2024-07-24 04:11:16
The USA wants to station weapons systems in Germany that have a reach as far as Russia. Chancellor Scholz has agreed – but the SPD parliamentary group leader is worried about an escalation.
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich has concerns about the planned stationing of long-range US weapons in Germany. “We must improve our defense capabilities in light of the Russian attack on Ukraine, but we must not ignore the risks of this stationing,” he told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group. “The missiles have a very short warning time and open up new technological capabilities. The risk of an unintended military escalation is considerable.”
Even without the new systems, NATO has “a comprehensive, graduated deterrent capability,” argued the leader of the Chancellor’s party. “I also don’t understand why Germany alone should station such systems. I have always understood burden sharing to mean something different.” He would like “the federal government to embed its decision in offers for arms control.” Helmut Schmidt also took this view in the rearmament debate.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit, the White House and the German government recently announced that the USA intends to station weapons systems in Germany again from 2026 that reach as far as Russia. These will include Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, which can technically also be equipped with nuclear weapons, as well as SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly developed hypersonic weapons.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) later dismissed fears that the planned deployment could lead to an escalation with Russia. The weapons were intended as a deterrent and to prevent attacks from a “safe hinterland” from the outset. “What we are always concerned with is preventing a war.”
Mützenich confirmed that he continues to aim for the withdrawal of the remaining US nuclear warheads from Germany in the long term. “I am still convinced that this form of nuclear deterrence makes no sense in terms of security policy,” he told the Funke newspapers. The idea of warheads being delivered to an enemy target by aircraft seems a little out of date to him.
“It is clear to me that the withdrawal of American nuclear warheads does not currently have majority support in NATO,” admitted Mützenich, who has advocated disarmament for decades. “But we should not lose sight of the goal.”
NATO’s so-called nuclear sharing provides that US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe can be dropped from partner countries’ aircraft in an emergency. The German army has fighter planes available for this purpose. Around 20 thermonuclear B61 gravity bombs belonging to the US armed forces are said to be stored in Büchel in the Eifel region – although this was never officially confirmed.