Ami Goes Home
The announcement by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirming the removal of 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany marks the end of an era. Over 12 million American service personnel and …
Jeff Rathke on Trump’s Decision to Move Troops from Germany in CNN Politics
AICGS President Jeff Rathke discusses the Trump administration’s recent decision to pull nearly 12,000 troops from Germany, nothing that removing troops removes them from, “the best place from which they …
Changing German Views Point to a Brighter Future for EU Foreign Policy
The European Union is not known for its hard power. Despite its status as an economic and regulatory superpower, the EU has consistently failed to exert true influence in crises …
Jeff Rathke on European Defense Agenda with Smaller U.S. Footprint in DefenseNews
AICGS President Jeff Rathke discusses German defense minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s call for the European Union to prepare for the possibility of a U.S. disengagement from European security–regardless of election outcome: …
Jeff Rathke discusses Neo-Nazis in German Army Ranks with CBSN
AICGS President Jeff Rathke spoke with CBS News about the recent report by The New York Times on growing evidence of neo-Nazis infiltrating special forces in the Germany’s military. Mr. Rathke …
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Helmut Kohl and NATO Enlargement: The Search for the Post-Cold War Order
NATO Enlargement as Order-Building Diplomacy Helmut Kohl’s achievements as a statesman go well beyond Germany’s unification. In the second half of his sixteen-year tenure, Kohl played a major role in …
Jeff Rathke discusses U.S. troop withdrawal from Germany with Washington Post
AICGS President Jeff Rathke discusses President Trump’s plan to withdraw one-third of U.S. troops stationed in Germany with The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung. He notes, “For those who think this …
Promoting Integration and Avoiding Isolation. A Brief History of Germany’s Participation in NATO’s Nuclear Statecraft
Currently, Germany is struggling to decide on a successor for its aging Tornado aircraft. Some of the ancient Tornados are essential to carry forward deployed U.S. nuclear bombs and thus …
Returning to the Past to Win the Future: The SPD in Search of a Long-Term Strategy
Still in the midst of a pandemic and trying to unify a dispirited party with low poll numbers, Germany’s Social Democrats are now trying to revive the uplifting spirit of …
SPD Asks Others to Hold the Nuclear Umbrella
One of Germany’s most significant political figures grabbed and shook an important pillar of transatlantic security a few days ago. Rolf Mützenich, leader of the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) Bundestag …
A Strategic Outlook
Report of the International Security Forum 2019 The Forum noted that the global political climate today is marked by a new competitive edge in international politics, the rise of systemic …
Episode 22: Replacing the Tornado: The Strategic and Political Debate
In an era of increasing demands for military burdensharing, the issue of Germany’s aging combat aircraft fleet—the Tornados—is gaining importance. With functions ranging from conventional air-to-ground attacks, to air reconnaissance, …
Episode 20: Defender Europe 20: European Security and U.S. Commitments
Security threats, military spending, and concepts of burden-sharing have changed in the years following the end of the Cold War, and the transatlantic alliance has adapted to meet the new …
Yearning for Familiar Wine In Well-Known Bottles
Parsing the leitmotif of this year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC)—Westlessness—is worth the effort as it does not merely equal semantic pondering. The term invented by the organizers of the MSC …
