Thread by @DavidNorthWSWS

In the climate of anti-Russia hysteria, little thought is given to the implications of the massive rearmament program that is being undertaken in Germany under the pretext of defending Ukraine. But the militarist frenzy on display in the German Bundestag should give pause. 1/

Germany, already the dominant economic power in the EU, will now be on course to become the dominant military power in Western and Central Europe. This is not great news for France, and that is probably why Macron is trying to keep his lines of communication with Putin open. 2/

It should be recalled that Britain and France were bitterly opposed to the reunification of Germany in 1989. Though they dared not say so in public, Prime Minister Thatcher and President Mitterand were frightened that a reunified Germany would be uncontrollable. 3/

An Official British Foreign Office document, released in 2010, records a discussion between Mitterand and Thatcher in January 1990. The French president feared that the "sudden prospect of reunification had delivered a mental shock to the Germans." 4/

The effect "had been to turn them once again into the 'bad' Germans they used to be. They were behaving with a certain brutality and concentrating on reunification to the exclusion of everything else." 5/

Mitterand said that he "did not think Europe was ready for German reunification: and he could not accept that it had to take priority over everything else." 6/

But the Germans would not listen to him. "Unless you were wholeheartedly for reunification, you were an enemy of Germany." Mitterand then told Thatcher, "in strict confidence," that he had been very "blunt" with Chancellor Kohl and Foreign Minister Genscher. 7/

"He had said to them that no doubt Germany could if it wished achieve reunification, bring Austria into the European Union and EVEN REGAIN TERRITORIES WHICH THEY HAD LOST AS A RESULT OF THE WAR. THEY MIGHT MAKE EVEN MORE GROUND THAN HITLER." [Emphasis added] 8/

Mitterand feared that as a result of reunification, "we would all be back in 1913." But it was not possible to oppose reunification. "In reality," he lamented, "there was no force in Europe which could stop it happening. None of us were going to declare war on Germany." 9/

Reunification threatened British and French interests. "President Mitterand said that he shared the Prime Minister's concerns about the Germans' so-called mission in central Europe. 10/

"The Germans seemed determined to use their influence to dominate Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary. That left only Rumania and Bulgaria for the rest of us... 11/

"The Prime Minister said that we should not just accept the Germans had a particular hold over the countries of Eastern Europe but do everything to expand our own links." 12/

While its forces are currently directed against Russia, the NATO coalition contains within itself explosive contradictions. The war in Ukraine marks the final and decisive breakdown of the entire post-World War II order. 13/

The world is confronted with a volcanic eruption of imperialist violence. Catastrophe can be avoided only through the growth of the international class struggle, directed toward the conquest of power by the working class and the establishment of world socialism. 14/14