Relations with Germany and the Axis Paris-Berlin-Moscow

The Focus of our yesterday’s edition analyzed the international complicities in Beslan massacres while the heading Forums and Analysis focused on the controversy triggered in Russia as a result of the spreading of an interview given by Shamil Basáyev to the ABC network. Today, this controversy becomes the focus in the United States due to a forum by Yuri Ushakov, Russian Ambassador to Washington, published by the Washington Times. The Russian diplomacy is planning to use the anniversary of Beslan massacre and proximity of the commemoration of September 11 attacks, to have the United States facing its responsibilities. In diplomatic terms, but firm, Ushakov urged the United States to abandon its leniency towards the Chechen terrorists. In this regard, the author wishes that this country be as severe with the countries that protect Basáyev’s men as with those which are accused of housing Al Qaeda members. The Russian Ambassador resorted to the rhetoric of the “global war against terrorism” for the United States to be aware of its contradictions.
The said text is an example of the growing tensions between Moscow and Washington, without any possibility to be calmed down as the summit on the UN reform scheduled in New York in September approaches. Once more, the issue of terrorism could be used by the Russian diplomacy to weaken the U.S. stance during the summit.

In order to face the U.S. imperialism, Moscow approached Paris and Berlin to establish a pole to slow down Washington’s policy. This alliance actively struggled to prevent the war of Iraq and continued consolidating later. Strongly criticized by the atlantist circles in France and Germany, the alliance, however, held out great hopes in the regions that suffer the U.S. policy more strictly. In February 2003, the Jordanian journalist and writer Tarek Massaroua issued in Alshaab.Com an appeal showing his enthusiasm about this policy and strongly claimed the involvement of the Arab world. He criticized the attitude of the Middle East leaders who kept a passive attitude at Washington’s policy instead of getting involved in the French-German-Russian initiative. _The alliance has developed but it is strongly threatened today by a change of political majority in Germany. On September 18, the anticipated legislative elections will be held with great possibilities of success, according to the polls, for the conservatives of the alliance CDU-CSU led by Angela Merkel. If we take into account the atlantist tropism of the candidate, this announced victory is welcomed by the U.S. press. The Washington Post published an unsigned editorial, and compromised therefore the whole editorial team, whereby it expressed its desire that Gerard Schröder be completely defeated by his challenger. The newspaper of Warren Buffet denounced the “American rhetoric” regarding the outgoing chancellor and ascertained that Angela Merkel will approach the United States and precipitate the “improvement” of the German economy. However, the newspaper expressed its fear and it was the possible success of the Left Wing Party (Die Linkspartei) established as a result of a division of the SPD, and in whose ranks we have Oskar Lafontaine and former communists. If this party achieved good results we could think of a government with a major coalition that would have social-democrats and conservatives, and in which Angela Merkel would not enjoy total freedom. We should not forget that in February 2003 Angela Merkel signed an atlantist profession of faith in the Washington Post in which she did not hesitate to state that for her, Germany and the United States were as important as the European Union. She committed then, to the newspaper’s readers, to reestablishing better relations between Berlin and Washington as soon as she took power. These statements totally contradicted the ones she had just signed a month ago together with Alain Juppé, then president of Jacques Chirac’s, the UMP, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Elysium Treaty between Adenauer and De Gaulle.
In the Washington Times, the investigators of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, close to CDU-CSU, criticized the outgoing chancellor and complained that in his electoral campaign arguments were used against a possible attack on Iran by the United States. Yet, they feel that Germany must stay together with Washington. Their criticisms about Gerard Schröder’s foreign policy enable us to have a precise idea about their ambitions on this matter: approaching the United States and atlantist countries from Eastern Europe, alienation from France and Russia, questioning the lifting of arms embargo to China and accession of Turkey. A more worrying fact is that both authors wondered what would be the consequences of a major attack in Germany before the elections. Without excluding the possibility that might trigger a sympathy movement towards the established government, they considered that it was more likely that it would appear as a failure of Schröder and favor the conservative candidate.

However, in the interview given to Sächsischen Zeitung, the German minister of foreign affairs and leader of German ecologists, Joschka Fischer, defended his results in the international arena. He considered that the opening policy regarding Russia and China was the best way for these countries to open themselves. He also reminded his total opposition to a war against Iran. We hope that regarding this issue, the foreign minister does not show the same ambiguities as in the case of Iraq.
In the interview given to Strana.ru, the Russian president Vladimir Putin came personally to assist Gerard Schröder. He reminded that under the leadership of the later, Germany and Russia had approached a great deal in the international arena, that both countries celebrated together at last the victory on Nazism and this understanding had a significant impact on the economic sector with the construction of a gas pipeline. This interview is part of a major campaign of the Kremlin in favor of the reelection of Schröder. On last August 29, Vladimir Putin stated in a news conference in Moscow that he would support to confer a permanent seat to Germany in the UN Security Council and would visit the Federal Republic on September 8 within the framework of State visit, just ten days before the elections.