with a number of member nations - led by Germany - questioning the necessity of NATO:

Is NATO dying? The idea was once unthinkable, but after the German cabinet decided to keep defense spending as low as 1.25% of gross domestic product for the next five years it has become unavoidable. This decision is not driven by any fiscal urgency. Germany is projected to have a balanced budget after last year’s surplus of €11.2 billion, its fifth annual surplus in a row.

What Berlin means by this decision is clear: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S. are not as important to Germany as they used to be. While irritation with and contempt for President Trump influence German foreign policy, something more profound is at work. Democrats including President Obama, as well as Republicans like John McCain, have long called on Germany to demonstrate its commitment to NATO by spending 2% of GDP on defense. By refusing even to come close to meeting NATO’s spending targets, Berlin is thumbing its nose not only at Donald Trump but at the U.S.

That Germany is now seen as an unreliable partner did not go unnoticed by some German observers - who call Germany "bündnisunfähig" - loosely translated as unable to live up to its commitments:

Am meisten gilt das für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, deren politische Elite gewohnheitsmäßig auf Nato-Gipfeln kraftvolle Entschlüsse unterstützt, um dann, wieder zu Hause, das Gegenteil zu tun. So viel Illoyalität geht eine Weile gut – und dann nicht mehr. [...]Von autonomer europäischer Verteidigung zu fabulieren, falls Trumps Amerika eigene Wege geht, ist Zeitvergeudung und nährt nur Illusionen. Die Wahrheit lautet: Der deutsche Tugendbold ist nicht mehr bündnisfähig.

This unwillingness, or inability, to meet its commitments has caused some to question the value of the alliance - as, for example this commentary in the Wall Street Journal:  Why America Needs New Alliances: 

A central question for a revitalized alliance of democratic nations is which way the winds will blow in Western Europe. For a generation after the Berlin Wall’s fall in 1989, U.S. administrations seemed willing to take responsibility for Europe’s security indefinitely. European elites grew accustomed to the idea that perpetual peace was at hand, devoting themselves to turning the EU into a borderless utopia with generous benefits for all.

But Europe has been corrupted by its dependence on the U.S. Germany, the world’s fifth-largest economic power (with a GDP larger than Russia’s), cannot field more than a handful of operational combat aircraft, tanks or submarines. Yet German leaders steadfastly resist American pressure for substantial increases in their country’s defense capabilities, telling interlocutors that the U.S. is ruining a beautiful friendship.

Recent polls in Germany show that Germans fear Donald Trump more than Vladimir Putin.  Maybe Germany would be happier as part of the Russian Federation?