Not Quiet on Any Fronts

Today German Defense Minister zu Guttenberg announced that Germany found itself at War in Afghanistan. Although this was aimed at the German Public and came as a result of an ambush of German Peacekeepers stationed in Afghanistan it has the potential to spark a number of discussions over Germany's role as a military force.

Briefly, the German Troops in Afghanistan were sent as Peacekeepers and although part of NATO were not understood by the German Public to be active in a military sense but rather were focused on training and reconstruction. On Good Friday they were ambushed by the very people whom they have been working with to help build infrastructure.

The ambush killed 3 German Troops, and in the confusion 6 Afghan troops were killed by "friendly-fire". In the Defense Minister's statement he said that the equipment supplied to the German Troops there was adequate for a Peacekeeping Mission, but the fact was that they were at War and as such their requirements were very different.

Zu Guttenberg was careful to say that Germany was at war "in" and not "with" Afghanistan, but the message was essentially that German Troops will be receiving more equipment and that they will be more likely to use force in the future.

At the same time, in an interview published March 31st German Finance Minister Schaeuble in which he was addressing Germany's role in the discussions on the Greek Debt crisis he said: “In the 1990s, after reunification, all Europeans said that Germany should, at long last, become a normal country … Today, Germany is a normal country, and some are still not happy.”

Since WWII Germany has been anything but a normal country in any number of ways, but one truly extraordinary aspect was the way that European Union was based on German economic efficiency which essentially paid for everything, without having a voice.

With reunification Germany remained committed to the status quo. The financial crisis however exposed different views and the German response was significantly different to that of the English and the Americans. The Greek crisis was dealt with under German terms. The English were not involved as they are not part of the Euro. They are part of Europe and whereas for the past 50 years or so they were confronted with a Franco-German combination, this is first time for a very long time that Germany on it's own initiative acted first and foremost in it's own interest.

The ball has been kicked rolling. It will be interesting to see where it goes.