While NATO attacks on Libyan forces continue intermittently, another debate rages alongside. This one concerns why Germany abstained on Resolution 1973—which authorizes the use of all necessary measures “to protect civilians”—alongside China, Russia, India, and Brazil, instead of with its NATO partners who had moved the Resolution. The West, led by France, and United Kingdom with a more reluctant United States introduced the United Nations Resolution on March 17, 2011, began the bombing of Libya in just two days and passed the baton on to NATO which continues the military action.
The question of why Germany, a faithful member of NATO and an enthusiastic Europeanist, dealt what the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung says was a “a blow to trans-Atlantic and European unity and security cooperation,” preoccupies everyone. American analysts have virulently attacked Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, with Roger Cohen of the New York Times demanding a mea culpa for having “shunned Germany’s core allies,” In an interview to Der Spiegel, the French author Bernard Henri-Levy, known for his pro-American views, said that “we lost a great deal of time because of the Germans, which is a disaster, mainly for the Libyans, but also for the Germans who will pay bitterly for abstaining.” The more respected Briton, Timothy Garton Ash accused the Germans of having given a “stab in the back” to its principal European partners, the US and the Arab League.
This article was reprinted in the monthly publication Pragati. It was first published as a feature on Gateway House.