The Marshall Plan? That was, according to the belief widely held in the West, and semi-officially supported in West Germany, an unselfish reconstruction program by the United States after the Second World War. The program publicly presented on June 5, 1947, by George C. Marshall, US Secretary of State, at the time, was aimed at helping the economies of Europe – still floundering under the destruction of the war – to get back on their feet, while simultaneously “preventing the spread of communism.” This is how it is explained, for example, on the web portal “Lebendes Museum Online” (LeMo), which is sponsored by the German government’s Foundation ”Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.” According to this, from 1948 to 1952, Washington, altruistically made enormous sums available, at the time, – around US $12.4 billion – in current values €157 billion – to improve living conditions in Western Europe. The Marshall Plan – a humanitarian miracle? Whoever is skeptical about this semi-official historiography, will find comprehensive background information in the recently published book by French historian, Annie Lacroix-Riz on “The Origins of the Marshall Plan” or, as described in the subtitle, “the Myth of the American Aid.” Read more

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI (Own report) – Germany is participating in plans to build a transport corridor all the way to India, in cooperation with the EU and USA. According to a decision taken by Washington, Brussels, Berlin and the governments of other countries on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is to link Europe and South Asia. It will be a combination of a rail and shipping corridor and include the construction of submarine cables. The delivery of green hydrogen from Israel to Europe is also planned. The project is designed to compete with China’s New Silk Road, as well as to bind New Delhi tighter to the EU and pit it against Beijing. IMEC is the fourth major infrastructure project launched by the EU and USA to diminish the importance of the New Silk Road. Two are considered failures, one (“Global Gateway”) is advancing only slowly. And yet there is a great need for investment in the infrastructure sector worldwide, leaving room for Chinese and transatlantic projects of any magnitude - side by side and simultaneously. Read more

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Own report) – The EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which meets today, plans new coercive economic measures against China following the successful coordination of Western sanctions against Russia, according to reports on draft conclusions of the transatlantic summit. After the start of the Ukraine war, the TTC – that was founded in 2021 to repair the transatlantic rifts on economic issues, which had emerged during the Trump era – morphed into a central body for coordinating Western coercive measures against Russia. It will now additionally coordinate controls of exports and investments relating to China within the United States and the EU. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to attend the meeting. Meanwhile, the EU is elaborating an Economic Security Strategy to facilitate economic measures against China. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has recently called for banning investments in the People’s Republic by European companies, whenever deemed necessary. Experts are promoting the creation of a “geo-economic NATO”. Read more

BERLIN/TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Own report) – For the first time ever, the German government will hold German-Japanese government consultations in Tokyo this weekend with a special focus on expanding bilateral combat exercises at the Pacific. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and six ministers, including Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, will meet for talks with their Japanese counterparts tomorrow to intensify cooperation between the two states. This comes at a time when not only Japan is embarking on a massive arms build-up, increasing its military budget by over 50 percent, and is procuring missiles and cruise missiles that can reach China. The United States as well, is dramatically expanding its military presence in the vicinity of the People’s Republic, amassing its armed forces throughout the first island chain off China’s coast – from Japan via Taiwan to the Philippines – and turning Australia into a sort of rear base of operations for launching eventual attacks on China. Even military bases on small islands in the Pacific are being expanded to secure supplies from the USA for combat in eastern Asia. At the same time, the Bundeswehr is expanding its exercises throughout the entire region. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Own report) – German und US media are trying to divert from the well-founded suspicion of the US government's responsibility for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline by presenting an alternative version. According to reports published on Tuesday on both sides of the Atlantic and based on anonymous US government sources and unconfirmed investigations, a group of six, possibly Ukrainian or Russian nationals, is believed to have single-handedly committed the sabotage with a yacht rented in Rostock – with no indications of government involvement. This is quite astonishing since, up to now, government responsibility was considered to be the only established fact, due to the enormous resources required. To support the alternative version of the crime, German investigators are said to have discovered traces of explosives on a table in the yacht in January – nearly four months after the sabotage. Above all, the alternative version serves one purpose: to divert suspicion from the USA, which bears responsibility for the crime – according to the research by the US journalist Seymour Hersh. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Own report) – The United Sates is holding up the promised deliveries of M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine as a means of attacking Germany’s Leopard 2’s strong standing on the European arms markets. This is suggested by reports from industrial circles. As the Biden administration has confirmed, the promised 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks will probably not be delivered to Kiev before two, or eventually one and a half years. Washington is supposedly ready to quickly replace the Leopard 2 battle tanks, European countries deliver to Kiev, with M1 Abrams, as long as the recipients engage in a “long-term industrial partnership.” This would mean, however, that they would be lost as potential customers for German battle tanks. Experts warn that this would also entail Berlin’s loss of political influence. Poland was the first European state to opt for US battle tanks, already prior to Russia’s intervention, and is also buying battle tanks from South Korea, which it plans to produce itself, in a few years. This, in turn, serves US Interests in Eastern Asia – and weakens Berlin. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Own report – The trade war is expanding between the EU and the USA over investment programs worth hundreds of billions. According to reports, these programs threaten not only the production of electric cars and their batteries, but also the wind and hydrogen energy sectors – all the industrial sectors crucial to Berlin’s and the EU’s futuristic plans. This is caused by these US measures, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which promise hundreds of billions of US dollars in subsidies, however, granted only for products manufactured in the USA. To take advantage of this boost in subsidies, Washington is coaxing companies from Europe, but also from Japan and South Korea to relocate to the United States. Whereas France is calling for resolute countermeasures, Berlin is playing it down, restricting the EU to negotiations with the USA. According to economists, “a great number of industries of the future” are ultimately at stake. Former Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser even warns of an “industrial and capital exodus from Europe” to the USA. Read more

BERLIN/BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Own report) – While Germany’s new China strategy is being drafted, the dispute between the German foreign ministry and the chancellery is escalating over the intensity of the confrontation policy toward Beijing. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is pushing for maintaining a certain degree of economic cooperation despite the growing rivalry with the People’s Republic – in the interests of important branches of the German industry, which depend on China as a sales market and a research and development site. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is pushing for aggressive political attacks against Beijing – under the pretext of fighting for human rights. She does not even hesitate to publicly attack the chancellor, himself, while abroad. At the same, time, the USA is intensifying pressure in Berlin to scale back its economic cooperation with Beijing, interfering directly in concrete German-Chinese business deals. US President Biden sees a “decisive decade” ahead in the competition with China. In this context Berlin announced a new China strategy for the first quarter of 2023. Read more

WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Own report) – An increasing number of German companies are expanding their presence in the United States – at the growing expense of production sites in Germany. On the one hand, the causes are huge investment programs in the USA, and on the other, the consequences of Western sanctions aimed at “ruining Russia” (Annalena Baerbock). Since last year, Washington has started economic stimulus measures, some in the triple-digit billions, to induce German companies to set up production sites in the United States. Because of subsidies offered in the USA, the Northvolt company is considering suspending its plans to build a battery factory in northern Germany and instead to build a plant in North America. At the same time, the existence of energy-intensive industries is being jeopardized in Germany, due to the currently high energy prices. The threat of their relocation abroad – particularly to the USA, where energy prices are significantly lower – is tangible. Thus, the US reindustrialization goes hand in hand with Germany’s deindustrialization. Read more

WASHINGTON/WARSAW/BERLIN (Own report) – The power struggle escalates between Washington and Berlin for the dominating position in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and is impacting the dispute over Ukraine’s reconstruction. Whereas the EU Commission had initially claimed leadership in that country’s reconstruction, Washington is now arguing that Brussels lacks the necessary “political and financial heft” to do so. The United States must therefore assume the leadership. Meanwhile, in Poland the USA is superseding an initiative being promoted by Berlin to create a European air defense system, at the same time, establishing Poland as a hub for the proliferation of US nuclear technology in Eastern and Southeastern Europe – at the expense of the French nuclear industry. The USA is using the Three Seas Initiative to begin to transform Eastern and Southeastern Europe into another market for US liquified gas. This regional project comprises twelve nations between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas and was launched by Poland and others in 2015 at Washington’s suggestion. This initiative runs counter to German interests in the region. Read more