Zum Einsatz bereit
As US and British planes bomb Baghdad, a former German admiral has laid out the reasons why Nato and the European Union are putting themselves on a war footing. In a long article entitled ,,Who are our enemies?" Vice-Admiral Ulrich Weisser has explained the so-called threats which Europe and Nato now face. The text is little more than standard Nato thinking but it has the merit of being clear and the piquancy of being in German.
The admiral explains that the threats are not what they used to be in the Cold War: Germany is surrounded by peaceful and friendly neighbours and there is no threat to her territory. But this, he says, should not be confused with the situation ,,on the external borders of Nato" - as if Nato were a state. Nor is the ,,strategic triangle of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East" free of dangers, which extend even to Africa. ,,The threats of yesterday," he says, ,,have been replaced by a multiplicity of risks which have a different quality." In the foreground are ,,ethnic, religious and nationalist rivairies" which can lead to ,,the collapse of state order". This, he concludes, is a ,,danger" with which Nato and the EU must deal. ,,it is not the main task of the German army to be stationed in places but instead to be ready for action, bereit zum Einsatz." He then recites the usual litany of Nato-US problems, from Iraq to Syria and the Middle East ,,peace process", all of which are dangerous. Then there are the dangers of ,,unpredictable regimes", ,,organised crime", and of ,,cyber-terrorism" attacking the world economic information system. In short, there is a whole ghouls' gallery of horrors. Germany, he explains, is at particular risk because it is ,,a leading industrial and exporting nation and thus extremely dependent on the outside world and interlinked with the international community." Military force, to put it bluntly, must protect Germany's interests as an exporter, but also must ensure freedom of movement for trade and the supply of raw materials. To be sure, all these problems cannot be solved by armed intervention - which is why ,,conflict prevention" is required. ,,But for the cases when disputes within states and conflicts between states break out in regions which touch America's and Europe's vital interests, then the necessary instruments must be available to be able to intervene." ,,Crises which might spread to epidemic proportions must be stamped out in the place where they arise." ,,The EU cannot afford strategic abstinence ... the Bush administration expects European solidarity." Appropriately enough, the article is illustrated with numerous pictures of Luftwaffe bombers and a frightening photograph of a masked soldier who apparently belongs to the kind of ,,Special Units" which Europe will deploy in order to promote stability.
(European Foundation Intelligence Digest, London, 8th -21st February)