Many Germans Wary About Their Nation’s Ambitions Abroad

BERLIN — The German public has long been apprehensive about sending soldiers to foreign lands, but this nation’s aspiration to become an influential global voice has troops on the march in peacekeeping missions from Kosovo to Afghanistan.History is never far from the present here, and the Nazi era often imbues political and military debates. Still, Chancellor Merkel is eager to lift Germany’s international profile. Her administration, like that of her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, is using peacekeepers to enhance foreign policy and show that the Nazi and Cold War legacies have a diminishing hold on a younger generation of politicians.What remains to be seen is if this resolve will waver if large numbers of German troops are killed and public support tapers.“We have learned that whether we like it or not, we will be more global in our outlook and share the responsibility,” the director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Eberhard Sandschneider, said. “The net effect is that Germany’s international reputation is growing.”Opposition politicians fear that the moral stature the country honed after World War II is jeopardized by military engagements in places such as Afghanistan, where 2,812 German soldiers are vital to the multinational force. Critics say the mission makes Germany, which opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq, a target for Al Qaeda. They argue that such interventions could squander Berlin’s goodwill in the Arab world if they were perceived as supporting American foreign policy.The military’s foray into Lebanon is perhaps its most sensitive undertaking. German soldiers are part of a 15,000-strong U.N. force deployed to the country after this summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah. To avoid potential clashes with Israeli ground soldiers that could rouse memories of the Holocaust, Germany is sending its navy to patrol the Lebanese coast. Mrs. Merkel said the force was part of Germany’s “particular responsibility” for Israel’s right to exist.“The Lebanon mission is not about breaking foreign policy taboos, which we have installed for good reasons after the time of the Nazis,” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told parliament two weeks ago before it approved the deployment of eight ships and as many as 2,400 sailors and support staff. “No, it’s about credibility. It’s about recognition of a normality which doesn’t protect us from commitment any longer.”The military’s role in that commitment troubles German pacifists. One newspaper caricatured Mrs. Merkel wearing Rambo-like fatigues and carrying an automatic rifle. A member of the opposition Free Democrats, Werner Hoyer, said: “I don’t think it is very wise to put our political capital at stake with a military contribution. We do have a political capital — also a capital of confidence — on both sides of the Middle East.”Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said the mission might curtail terrorism, soothing words to a public unnerved by the arrests in August of two Lebanese men accused of planting suitcase bombs on German trains. The explosives didn’t detonate, but the investigation has led to extremist elements in the Middle East.“By preventing new conflicts, we avert the causes of radicalization and the risks of terrorist attacks in Europe, including in Germany,” Mr. Schäuble told the German press.The Lebanon deployment underscored concerns about restructuring the military to meet the intricacies of a post-Cold War world. In addition to having troops in the Balkans and Afghanistan, German forces are in Congo, Sudan, Georgia, and the border region between Eritrea and Ethiopia. A naval contingent patrols the Horn of Africa. The German armed forces have 250,770 troops.Military budgets have not kept pace with the peacekeeping tasks. Defense spending accounts for 1.4% of the nation’s gross domestic product, one of the lowest among Western nations. A recent poll showed that 64% of Germans are opposed to increasing the military budget — a dynamic that exposes the public’s 60-year reluctance to build a large army and its preference to protect social programs from spending cuts.

Many Germans Wary About Their Nation’s Ambitions Abroad

Many Germans Wary About Their Nation’s Ambitions Abroad

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