The German People Deserve Better, IV
According to the Financial Times (subscription link), the US government has greatly reduced a German company’s involvement in the development of a manned ground combat vehicle. Citing “logistical difficulties” for the reason, DARPA gave a greater role in the project to General Dynamics, the United Defense Limited Partnership, and the Lead Systems Integrator (all American companies).
Logistical difficulties – heh.
The Germans aren’t fooled either.
Although there have been no clear short-term repercussions for German defense orders, "the atmosphere towards the German armament industry has clearly changed to the disadvantage of the industry", said Helmut Harff, defense industry spokesman at the BDI, Germany's main industry federation.
This is obviously a signal that the US government may stop spending American dollars to support German industry if Schröder continues to pursue anti-American policies. It is also quite mild as shots go – the contract was expected to be worth $36 million dollars. I believe President Bush and his administration is just showing Germany that they cannot both pursue a policy of anti-Americanism AND received largess from the American taxpayer. Once Schröder is gone, many Americans (including myself) expect German-American relations to improve. If not, I expect we’ll probably move our military bases out of Germany (perhaps into Poland – whose extremely pro-American government has already expressed interest). But I expect relations to improve once Schröder is gone.
May Schröder’s reign be short-lived.
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