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Should the West Encourage German Military Expansion?Adverse security circumstances have caused the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries to pressure Germany into taking a more active military role in Afghanistan and other theaters of conflict. But what are the potential consequences from a biblical/historical perspective?by John Ross SchroederA recent Newsweek world affairs feature article firmly stated: "Germany was expected to play a big role in European security. But its defense policy has gone AWOL" (Feb. 25, 2008, emphasis added throughout). How can this be, since Germany has sent over 3,100 soldiers to Afghanistan (behind only the United States with some 27,000 troops and the United Kingdom with 7,800)? The rub is that all German soldiers are stationed in the much more peaceful northern part of Afghanistan doing humanitarian work like helping to dig wells and construct schools. The south remains where the war against the Taliban is at its fiercest. Further, the German army has strict instructions from Berlin to avoid counterinsurgency combat activities. Principally the Americans and British, but also Canadians, Danes and Dutch troops, are bearing the brunt in losses of life and serious injuries. A wary German public U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently sent a stern letter to his German counterpart Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung. In this communiqué he reportedly complained of German refusal and demanded the deployment of its soldiers to the troubled southern provinces of Afghanistan. According to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, "Mr. Jung replied in similar mode with a 'direct and stern' letter to Mr. Gates" (The Times, Feb. 2, 2008). One German source stated that "our given location was in the North and that is where we are staying." Berlin's adamant refusal to commit soldiers to battle clearly reflects the overwhelming popular will of the German populace. Recent polls indicated that "86 percent of Germans...say the Bundeswehr should not be fighting anywhere. And 61 percent want even the non-combat missions pulled out" (Newsweek, Feb. 25, 2008). But notwithstanding the German defense minister's response to Secretary Gates, late last year he also stated, "We must convince the public that these [military] missions are firmly in Germany's interests" (Financial Times, Dec. 4, 2007). Hans-Ulrich Klose, a lawmaker in the 614-strong German Bundestag, has openly called for troops to be sent into the fight in southern Afghanistan. Other lawmakers are of a similar cast of mind, but hesitate to contradict the country's popular will—which is reflected in the Bundeswehr's rather run-down condition. In comparison to America, France and Britain, percentagewise Germany spends relatively little of its GNP on the military. According to the Newsweek feature article, the Bundeswehr is both vastly underfinanced and underequipped. Even its humanitarian role is said to be inadequately financed and poorly coordinated. Current German military philosophy Karsten Voigt is a senior politician and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief diplomatic envoy on U.S./German relations. He said: "The fact that sometimes soldiers have to fight and win battles has dropped out of the [German] consciousness since the second World War. We have to recognise that the government has a different position to the majority of the population" (Financial Times, Dec. 4, 2007). Wolfgang Ischinger is Germany's ambassador to Great Britain. He said, "Germany had so often been told that their military had done 'many awful things' it was hard to persuade them that they should get involved in another conflict" (The Sunday Telegraph, Feb. 17, 2008). Although Germany is apparently considering increasing troops to Afghanistan by 1,000, it is with the provision that their role will be confined to the more tranquil north. Ambassador Ischinger also said to The Sunday Telegraph in London: "You have never been in the situation, certainly not in the last century, where you thought that the military had no role at all abroad, but that was the consensus in Germany [even among the establishment] as recently as 12 or 13 years ago" (ibid.). Wider European philosophy Undergirding contemporary German thought is a wider pan-European philosophy that has steadily gained adherents on the Continent. It runs something like this. "Europe, in short, is the not-America...[A] quite popular [concept] in Europe today. You hear and see it made repeatedly, often in cruder forms, but always with the same themes: solidarity and social justice, the welfare state, secularism, no death penalty, the environment and international law, peaceful solutions and multilateral, transcending [national] sovereignty, counterbalancing the US" (Timothy Garton Ash, Free World, 2005, p. 56). American writer Robert Kagan has, perhaps unwittingly, reinforced these concepts on the European intelligentsia. In one of his books he indicated that Americans still operate in an anarchic world where individual nations must use military might. Europeans, on the other hand, are moving in the direction "of laws and rules and transnational negotiation...a post-historical paradise of peace and relative prosperity" (Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order, 2003, p. 3). Other side of the story in Germany However, there are influential German voices trumpeting a full military role for the nation. Jan Techau is director and Alexander Skiba is program officer of the Alfred Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. They cowrote the following for the International Herald Tribune (Feb. 8, 2008): "The decision by Germany's coalition government to dismiss the Pentagon's request for the deployment of German combat troops in the south of Afghanistan is a grave foreign policy blunder. Not only will Berlin's refusal create serious damage in the relationships with its closest NATO allies; it will also reduce Germany's room for maneuver on other security challenges...When it comes to using its military might, Germany's political elites seem paralyzed." On a national level even powerful modern governments must make hard choices. Meeting the needs of the moment may not always correspond well with meeting the dangers of the future. Those well acquainted with both biblical and secular history see that pressuring Germany into greater military involvement may carry grave risks for future world security. We should never forget that even as late as the very early 1930s, the Nazis were a relatively small minority of the German population, and it seemed but a dream that Adolf Hitler would ever assume the summit of power in Germany. But that happened in 1933. Even now underneath the vast majority of current popular political opinion in the country, there is a hard core of minority feelings that the 12-year Nazi regime (1933-1945) was not so bad after all. According to one poll published in Germany's Stern magazine, "A quarter of Germans believe aspects of the Nazi era were positive" (The Guardian, Oct. 11, 2007). One observer noted, "It is particularly alarming that younger people are increasingly positive about national socialism." Another voice lamented, "Hitler left the world much more than Auschwitz and the autobahns, but it's something people gladly forget or suppress" (ibid.). Both Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, two U.S. presidents in times of severe national crisis, told their respective American audiences, "This generation cannot escape history." Lessons of contemporary history Historical accounts do not have to be a few thousand years old to constitute important lessons for the present. Recent history can be very relevant to our current needs. The first 50 years of the 20th century have much to teach us. During that period the English-speaking peoples fought two world wars with Germany (1914-1918; 1939-1945). The German peoples have chosen the path of pacifism, which the West itself urged upon them in the aftermath of World War II. Now to meet a current security crisis, some of the chief Western powers are pressuring them to undertake further military conflict. Undoubtedly, sooner or later, Germany will bow to repeated urgings and embark upon a much greater military role. But where will it end? If the English-speaking peoples continue on their present path of growing disobedience to God's way of life (see the Good News feature article "Redefining Morality: A Torrent of Trouble Threatens to Engulf Us," March/April 2008 issue), the principle of cause and effect will inevitably bring them down. But how? Bible prophecy clearly indicates that national punishments upon the United States, Britain and others will come from a convergence of nations in Central Europe—centered upon one powerful country in particular. Some 3,500 years ago Moses spoke to our forefathers of such a nation. "The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand" (Deuteronomy 28:49). Prophecy embraces the principle of duality and repetition. What happened once in ancient times to the house of Israel (721-718 B.C.) can occur again at the time of the end. In this respect does Isaiah 10:7 also have something to teach us? "Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations." The present leadership in Europe may have absolutely no such intention of punishing the English-speaking nations for their sins. Yet that will not prevent future leaders from carrying out the mandated task (see verses 5-6). Conditions change with time. During the days of the patriarch Joseph, the favor of the Egyptians rested upon ancient Israel. But the time came that "there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). Then the troubles soon began. May our peoples learn the lessons of both ancient and contemporary history, repent of their present course of action and direction, turning back to God's ways by the millions. To help you to more fully understand the background, we recommend the following free booklets: They are available either in print or they can be downloaded from wnponline.org. WNP |
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