German Green history Part 2: Foreign Ministers join war machine

 

 By Eugene Woloszyn

 

1999: 37 day, one sided bombing campaign by NATO against Serbia to force surrender. Western media and politicians made Serbia the main culprit. Behind the scenes Germany played a big role in the break up of Yugoslavia and in expanding German domination of Central Europe. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a long time Green Party leader, age 50 at the time. 

Joschka Fischer had been a left activist since 1967 (age 19) opposing the Viet Nam War and conservative German governments. He joined the Green Party and rose to win a seat in Parliament in 1983-85 and 1991-94.  Fischer gained a reputation for bold speeches & charisma.  The Social Democratic Party (SPD) was weak in the polls in the 1990s and the Greens acquired greater support nationally.  

In Sept, 1998 German national elections, SPD received 41% of the vote and Greens got 7%. In 1990s opinion polls, Fischer was surprisingly the most popular politician in Germany. SPD and Greens form a coalition and Fischer obtained the Foreign Minister post.  He was Foreign Minister for the second longest period since WWII.  Fischer facilitated NATO bombing & German troops sent to Yugoslavia and later Afghanistan, after 9-11-01.

The causes of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia are complicated and the story can be found in the two books listed below. There was considerable opposition to Fischer’s pro-war position.  At a May 1999 Green Party Convention debating the NATO bombing,  Fischer was hit by a bag of red paint and was injured.  

Fischer was investigated by a Parliamentary Committee for 10 hours on TV in 2005. His policies starting in 2001 led to more than 300,000 Ukrainians visiting Germany on tourist visas with weak and false documentation. There was great upheavals in Ukraine in 2003-5 with a very contested election, Supreme Court ordering a re-vote, and continuing controversy. As described by Wikipedia, “Some commentators have suggested that the increase in Ukrainians visiting Germany may have promoted a more positive view of Western Europe, assisting the Orange Revolution”, hostile to Russia. Seventeen years later, Ukraine again figures in great world tensions and the excuse for greater war budgets advocated by the military industrial complex.

Soon after the 10 hour TV interrogation of Fischer, he resigned from politics and joined Madeleine Albright, Stonebridge Consulting Group in Washington DC. Albright was Obama’s Secretary of State during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and was extremely militaristic. Fischer was a member of the US based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  He was also a founder of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Decades of work in the Green Party, ending up as a hack for the ruling class.     

Resources: Fool’s Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO & Western Delusions by Diana Johnstone, 2002 and To Kill a Nation: Attack on Yugoslavia by Michael Parenti, 2002