Wouldn't Rumsfeld's proposals lead to a revival of German nationalism? Gerhard Schroeder as I understand it has been trying to boost military spending and upgrade Germany's defense forces for several years now, couldn't he use this to make the case that Germany now requires a much larger, better equipped army because it can no longer rely upon the US for taking care of its defense needs, and since the US in general is proving to be too feckless, too unilateralist, for it to be relied upon, anyway?
Jim F.
On Sun, 16 Feb 2003 19:15:35 +0300 "ChrisD(RJ)"
<chrisd at russiajournal.com> writes:
> PENTAGON INTENDS TO DISLOCATE ITS BASES FROM GERMANY TO RUSSIAN
> BORDERS
>
> LONDON, February 16, 2003. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Sergey
> Kudasov/
> -- The Pentagon works out plans concerning the dislocation of the
> deployed
> military bases in Germany close to the Russian borders. 42,000 US
> Military
> servicemen, 785 tanks, about 60 F-16 fighters and a squadron of A-10
> anti-tank airplanes can be transferred on the territories of Poland,
> the
> Baltic States and Czech Republic.
>
> The Pentagon plans were initialised last week upon the order of the
> US
> Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in order to "punish" Germany for
> its
> active role in contradicting the Washington's plans, concerning the
> war
> against Iraq, the British media reported.
>
> According to the Pentagon, the dislocation of the US military bases
> will
> bear an impact of a blow to the German economy, which benefits
> millions of
> dollars from the US military presence in the country. "Our aim is to
> strike
> a blow to the German trade and commerce. We intend not only to move
> our
> army and logistics but also to dissolve all agreements and cancel
> all
> contracts concerning the defence issues", an anonymous source in the
> Pentagon disclosed to the British media.
>
> In the opinion of the USA, the German example can teach a good
> lesson those
> countries, which are deeply involved in the trade relations with the
> USA,
> so that they in the future will think twice before opposing the US
> plans.
> In the opinion of Washington, the transfer of the US military bases
> on the
> territories of the East European countries, including the former
> Soviet
> Baltic republics, is a justifiable act, because they have been
> strongly
> supporting the US policy with regard to Saddam Hussein regime, the
> British
> media reported.
>
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