BERLIN/TBILISI (Own report) - Since recently Germany has a temporary airlift base at its disposal in Georgia. According to the German Air Force, the base in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, serves as hub for the Bundeswehr's withdrawal from Afghanistan. The fact that the country has not only deepened its ties with the EU through an association agreement, but is also intensifying relations with NATO explains why, of all places, Germany uses a base in Georgia. Georgia, for example, has participated in the "Defender Europe 2021" maneuvers. This is in contrast to the domestic political development in that Caucasus country, which has enhanced its relations with Russia since its change of government in 2012 - under the protests of nationalist or pro-Western oriented milieus. The Green Party-affiliated Heinrich-Böll Foundation already speaks of Georgia's "creeping Russification." According to the Foundation's representative in the South Caucasus, the EU's policy in the region needs a stronger foreign and military policy component - including eventual "peace missions." Read more

BERLIN/KIEV (Own report) - Whereas the German invasion of the Soviet Union 80 years ago is being internationally commemorated today, collaborators, who participated in the war of annihilation on the side of the Germans, are receiving state honors in Ukraine, in particular the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its leader Stepan Bandera as well as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) which originated from that milieu. Together with the German Wehrmacht and troops from several collaborating states, OUN militias advanced onto Soviet territory, where they committed countless massacres of the Jewish population alongside German units. In Lviv (formerly Lemberg), 4000 Jews were assassinated within a very short period. The parliament in Kiev declared the OUN "combatants for Ukrainian independence." A government decree calls for honoring their "patriotism" and "high morals" in Ukrainian schools. The UPA's founding day has been a national holiday since 2015. The OUN salute adorns Ukraine's football League's jerseys. Read more

BERLIN/MOSCOW (Own report) - The German invasion of the Soviet Union 80 years ago will be internationally commemorated on Tuesday - without any participation by the German government or the Bundestag. This invasion marked the beginning of the German war of annihilation's key phase that had cost the lives of 27 million Soviet citizens, devastated large parts of the country and exposed the Jewish population to German crimes of extermination. The Bundestag should hold no special commemoration, but instead maintain an "undivided commemoration of the entire course of the Second World War," explained Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the Bundestag. Several members of the Bundestag used a "debate" on the war of annihilation to demand that "German crimes" not lead to restraint regarding aggression against today's Russia. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has Soviet victims of the war of annihilation disappear among the victims of "Central and Eastern Europe" - a choice of terms that conflates Nazi victims and Nazi collaborators: Significant forces from "Central and Eastern Europe" played an active role in the German war of annihilation. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Own report) - While the German frigate Bayern is preparing to set off for its Asia-Pacific tour, high-ranking US military officials are intensifying their discussion on the type and time of a possible large-scale war against China. Retired Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and author of a newly published novel on such a war, assumed until recently that the battle could begin in the coming decade and could possibly be triggered by a conflict over Taiwan or islands in the South and East China seas. However, the military balance of power between the USA and China is rapidly shifting in favor of the People's Republic, which in some areas has already caught up, for example in the number of warships or in cyber warfare, Stavridis notes. He warns that "the battle" between Washington and Beijing "may come much sooner. US allies play a central role and the USA is deliberately involving them in "more aggressive" operations, for example, in the South China Sea. Germany is among the allies he mentioned. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Own report) - The leading western industrial countries want to compete with China's New Silk Road with a new infrastructure initiative spanning the globe. The project agreed on at their G7 summit meeting, which ended yesterday, bears the motto "Build Back Better World" ("B3W"). It is intended to mobilize over the next few years "hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure investment" in developing countries. Of course, the funding is completely uncertain. Over the years, similar ambitious initiatives launched by the EU, as well as by Japan and India, intended to undermine the New Silk Road have remained unsuccessful. The current G7 initiative is part of a broad-based offensive launched against China by the United States, one that includes a gigantic high-tech funding program and military measures with a strengthening of allied cooperation. US President Joe Biden stated: "We are in a competition with China to win the 21st century, and the starting gun has gone off." Read more

BERLIN/RIYADH/ABU DHABI (Own report) - The EU should take advantage of current turbulences on the Arabian Peninsula to intensify its activities for gaining more influence in the region, according a working paper just published by the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS), the most important military policy strategy center for the German government. As the BAKS notes, the energy transition compels the Arab Gulf states to abandon their economic focus on oil and gas. Moreover, following the change of US administrations, they are cautiously turning away from an openly confrontational policy toward Iran. This offers the opportunity to play a leading role in facilitating a new security dialogue in the Gulf, while enabling the EU to establish "a counterweight to Chinese influence in the region," according to the BAKS. China is gaining strength on the Arabian Peninsula. It is setting up a regional manufacturing plant for Covid-19 vaccines in the United Arab Emirates, while Huawei is rolling out the country's 5G network and is intending to upgrade it to a cyber security hub. Read more

BERLIN/BRUSSELS/JAKARTA (Own report) - The EU should significantly extend its foreign and military policy activities in the Asia Pacific region, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell demanded on his return from a visit of several days to Indonesia. In Jakarta, Borrell discussed prospects for intensifying cooperation with the country and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and announced: "We are exploring options to enhance EU’s maritime presence in the vast Indo-Pacific space." This is necessary because, through China's rise, the world's center of gravity is increasingly shifting away from the Atlantic to the Pacific. ”The history of mankind of the 21st century will be written in the Indo-Pacific area.” Just a few days earlier, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer became the first member of a German government to ever visit the Pacific Island of Guam, where the German frigate Bayern will dock during its Asia tour in the fall. Guam hosts major US military bases and is seen as a possible battlefield in a war between the USA and China. Read more

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) - The Franco-German Ministerial Council meeting ended yesterday with a conspicuous display of harmony. He would like to thank Chancellor Angela Merkel for her "commitment," "vigor" and "patience," French President Emmanuel Macron declared in reference to the fact that the Ministerial Council meeting was the last such meeting with Merkel's participation. The Chancellor stressed that it was “always an enrichment when we reach a common solution." The declarations of harmony conceal the fact that, since she took office in late 2005, Merkel has succeeded in systematically increasing Berlin's predominance over Paris - from imposing Germany's austerity policy during the euro crisis against fierce French resistance, to the successful rejection of Macon's plea for a euro zone fiscal union. Their current disputes pertain to the war in Mali, where a defeat of the European powers is looming and the development of a new sixth-generation fighter jet (FCAS) almost encountered an impasse due to bitter internal rivalries. Read more