Playing Politics

The ongoing discussion in Germany and Europe about a US plan to deploy 10 defensive missiles in Poland and set up a radar tracking station in the Czech Republic is moving into high gear.

According to the US Department of Defense, the shield system is aimed at protecting US interests against countries like North Korea and Iran. Yet the US put forth its plan without consulting Russia. Not surprisingly, the move earned harsh criticism from Moscow -- and from Germany, as well.

"Germany is caught between Russia and the US -- this is clear," said Jochen Steinhilber, foreign policy analyst at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a political think thank affiliated with the Social Democratic Party.

"Russia is an important partner for Germany, which is why, when (German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter) Steinmeier had talks with (US Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice, he was quite soft," Steinhilber said.

So far, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is also head of the Christian Democratic Union, has responded to the issue with repeated calls to hand off the political hot potato to NATO.

After he met with Rice, Steinmeier downplayed German opposition to the missile plan, calling America's need to protect itself "legitimate." Yet the foreign minister, who represents the Social Democratic half of the ruling "grand coalition," indirectly criticized the US for not involving all of Europe in the decision.

Cold War warnings

"We, as the president of the European Union, do have an understandable interest in seeing the European positions be harmonized," Steinmeier told reporters on Monday.

Steinmeier had previously taken a much harder line against the Americans' stance, openly berating them for failing to consult with Russia on the defense system. In a Sunday interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, he warned against the US starting a new arms race reminiscent of the Cold War.

Steinmeier hasn't been the only SPD politician who apparently saw the benefits of attaching himself to the polarizing issue.

SPD head Kurt Beck -- whose popularity is at an all-time low -- has portrayed the missile-shield controversy as a question of American provocation rather than Russian posturing or actual threats from Iran. He told Germany's mass-market Bild newspaper that the SPD didn't want to see a "new arms race" between the US and Russia on European soil.

His comments elicited a hail of criticism from the German press, which accused the SPD leader of trying to boost his popularity by stealing a page from the political book of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who won the 2002 national election largely due to his overt opposition to the Iraq war.

Comparing Beck with Schröder

Take the Hamburger Abendblatt, for example. That paper called Beck's comments "a classical political maneuver: When faced with internal problems, talk about foreign policy. These days the SPD seems to be trying out this tactic, but if it can have as much success as Schröder did when he opposed the Iraq war is highly questionable."

The paper continued its critique saying Beck's hasty hop onto the anti-US foreign-policy bandwagon looked "a little helpless."

But Steinhilber said that "even if the notion of a Cold War arms race is motivated by the campaign ... this is not the main point, from my point of view."

The thing to keep in mind, he said, is that "the SPD has always regarded itself as a party of peace. Disarmament traditionally is part of their policy."

Question of European identity

Instead of concentrating on the missiles, Steinhilber said, the debate needs to be seen for what it is: a symbol.

"I think this has become a very big symbol of policy surrounding European identity, which is just emerging," Steinhilber said. "(Many Europeans) favor a plan to create a European missile defense shield in cooperation with Russia and the US, against Iran."

Steinhilber also called a candidate's stance on the missile defense shield an unlikely tool for winning an election since (except in very few cases, like the Iraq war,) foreign policy issues do not make or break elections in Europe.

"Foreign policy doesn’t play a large role in the public debate, and it is not a subject for campaigning," he said. "In Germany, and France as well, it is hard to distinguish between political parties in terms of foreign policy."