BERLIN: Germanyyesterday marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall that ushered in theend of communism and national reunification, as the Western alliance thathelped secure those achievements is riddled with divisions. Two days before thedate that brought epochal change, France's President Emmanuel Macron dropped abombshell, declaring that transatlantic partnership NATO was suffering from"brain death" and that Europe itself was "on the brink".
Chancellor AngelaMerkel responded with uncharacteristic sharpness, saying Thursday "I don'tthink that such sweeping judgments are necessary", and the ensuing stormover NATO laid bare the growing differences among traditional allies. The badtempered prelude to the festivities stood in sharp contrast to celebrationsfive years ago, when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ex-Polishpresident and freedom icon Lech Walesa were present.
This time,leaders of former Cold War powers will be absent, as Donald Trump's AmericaFirst policy, Britain's Brexit struggles and Russia's resurgence put a strainon ties. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit ended Friday while Macron isonly planning a flying visit today, leaving the actual anniversary on November9 without globally prominent figures. Pompeo also left behind a stark warning:"As we celebrate, we must also recognize that freedom is never guaranteed."Today, authoritarianism is once again rising," he said, namecheckingChina and Russia.
'Naivecomplacency'
Carrying asimilar message, the EU's incoming chief Ursula von der Leyen noted that theeuphoric optimism over liberal democracy and freedom that characterizedNovember 9, 1989 has dissipated. "Today, we have to admit that ourcomplacency was naive," said von der Leyen. Russia is "using violenceto shift established borders in Europe, and is trying to fill every vacuum thatthe US has left behind." And hopes that China would develop closer to theWestern liberal democracy model has not been fulfilled, she said.
MikhailGorbachev, whose decision not to send the Soviet army to prop up the EastGerman regime was seen as crucial to preserving peace during the Cold War, toldSpiegel magazine in an interview that there is "no nostalgia" forthat period of division. But "we have to admit that after the end of theCold War new leaders failed to create a modern security architecture,especially in Europe." "As a result, new lines of divisions haveemerged, and NATO's eastward expansion ... shifted these lines to the Russianborder."
'Half a century'
Beyond the crackssurfacing in the global arena, a new chasm is opening up within Germany itselfwith the far-right gaining a strong foothold in the former communist states. Underliningthe problem herself, Merkel said those who earlier thought the differencesbetween the former communist east and the capitalist west could be ironed outnow see "that it would take half a century or more."
Debate has alsoopened up more intensively over the differences between the east and west as"nationalist and protectionist trends have gained ground worldwide,thereby fuelling more discussion too from a national perspective," Merkeltold Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Amid the somber mood, a serious political program isplanned, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies.
They will joinMerkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to mark their countries'"contribution ... to the peaceful revolution" that led to the collapseof the communist regime. Merkel will speak at the Chapel of Reconciliation,which stands on a stretch of the former wall border strip where local peoplejumped from windows the day it was built to escape the communist East, whileothers later dug tunnels towards the West.
Steinmeier willalso make a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in the evening, before a series ofconcerts including one by the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. OnNovember 9, 1989, East German border guards, overwhelmed by large crowds, threwopen the gates to West Berlin, allowing free passage for the first time sincethe wall was built. The momentous event would end up bringing the communistregime crashing down and lead to German reunification a year later.- AFP