Стр. 18 - V

Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Author : E. Leonov
Attaché, Consulate General of the Russian Federation, Frankfurt am Main, postgraduate student, De-
partment of Diplomacy, Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations, Mnistry of For-
eign Affairs of the Russian Federation
IT WAS NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS ago that
the process of postwar settlement was completed
in Europe which turned defeated Germany into
a "political dwarf." Having spent these seven
decades to become Europe's strongest socially-
oriented market economy and a donor for its
"small states," as well as Europe's main integra-
tion force, Germany can hardly claim the key role
in international relations. It has no independent
foreign policy course, the fact reconfirmed by its position on the Ukrainian crisis manu-
factured by the United States.
It seems that Germany is a new type of colony used by the United States as a "political
puppet" to promote its own interests. Germany, on its side, has accepted this state of af-
fairs; it does not insist on a pullout of foreign troops from its territory (with the exception
of sporadic protests of the Left, pacifists, etc.) and has been reconciled with the huge
sums poured into their maintenance and the resultant unfavorable ecological effects.
Today, Berlin's position is obscure and weak. It is imposed from outside and is burdened
with a widening range of issues of special importance for the United States. The recent
scandal stirred up by the involvement of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) in political
and industrial espionage in some of the European countries under the patronage of the
National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States is one of the pertinent examples.
There is another aspect of Germany's "financial slavery": Nearly half of its gold reserves
is kept in the Federal Reserve System of the United States. To be successful, any state
needs gold and foreign exchange reserves, that is, liquid assets. Adequate reserves make
anti-crisis measures and sustainable exchange rate of national currency possible. "German
gold reserves, the second-biggest in the world after those of the U.S., totaled 3,386.4 tons
on March 31, according to World Gold Council data. Due to German postwar history, the
biggest part is stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; the rest is in London,
Paris and Frankfurt."
The shifted accents towards transatlantic partnership will probably accelerate the loss of
Germany: Following the Concept of Washington's Global Leader-
ship