In a moment when the destiny of Germany and the world hinge on the continuation or cessation of the post-1989 policy of expanding NATO up to Russia’s borders, somebody is trying to rewrite history to blame Germany’s politicians for that choice.
Arguing that it was the German Christian Democrats who convinced their Anglo-American masters to enlarge NATO is like the tail wagging the dog.
The Berliner Zeitung has published a report by Muamer Becirovic, apparently based on a study by “scientist” Chaya Arora ("NATO Expansion and the Art of Communicative Action, Germany’s Civilian Power Diplomacy"), aimed at proving that story.
According to the report, it was then-German Defense Minister Volker Rühe (CDU) and his chief of planning staff, Vice Adm. Ulrich Weisser, who laid the cornerstone for the U.S. to endorse the policy, which President Clinton was initially reluctant to.
First, Rühe/Weisser commissioned a study on “innovative” proposals for NATO by the German Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), which they were unsatisfied with, because it was clearly against an enlargement of NATO. They turned then to “experts from the RAND Corporation” with the same request. The RAND people delivered the report with the required conclusions, on the basis of which “a rethink gradually began in Washington, increasingly in favor of NATO membership for Eastern Europe.”
This narrative, however, conflicts with views expressed by Vice Adm. Ulrich Weisser as late as 2007, where he adamantly warned against the expansion of NATO and in favour of a partnership with Russia:
“When NATO enlargement was first discussed, the Russians were told that there was no plan, no need and no intention to station air forces and nuclear weapons on the territory of the new alliance partners. And what is NATO doing today? It is not sticking to this agreement. Naturally, this must lead to anger in Moscow. I understand that...”
