- Oct 9, 1999
- 46,902
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From the article's lead paragraph:
WOLFGANG ISCHINGER knows German foreign policy. He was the country’s deputy foreign minister from 1998 to 2001. He was its ambassador to Washington from 2001 to 2006. Then he spent two years as its man in London. Since then he has been chair of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), the world's most important independent gathering of foreign and security policy experts. Most major leaders of the recent years—Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, François Hollande, Ali Khamenei—have been his guest. Few people have a more expansive perspective on Germany’s role in the world.
The transcript of his entire interview with the Economist is in the article. I thought the extracted bullet points were instructive and robust, and speak for themselves:
It gives me hope that we will all survive our present administration and its Keystone Kops Kabinet konsisting of scoundrels, racists, one percenters, and the merely tragically unqualified.
WOLFGANG ISCHINGER knows German foreign policy. He was the country’s deputy foreign minister from 1998 to 2001. He was its ambassador to Washington from 2001 to 2006. Then he spent two years as its man in London. Since then he has been chair of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), the world's most important independent gathering of foreign and security policy experts. Most major leaders of the recent years—Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, François Hollande, Ali Khamenei—have been his guest. Few people have a more expansive perspective on Germany’s role in the world.
The transcript of his entire interview with the Economist is in the article. I thought the extracted bullet points were instructive and robust, and speak for themselves:
- Germany is increasingly open to military action
- Brexit makes EU defence integration easier
- Germany’s deployments in Afghanistan, Mali and Lithuania mark a real turning point
- NATO’s 2%-of-GDP target for defence spending is not sufficient on its own
- The 2% should be replaced with a 3% target encompassing defence, foreign policy and aid
- Mr Trump’s statements make it harder for European leaders to contribute more to NATO
- Germany should not contemplate its own nuclear weapon
- Mr Macron’s election is an “enormous and unique” opportunity to relaunch the Franco-German partnership as a model for the whole EU
- The Kohl-Mitterrand era of co-operation can be (partly) revived, starting with joint military procurement
- Mr Macron understands Germany “perfectly”
- Germany and France should consider a 2018 rewrite of the Elysée Treaty codifying the alliance between the two countries
- Germany should consider backing EU majority voting on foreign and security affairs
- Germany and France might eventually share nuclear weapons and an army, but only in the very long term
- Notions of Germany as the new leader of the liberal world are “totally unhelpful”
- Russia’s current belligerence towards the West may not last
- Germany and the West must keep the door open to Mr Putin
- Europe and Canada cannot reform their relationship with Russia without America
- Mrs Merkel’s patience and Russian language skills give her unique advantages in talks with Mr Putin
- Germany must “engage, engage, engage” with Mr Trump
- Mr Trump has “good and experienced pros” in his team but “believes in unpredictability as a negotiating strategy”
It gives me hope that we will all survive our present administration and its Keystone Kops Kabinet konsisting of scoundrels, racists, one percenters, and the merely tragically unqualified.
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