berlin brief

The berlinbrief wants to draw your attention to a number of new reports by non-governmental organisations assessing the German government’s security and arms policies. In the Foreign Ministry, you will often hear the slogan “Aussenpolitik ist Friedenspolitik” (”Foreign Policy is Policy for Peace”). What do the independent institutions say?

You might remember that the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has recently published its annual report, ranking Germany as the world’s third largest arms seller (see berlinbrief, 28 March 2010).

Also, in December 2009, the Joint Conference Church and Development (Gemeinsame Konferenz Kirche und Entwicklung, GKKE) presented its 13th annual report. The report collates publicly available information on German arms and armaments exports of the year 2008 as well as on export licences, and evaluates the data in the context of the government’s commitments within the coalition treaty and the European Union.

Now, the English summary of the GKKE 2009 report is available. The berlinbrief publishes it in full length without additional editing. (see below)

Next week, the “Friedensgutachten” (”Peace Report”), an annual report by five renowned German institutes for peace and conflict research, will be presented in Berlin. The berlinbrief will get back to the issue. For now, a summary in English is available here.

Here is the summary of the 2009 GKKE report in full length: (more…)

Both the Federal Chancellery and the Foreign Office in official statements welcomed the United States’ announcement that Washington will no longer be ready to react with a nuclear strike if attacked by conventional weapons.

Chancellor Merkel will travel to Washington next week to attend the Nuclear Summit.

For Spiegel Online International, Eric Kelsey and Candice Novak compiled reactions to the US’s strategic shift in the German print media: (more…)

In the fall of 2009, just after Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle came into office, Judy Dempsey commented on his rather sudden claim to remove American nuclear weapons from German soil in the International Herald Tribune.

At the time, I thought this was just an attempt of Westerwelle to come up with a genuine foreign policy proposal against the overall dominance of Chancellor Merkel and Defence Minister zu Guttenberg. Then, the issue did not create much of a reaction.

Recently, however, it popped up again. Westerwelle’s remark has prompted a reaction on the other side of the Atlantic. (more…)