Halt...Weenie Zeit!

[CountDeMoney]

German minister warns Nato against 'warmongering'
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned Nato against "warmongering", after it conducted military exercises in Eastern Europe.
BBC

Mr Steinmeier said that extensive Nato manoeuvres launched this month were counterproductive to regional security and could inflame tensions with Russia.

He urged the Nato military alliance to replace the exercises with more dialogue and co-operation with Russia.

Nato has carried out a 10-day exercise simulating a Russian attack on Poland.

The drill, which ended on Friday, involved about 31,000 troops, as well as fighter jets, ships and 3,000 vehicles.

Russia has been strengthening its military presence near its borders. In February it held a combat-readiness exercise involving 8,500 troops in a southern region near areas of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels.

In 2013, Russian jets staged a simulated attack on the Swedish capital Stockholm.

'Do not create pretexts'

"What we shouldn't do now is inflame the situation further through sabre-rattling and warmongering," Mr Steinmeier said in an interview to be published in Germany's Bild am Sontag newspaper.

"Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance's eastern border will bring security is mistaken.

"We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation," he said, adding that it would be "fatal to search only for military solutions and a policy of deterrence".

The exercise in Poland, which takes place every two years, was intended to test Nato's ability to respond to threats, and to allay fears in eastern Europe since Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Nato spokesperson Oana Lungescu said the alliance's actions were "defensive, proportionate, and in line with our international commitments".

She said the alliance had maintained dialogue with Russia through the Nato-Russia Council, although practical co-operation had been suspended, following the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In an interview with the Bild newspaper on Thursday, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was seeking to create "a zone of influence through military means", with "massive militarisation" at Nato borders.

Russia has repeatedly said that the presence of Nato troops near its borders is a threat to its security.

Bloomberg
Merkel Ally Rebuffs NATO Criticism by German Foreign Minister

Christian Democrat says Steinmeier risks 'glee' in Moscow
German coalition airs public dispute over stance toward Putin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party criticized her foreign minister for portraying NATO military maneuvers close to Russia's border as warmongering, exposing a dispute within her coalition over how to deal with President Vladimir Putin.

"It's Russia, not western nations, that needs to contribute more to rebuild trust," Juergen Hardt, the foreign-policy spokesman of Merkel's parliamentary faction, said in a statement on Sunday. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's comments in a newspaper interview could lead to "misunderstandings or even glee in Moscow," he said.

With a general election due in Germany next year, the public disagreement reflects growing tension within Merkel's coalition over how to deal with the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Steinmeier, whose Social Democrats are junior partner to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, is urging flexibility in easing economic sanctions on Russia. Merkel has insisted that Putin fully comply with a peace deal reached last year in Minsk, Belarus, before any penalties can be lifted.

The rebuttal by Merkel's faction came after Steinmeier told Bild am Sonntag that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization maneuvers in Poland and the Baltic risked raising tension with Russia when dialogue and cooperation are what's needed.

"What we shouldn't do is inflame the situation further with loud saber-rattling and war cries," the Sunday newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview.

Military personnel from the U.S.-led alliance's 28 member countries, including German troops, this month held the first large-scale maneuvers in the region in about a decade. Members are due to finalize plans for strengthening NATO's military presence in eastern Europe at a summit in Warsaw, the Polish capital, on June 8-9. The plan includes stationing about 4,000 troops in Poland and the Baltic states as a signal that NATO would defend member states against Russian aggression.

[CountDeMoney]

[CountDeMoney]

I'm trying to figure out if this is typical German pacifism, or typical anti-Polish sentiment masquerading as typical German pacifism.

[Martinus]

That's like saying one should not call the Orlando massacre the work of radical Islam, for fear of risking further animosity of the Muslim world.

Oh wait.

[CountDeMoney]

Wrong thread, asshole.

[Martinus]

It's the right thread. Incidentally, why do right wingers at Breitbart have such a huge boner for Putin? I mean, they are white washing even Russian war with Georgia.

[Tamas]

Every fucking thread is about your fucking Milo bullshit.

And very surprisingly right-wingers on every site are suckling Putin's dick because he is building the facsist, violence-worshipping, deviance-outlawing, strongman rules rest kneels system they ALL want to see. Only difference is, in Eastern countries they can talk about their dreams openly, in the West they have to dress it up as being worried about free speech and other things they don't give a damn about.

[Berkut]

I'm trying to figure out if this is typical German pacifism, or typical anti-Polish sentiment masquerading as typical German pacifism.

Is it that there are specific German political actors who are in Putin's pocket or something?

I just do not understand this kind of piece outside someone working for Russia's interests. Nothing else makes sense.

[Valmy]

"We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation," he said, adding that it would be "fatal to search only for military solutions and a policy of deterrence".

NATO is not doing that so I don't get this comment. It would likewise be fatal to announce we will NOT defend Poland and the Baltic States and other NATO members wouldn't it? But just because we are making that clear does not mean that we are only doing that and nothing else. What a bizarre strawman.

[The Minsky Moment]

It's the right thread. Incidentally, why do right wingers at Breitbart have such a huge boner for Putin? I mean, they are white washing even Russian war with Georgia.

Gee whiz can't think of why.  Seriously please don't tell me you are this naïve.  Do these guys really need to trace out swastikas before you get what they are about?  They are just fascists with an internet connection.

[Valmy]

I just do not understand this kind of piece outside someone working for Russia's interests. Nothing else makes sense.

To accuse NATO of warmongering for strengthening its defenses is pretty illogical. Besides it is not like we are building some kind of 21st century Maginot Line, this is pretty small potatoes. I agree it is pretty suspicious. But Germany is going to have this problem so long as they are reliant on Russian Gas.

[Duque de Bragança]

I'm trying to figure out if this is typical German pacifism, or typical anti-Polish sentiment masquerading as typical German pacifism.

Is it that there are specific German political actors who are in Putin's pocket or something?

Yes. Former head of SPD and former chancellor Gerhardt Schröder, now head of Gazprom Europe.
This is old news actually.

Gazprom[edit]
As Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of the Nord Stream pipeline project, which aims to supply Russian gas directly to Germany, thereby bypassing transit countries. The agreement to build the pipeline was signed two weeks before the German parliamentary election. On 24 October 2005, just a few weeks before Schröder stepped down as Chancellor, the German government guaranteed to cover 1 billion euros of the Nord Stream project cost, should Gazprom default on a loan. However, this guarantee had never been used.[23] Soon after stepping down as chancellor, Schröder accepted Gazprom's nomination for the post of the head of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest. German opposition parties expressed concern over the issue, as did the governments of countries over whose territory gas is currently pumped.[24] In an editorial entitled Gerhard Schroeder's Sellout, the American newspaper The Washington Post also expressed sharp criticism, reflecting widening international ramifications of Schröder's new post.[25] Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, likened Schröder to a "political prostitute" for his recent behaviour.[26] In January 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Schröder would join the board of the oil company TNK-BP, a joint venture between oil major BP and Russian partners.[27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der#Gazprom

Wiki link but easily attested elsewhere.

[Valmy]

Yeah Schröder has been a known Russian stooge for years now.

[Malicious Intent]

The far right (primarily the AFD) is also pretty much pro Russia and anti NATO, as is the far left. The Bavarian CSU is in favor of easing sanctions against Russia. They are also pals with Orban and his ilk.

The official government policy is a tough stance on Russia, including active participation with Bundeswehr troops stationed in the Baltics. Steinmeier has gone completely nuts by compromising the German position.

[derspiess]

No shit.