Упрощенная HTML-версия
Author : V. Vasilyev
Senior research associate, Ye.M. Primakov Institute of the World Economy and International Relations,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Science (Political Science)
MORE THAN 26 YEARS have passed since the reunifi-
cation of Germany, and this is a good reason to assess how
much the country has increased its economic power and
raised its status as a European and global political player.
Closer associates of former chancellor Helmut Kohl argue
that, besides enlarging Germany's territory, the reunifica-
tion has been responsible for the country's achieving a
leading political role in Europe.
At the same time, people in the former East German territories complain that the social security
achievements of ex-East Germany are disregarded in the west of the country.
No one can be prohibited from trying to turn nationalists into democrats. That is a noble task. Eu-
rope has rich experience of this, but it is a controversial experience with a negative tint.
Mounting threats of terrorism and growing nationalist sentiments in Germany have forced Merkel
to change not only her rhetoric but also her tactics - she has expressed support for proposed re-
strictions on the admission of migrants.
Trump's unpredictable behavior has shocked and perplexed the German establishment, whose main
figures, to quote one of the commentators, feel like abandoned children. However, these "children"
attack Trump, slamming him, for example, for his plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico
and his attempted restrictions in regard to on migrants entering the United States. But they have a
short memory: who else but the German government gave strong support to the project of former
Ukrainian prime minister Arseny Yatsenyuk to build a wall on Ukraine's border with Russia...
THE RUSSIANS REMEMBER the contributions of reunited Germany to the construction of
new statehood, civil society institutions, a new economic model, and a multiparty system in post-
Soviet Russia. In the period of disastrous shortages of goods and shock therapy that followed the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the German government, German municipal authorities, and a large
army of German civil society volunteers gave practical help not only to Moscow and St. Petersburg
but also to small Russian towns and villages.
Most likely, Germany's policy toward Russia will continue to be determined by Berlin's impressions
of the "Crimean Spring" and by its transatlantic solidarity. At the behest of Barack Obama and fol-
lowing the convictions of Merkel, Germany will continue to seek the role of an irreplaceable dog-
matic preacher of European values and to strictly monitor compliance with them in the Russian
spiritual space. It would take Berlin a lot of effort and quite a few years to make the Russians trust
its words and promises again. But there is only a remote, almost illusory prospect of bringing back
the degree of confidence that existed in the Russian Empire, in the Soviet Union, and, until some
years ago, in post-Soviet Russia. Yet this doesn't rule out frank exchanges of opinions on bilateral
and international issues, intensive cultural, scientific and youth exchanges, a lively dialogue between
the two countries' civil societies, or joint war commemoration activities.
http://interaffairs.ru
Quo Vadis, Germany? Landmarks of Recent German History