Joe Biden’s Foreign Minister Antony Blinken had avoided Germany on his inaugural visit to Europe. At the end of March he honored the EU and NATO in Brussels and called on Germany from there to end the German-Russian pipeline project Nord Stream 2 – knowing full well that he has many EU partners on his side.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin is now traveling to Europe as the second high-ranking minister in the Biden government. This time Germany is at the top. To start with, he comes to Berlin this Tuesday.
In contrast to Blinkens Trip, the pitch and the catalog of topics are geared towards common interests. Austin not only has demands on the federal government, but also recognition for “one of our closest NATO partners”.
U-turn after Trump and Grenell
It ends one of the flashiest chapters in German-American relations under Donald Trump: the threat of the withdrawal of the majority of the US troops stationed in Germany. Trump and his ambassador Richard Grenell wanted to force a significant increase in German defense spending towards the two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) agreed in NATO. Biden had stopped executing this order shortly after taking office. Now the site visit by the defense minister follows, who completes the turnaround.
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Austin will meet Secretary of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) and the Federal Chancellor’s foreign and security policy advisor, Jan Hecker. According to the Pentagon, he would also like to inspect American troops at their German locations and visit the US command centers for operations in Europe and Africa.
The defense budget is no longer the measure of all things
The political camps in the USA are equally dissatisfied with the German contributions to the security of the NATO countries. But, unlike Trump, Biden and the Democrats are not making this the main yardstick for dealing with one another. Allies strengthen the effectiveness of American world politics, is their motto. That is why they have to be treated as allies.
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The Russian march on the border with Ukraine has now become an unplanned priority on the agenda, including the question of how Europe and America can deter Vladimir Putin from renewed aggression. Another topic is the planning of how long and in what form German and American soldiers will stay in Afghanistan. The impression that the USA is conducting its Afghanistan policy without consulting its allies had caused irritation in Berlin.
Blinken and Austin surprisingly in a double pack at NATO
From Berlin it goes on to Brussels, where Austin wants to meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Finally, he visits his British colleague Ben Wallace.
Biden apparently takes the danger of a new war in Ukraine seriously. On Monday, his government announced that Foreign Minister Blinken would join Austin’s talks with NATO.
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