German Global Policy and its Minister

The Foreign Minister's Career

With the exception of the last four years of the conservative liberal coalition (2009 - 2013), Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been involved in shaping Berlin's foreign policy in various government functions since 1998. In November 1998 - as State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery - he was first appointed coordinator of the German intelligence services. The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) was also part of his responsibility after his rise to Chief of Staff of the Federal Chancellery in July 1999. In the Chancellery, Steinmeier was involved not only in all major German foreign policy operations; he participated as well in the elaboration of the "Agenda 2010," which also enabled Germany to achieve economic predominance in the EU. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[1]). In 2005, Steinmeier was appointed foreign minister of the ensuing Grand Coalition. He will once again preside over the foreign ministry.

Intelligence Services Coordinator

Already the war against Yugoslavia in March 1999, which helped cement German predominance in southeastern Europe, was inextricably linked to Steinmeier's activities. Under his supervision, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) supported the terrorist KLA, which, during the NATO invasion, had, in fact, operated as the ground forces in Kosovo for the Western war alliance. In contradiction to available intelligence information, Steinmeier tolerated the German government's war propaganda: As one insider wrote, concerning the BND's Kosovo situation reports, at that time, the BND evaluated "many of the horror stories of alleged mass graves and Serb atrocities to be intelligence disinformation" aimed simply "at facilitating policy-making."[2] As the Chancellery's Intelligence Coordinator - including also for the BND - Steinmeier must have been aware of this. During his time as Chief of Staff of the Federal Chancellery, other intelligence scandals arose in Kosovo, for example, when in 2004, a BND informant helped organize riots.[3] None of this has even come close to being clarified.

"Anti-Terrorism" Cooperation

Germany's first major military-intelligence activity beyond Europe - the participation in the war on Afghanistan and the "War on Terror" - is also intrinsically tied to Steinmeier's work in Berlin's Chancellery. Not only was the Bundeswehr's most comprehensive foreign deployment - at the Hindu Kush - part of this cooperation, but Berlin also beefed up German cooperation with US-American intelligence services, to the point of open complicity in abductions and torture of terror suspects. This occurred primarily under the responsibility of the then incumbent Chief of Staff of the Chancellery, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.[4] Steinmeier is accused of having deliberately delayed for several years, the liberation of a German citizen from US torture chambers in Guantanámo - offered by Washington -without ever having to pay the consequences.[5] During his term as foreign minister, he supported German cooperation in the "War on Terror" even when, in 2007, the "abductions phase" transitioned to the "targeted killings phase," using killer drones, as has been recently reported.[6]

Shaping the World Together

With the termination of the Bush era and, following years of reliable cooperation within the framework of NATO's "Mutual Defense Clause" [7], officially declared October 4, 2001, the German Foreign Minister saw the opportunity for Germany to assume a more important role in global politics. In an "Open Letter" to US President Obama in January 2009, Steinmeier declared that "no country in the world, not even the most powerful one" can "solve the current global problems alone." One must instead operate "together", meaning that "the USA and Europe must closely cooperate." Only by providing "common answers to the questions of the future," one can be successful. "Together, we can also shape the world in the 21st century."[8]

Germany's Growth in Power

Following the recent federal elections, the foreign policy establishment has been focusing on the call for a more resolute German international policy. With his speech on the occasion of the national holiday, President Joachim Gauck gave the starting signal, when he called for a "strong German role" in "Europe and the world."[9] This call was soon followed by a paper jointly published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), the Foreign Ministry and German foreign policy experts, underscoring Germany's "growth in power" and new "opportunities for influence," demanding a "re-evaluation" of its global policy.[10] The media followed with the publication of quotes from a CDU/SPD foreign policy strategy paper, in which the two parties declared that Germany should "actively help shape the international order" and should be "at the ready" for all kinds of interventions throughout the world.[11] All foreign and military means of the EU should be used.

Civilian and Military

This is reinforced in the current coalition agreement, which states that the EU must "help to shape international policy" in the 21st Century and thereby "take on a more autonomous role." Military measures are openly being planned in. It states that the parties in Berlin's government will campaign for "the further coupling of the European Union's civilian and military instruments" as well as for organizing all conceivable means of intervention - "civilian and military" - more effectively. Berlin has begun to apply pressure. For example, the coalition agreement explicitly declares that it is intended to "take new political initiatives toward the reinforcement and elaboration of common foreign and security policy, in connection with the EU's December 2013 summit meeting." The EU summit meeting, focusing on the EU's military policy, will begin this Thursday in Brussels.[12]

The EU's Credibility

As a matter of course, Berlin will continue to use humanitarian - human rights to justify its global hegemonic claims. As the coalition agreement remarks, "in its international missions for human rights, the credibility of the European Union is largely dependent upon how consequently it lives up to its principles and punishes violations on its own territory."[13] The appointment of a foreign minister, who is controversial because of his role in Germany's cooperation in torture by the USA's services, speaks volumes.

[1] see also Hartz IV for everyone and The Disengagement of France
[2] Süddeutsche Zeitung vom 14.04.1999, zitiert nach: Erich Schmidt-Eenboom: Kosovo-Krieg und Interesse; www.geheimdienste.info
[3] see also The Sorcerer's Apprentice
[4] see also Steinmeier and His Accomplices, Sinking Into Barbarism (II) and Without Consequences
[5] see also Transatlantische Verbrechensausbeute
[6] see also Die Phase der gezielten Tötungen
[7] see also The Case of NATO's Mutual Defense
[8] Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Im engen Schulterschluss; www.spiegel.de 12.01.2009. See also Die Welt gestalten
[9] see also Sleeping Demons
[10] see also The Re-Evaluation of German Foreign Policy
[11] see also Bereit zur globalen Ordnungspolitik
[12], [13] Deutschlands Zukunft gestalten. Koalitionsvertrag zwischen CDU, CSU und SPD. 18. Legislaturperiode