bestquality
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Germany has warned the US not to try to split Europe into "old" and "new" with its plans to deploy parts of an anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
In some of the strongest German rhetoric to date on the issue, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it is important not to let the US project spark a new arms race in Europe.
"A missile defense system should be neither a cause nor pretext for a new arms race," Steinmeier wrote in a contribution to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
"Our top priority remains disarmament and not an arms buildup. We don't want a new arms race in Europe," he said.
Steinmeier made the statements ahead of a planned meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday in Washington to discuss transatlantic ties. The German defense minister has been one of the strongest European critics of Washington's handling of the missile shield plan.
Last month he delivered an unusual public rebuke to Washington, faulting it for not consulting Russia on a project Moscow sees as an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power. Germany is concerned the issue will cloud its presidency of the EU by highlighting divisions in Europe reminiscent of those that emerged in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
At that time, Poland, Britain and others backed the invasion while Germany, France and others opposed it.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously dismissed European countries opposed to the war as "old Europe".
In remarks that appeared aimed at Washington, Steinmeier said, "There is no 'old' and 'new' Europe and nobody should try, based on calculated short-term interests, to create such a split."
Source: http://hasannasrullah.com/hasan nasrullah/germany_warns_us/
http://hasannasrullah.com
In some of the strongest German rhetoric to date on the issue, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it is important not to let the US project spark a new arms race in Europe.
"A missile defense system should be neither a cause nor pretext for a new arms race," Steinmeier wrote in a contribution to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
"Our top priority remains disarmament and not an arms buildup. We don't want a new arms race in Europe," he said.
Steinmeier made the statements ahead of a planned meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday in Washington to discuss transatlantic ties. The German defense minister has been one of the strongest European critics of Washington's handling of the missile shield plan.
Last month he delivered an unusual public rebuke to Washington, faulting it for not consulting Russia on a project Moscow sees as an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power. Germany is concerned the issue will cloud its presidency of the EU by highlighting divisions in Europe reminiscent of those that emerged in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
At that time, Poland, Britain and others backed the invasion while Germany, France and others opposed it.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously dismissed European countries opposed to the war as "old Europe".
In remarks that appeared aimed at Washington, Steinmeier said, "There is no 'old' and 'new' Europe and nobody should try, based on calculated short-term interests, to create such a split."
Source: http://hasannasrullah.com/hasan nasrullah/germany_warns_us/
http://hasannasrullah.com
