Letters from Rungholt

In Haaretz. Jacques Schuster von der Welt über deutsche Kritik an den USA, deutsche Annäherung an Rußland und deutsche Distanz zum Westen.

Although Germans consider Russia anything but appealing, in comparison with the U.S., the Eastern empire doesn’t seem so bad at all. 

Caught in a whirlpool of outrage, Germans completely overlook Russian behavior. This summer, Vladimir Putin threatened more than once to launch his missiles on European cities. He warned that Russia’s ballistic rockets could soon be stationed in Kaliningrad, that is, “very close to Europe.” 

Yet in 2003, 45 percent of Germans felt threatened by their most important ally, the U.S. Although that number has dropped since Angela Merkel became chancellor, a deep distrust and an ill- tempered suspicion remain.

A growing number of Germans oppose the U.S., gleefully observe the increasing rift between the two countries and react sullenly when someone reminds them of the U.S. role in Europe’s liberation. They are annoyed about Europe’s dependence on the U.S., while masking their own weakness as a moral strength. In their view, Germany is an island of virtue whose citizens know how to turn swords into ploughshares. 

A restless spirit is sweeping society. It drips with nostalgic longing for an alternative future in a different system of alliances, or - if everything else fails - on its own. Germany is de-Westernizing itself, in a creeping manner, but steadily. The more the past fades, the more its ghosts are rising. Fritz Stern, an expert on German history at Columbia University - who is anything but a neo-con - witnessed this trend in his recently published memoirs, where he wrote how “the revolt against ‘the West,’ its alleged materialism and its so-called spiritual emptiness, coupled with a hegemonic arrogance, has spread.” 

Germany’s foreign policy will become increasingly torn, unpredictable and full of a vociferous moral rigor. In 1877, Dostoyevsky wrote about “Germany, the protesting empire.” May reason triumph, so that we need not have to remember his other, approving characterization of Germany: “Already from the first moment of its arrival in the historical world, the characteristic and major trait of this great, proud and special people was that it never wanted to unite with the Western world, neither in its destiny nor in its basic morals.”

Wie weit er das deutsche Stimmungsbild wiedergibt? Keine Ahnung. Das müßt Ihr mir schon sagen. Ich bin mal gespannt!