Germany makes U-Turn on removal of US nuclear weapons from its soil
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Nov 30, IRNA -- The German government has apparently made a major change on its stance about removal of US tactical nuclear weapons from its soil, Dutch media reports cited leaked American embassy cables to the US State Department on the Wikileaks website.
One of the messages leaked yesterday by the website is about a three-way conversation between the US ambassador to Germany Philip Murphy, the US Assistant Secretary for Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Phil Gordon and the German national security advisor Christoph Heusgen, according to Dutch radio.
In the message, Heusgen said Germany was opposed to removing the 20 nuclear weapons on its territory as long as Russia still had thousands left.
Berlin's latest switch in position comes in the wake of earlier statements made by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle who had pledged to hold swift negotiations on the withdrawal of US nukes from his country as part of the coalition agreement between the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its junior coalition partner, the FDP.
Westerwelle had repeatedly stressed American nuclear weapons based in his country were no longer serving the nation's security interests.
'Tactical nuclear weapons which are stationed in Germany as a relict of the Cold War, are not serving our security,' the minister said.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel backed off her official position on calls for global nuclear disarmament by defending NATO's need to keep nuclear weapons following intense pressure by Germany's key allies, the US and France.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
