A. LUKOYANOV

Candidate of Historical Sciences

Western mass media like to publish pictures of German army soldiers on their pages - brave soldiers and officers with impeccable German bearing. But if you look closely, German soldiers are photographed more and more often against the background of non-Gothic cathedrals or clean, neat streets of German cities - behind them you can clearly distinguish the Afghan mountains, the dusty roads of Iraq, the ancient mosques of Bukhara and Samarkand. The Bundeswehr's activity outside of its own country, if we recall the events of 60 - 70 years ago, cannot but raise at least a number of questions among the world community.

As you know, after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, German society, both in its western and even more so in its eastern part, accepted as the fundamental moral basis of public consciousness the rejection of any militarization of the country. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), all militaristic, and especially nationalist, ideas and even thoughts were severely censored, which made it possible to educate the younger generation in the spirit of respect for our country, whose soldier was a true liberator of both Europe and the whole world from the "brown plague".

However, it should be noted that in the west of the country, the attitude to the militaristic past was still somewhat different, although this was not officially advertised. What is worth, for example, the fact that the national anthem, which was before Hitler and under Hitler - "Deutschland ueber alles" - "Germany above all" - was banned in the GDR, while in Germany it was played at all official events.

It came to incidents. When an official from the Federal Republic of Germany came to Israel, the orchestra at the Tel Aviv airfield refused to play the anthem. Certain problems also occurred during meetings with representatives

The article was prepared with the participation of A. Tronov (IB RAS).

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Germany and the GDR. And when the two parts of Germany were united, the situation became at least strange. The music to which Adolf Hitler stood up and extended his arm in a Fascist salute was played during the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Warsaw, which was destroyed by the same Hitler. This anthem has been heard more than once in our country - politicians of the united Germany were frequent guests of the Russian leaders.

Today, the German national anthem is played literally all over the world: the Bundeswehr has increasingly begun to assert itself on the international stage. Berlin is clearly interested in expanding its military presence outside of its own country. Such policies often take the form of more or less open interference in the affairs of other States.

The first soldiers of a United Germany, despite the restrictions on this subject contained in the country's constitution, appeared after the Second World War, first in Kosovo, then in Afghanistan. What was the reason for these" trips " of the Bundeswehr units far beyond the borders of the country? The answer is known: protecting the interests of the closest ally - the United States - in an "explosive" region. But is it just that? After all, peace and order have not increased here. Rather, on the contrary: Central Asia has become a kind of "corridor" through which drugs, as well as counterfeit dollars, flow to Europe and other countries of the world in a powerful flow. The latter can hardly be considered a simple object of smuggling - rather, it is a powerful destabilizing factor in world economic development. And it is possible that Germany is an interested party in this potential "turmoil".

There are other questions. It is known that the West's relations with Tehran are developing in such a way that the United States can deliver a powerful bomb attack on the strategic facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The chances of such a development, fortunately, are small, but they cannot be completely excluded. It is known that carpet bombing is best carried out in the presence of well-prepared intermediate airfields. In Afghanistan, because of the threat of partisan attacks, such airfields cannot function normally. All hope is in the bases that are being created by the Americans in Uzbekistan. And although after Washington criticized the existing regime in this country, the Uzbeks seemed to be "offended", and President Karimov "asked" the Americans to leave his country, a compromise was still found. Americans in military uniforms left Uzbekistan. But soon the Germans appeared-in the form of parts of the Bundeswehr.

However, these changes did not occur immediately. The reason for the aggravation of relations between Uzbekistan and the United States was, as you know, the events in Andijan. This topic became almost the main topic in the Western press for several weeks. European and American media outlets published dozens of articles about Tashkent's human rights violations, and they unanimously accused Karimov of dictatorial arbitrariness. By the way, he was also reminded of the negative attitude towards Western non-governmental organizations that worked in Uzbekistan "in the name of the ideals of democracy." Karimov's response is well known: the Americans were simply thrown out of the Karshi-Khanabad military base near Termez, which they did not expect. But since the United States was going to gain a foothold in Central Asia "seriously and for a long time," they were not going to put up with this turn of affairs. And then the German map was launched.

In mid-December 2005, during a meeting between German Defense Ministry Secretary of State Friedbert Pfluger and Uzbek President Islam Karimov, an agreement was reached under which the Bundeswehr was granted the right to use the base in Termez for as long as the situation in Afghanistan required. Let's say right away: the deadline is likely to be infinite, because the situation in this country is not expected to normalize either now or in the foreseeable future...

It should be noted that almost 350 German soldiers deployed to Termez will be able to ensure the operation of electronic devices, as well as the closed transportation of various special equipment of their NATO allies. In addition, based on the experience of events in many countries, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that in the event of any force majeure circumstances, the German military will certainly act to protect American interests in this region.

For the right to use the military base in Termez, Germany paid well with I. Karimov. The object of criticism - the president of Uzbekistan, who was previously called nothing but a dictator in the German press (and the Germans perceive the word "dictator "in a generalizing aspect - "tyrant"," murderer"," executioner") - has almost completely disappeared from the German media. According to the Tageszeitung newspaper, Pflueger promised Karimov that the EU would stop any public criticism of the events in Andijan, which Europe had recently called a "massacre". In a matter of days, another issue was resolved: if earlier Germany did not provide entry visas to high - ranking Uzbek officials, now, as they say, there are no problems with this-the issue is completely removed from the agenda.

Germany's role in Uzbekistan as a military component of NATO is currently very large. Moreover, Berlin is not at all a" voiceless servant " of Washington, but rather an active conductor of its policy, which in some cases seeks to become "more Catholic than the pope himself." And the Central Asian states will soon feel it. The penetration of the Bundeswehr into Uzbekistan is dangerous for this country, because it risks becoming a NATO satellite with all the negative consequences that follow. There is also a danger for Uzbekistan's neighbors, since the presence of foreign troops in the region, even on a limited scale, cannot be considered a factor of stability and peace.

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