[CasearianDaoist]

Well I think that the French would be quite disturbed if they thought they could not control the Germans, which of course they cannot (though I doubt it occurred to Chirac that his silliness might have awaken a "sleep bridge-troll," as it were, by encouraging an assertive Germany under his wing.) France is currently the only nuclear power on the Continent, a point that they are insistent on making in every conversation of this sort. I imagine that they will start howling at the moon in Paris if Berlin starts building a nuclear triad. The nations that would be quite upset would be Russia, the UK and Italy, IMHO.

It will be interesting to see what happens if the SDS and the Greens get thrown out this year, and Schroeder is left hanging until 06. If the CDC comes back into power and Bush is reelected then they may just kiss and makeup, and then this is all mostly theater. Still, it will be pleasant to see the Euros actually face up to the real implications of a fed up USA. I almost think it never occurred to them what the actual implications were.

[Michael81Dus]

No, there are no signals that Germany is going nuclear. The government of the United States of America has issued a guarantee for the national security of the Federal Republic of Germany against foreign threats with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction. This security guarantee is still valid, and as long the US government is not taking it back, we feel bound to the "treaty about the final status regarding Germany" of 1990 between the Fed. Republic, the German Democratic Republic, France, Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union. In this treaty, Germany obligates itself to do without NBC-weapons.