Germany in Mideast peacekeeping force ?

European Jewesh Press ^ | 07/28/2006 | Oliver Bradley

[Republicain]

BERLIN (EJP)--- German political leaders are pressing Chancellor Angela Merkel to address the question of whether the German military would participate in a Middle East peacekeeping force.

Merkel had until now avoided the topic, saying that the debate was presently irrelevant as the situation did not allow for the sending of peacekeeping troops. She added that the kidnapped soldiers should first be released unharmed and that there should be a cessation of missile attacks on Israel.

Now that Israel has agreed to the stationing of an international peacekeeping mission along its border to Lebanon, German political leaders have insisted on the discussion ahead, to Merkel’s displeasure.

The two conditions Merkel feels need to be met are in line with the St. Petersburg G8 summit communiqué, two weeks ago, as well as with UN secretary general, Kofi Annan’s six-point-plan to bring about a cease-fire to the conflict-ridden region.

Historical reasons

Merkel has many other reasons for hesitating to discuss sending German troops to the Middle East. The chancellor and several other politicians have already recognised that sending German troops to protect Jews, many of whom are Holocaust survivors, is a sensitive issue that cannot be ignored.

“There are still too many people alive who have suffered life-long pain from the German military apparatus. There is a large lobby in Israel that could potentially refuse German military participation even if a UN, EU or NATO led peacekeeping force does come into fruition. Wagner music is still a taboo theme in Israel. So imagine German soldiers at Israel’s doorstep,” Benjamin Ben-Chana, a communications analyst told EJP.

Post-war Germany military policy has, in theory, been pacifist. Hefty debates took place a decade ago when German peacekeeping troops were first stationed abroad in the Balkans. Even the deployment of German soldiers outside of military installations within Germany’s borders is also still a theme which creates heated parliamentary debates.

Outside of the Balkans, German troops have also been stationed in Afghanistan and Congo. German soldiers, unlike those of other peacekeeping nations, are primarily responsible for reconnaissance, logistics and communications matters.

Resources limited

Chancellor Merkel has also tried to keep the subject on the back-burner because the resources of Germany’s Bundeswehr’s (military) are currently stretched to the limit – in terms of manpower and equipment.

According to military analyst Mainhardt Graf von Nayhauss, the Bundeswehr could contribute its European Union Battle-Group contingency for a potential peacekeeping mission. This contingency has sufficient ground troops, paratroopers and tank battalions. However, such a force has been intended to protect EU territory.

What Germany is lacking are helicopter, communications and mobile hospital units – special military divisions that have been intended to be used for foreign deployments. Such units are currently based in the Balkans, Congo and Afghanistan and there is no more capacity for other regions of the world.

Even if the conditions were met, Germany would still only participate in a peacekeeping operation within an international framework, Angela Merkel has said. Because American and French policy differs considerably, chances are that a NATO force will not be built up any time soon, according to military analyst Mainhardt Graf von Nayhauss.

[CondorFlight]

The peacekeeping force will be there to do one thing and one thing only : prevent Israel from stricking back at terrorists when she is struck.

This will be another ghetto with Europeans on the wall, keeping the Jews inside and not preventing anyone from attacking them.

And the dunces in Europe are really thinking of sending Germans to do this.

(Wait until the first Israeli is killed by a German solider. What progress there is in this world--NOT!)

[Tai_Chung]

Such units are currently based in the Balkans, Congo and Afghanistan and there is no more capacity for other regions of the world.

German military deployments:

4,000 in Kosovo
1,000 in Bosnia
780 in Congo
3,000 in Afghanistan

If it is true that Germany has no more capacity of deploying troops overseas, then their military strength has almost completely evaporated. Maybe they should consider spending more than 1.5% of GDP on the military.

[wolf78]

If it is true that Germany has no more capacity of deploying troops overseas, then their military strength has almost completely evaporated. Maybe they should consider spending more than 1.5% of GDP on the military.

There have been updates, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, which is reaching Initial Operational Capability this year, but the problem remains that the bulk of the new military purchases will be available only in a few years, e.g. the Airbus A400M transporter, which would be needed right now.

However, the conversion of the Bundeswehr from territorial defense to an army for anything BUT territorial defense (one of the benefits of being surrounded by friends), remains tricky.

This may be a joke, but there's still a grain of truth in it: Germany could probably still conquer Poland with all its tanks, but lacks the transport capabilities to do the same with the militarily infinitely weaker Burkina Faso.