Fischer was an interesting guy. Kind of a wild child when he was younger, political street fighter, sort of a Sturmabteilung-type but gussied up in grün. In his day he was probably the most popular politician in Germany.
From Der Spiegel, April 28:
Joschka Fischer, born in 1948, was a key figure in the rise and success of the Green Party from the 1980s onward. From 1998 to 2005, he served as vice chancellor and foreign minister in the SPD-Green coalition government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He shaped German foreign policy during the Kosovo War in 1999, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and in the debate over the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.
Joschka Fischer, a titan of Germany's post-reunification foreign policy, says he finds Trump "deeply distasteful," discusses the need for a European bomb and says he never trusted Putin.
DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Fischer, if you were still Germany’s foreign minister, how would you be dealing with the current U.S. administration and President Donald Trump?
Fischer: I'm glad I don't have to, because I find this person deeply unpleasant. The German government has not done a bad job with him so far, and neither has NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. They're often criticized for approaching Trump on a broad trail of slime. But in this situation, they don't have many other options. And (German Chancellor Friedrich) Merz has issued a clear refusal to participate in the Iran war – a wise decision.DER SPIEGEL: Trump has obviously miscalculated with his war in Iran. How do you assess his actions?
Fischer: From my perspective, it was already a mistake in his first term to sweep the nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by Barack Obama and the Europeans, off the table. With the current war, he has so far achieved nothing. The regime will most likely hold on to power, and the enriched uranium will remain under its control. The only regime change Trump has achieved in Iran: the mullahs have been replaced as the central power factor by the Revolutionary Guards. The regime has become even more radical.DER SPIEGEL: Friedrich Merz currently seems to have little influence over Trump. Do you consider descriptions of him as a "foreign-policy chancellor" to be accurate?
Fischer: Every chancellor is a foreign-policy chancellor. I have never really been able to understand this distinction.DER SPIEGEL: Does Germany need to involve itself even more strongly in global politics?
Fischer: Economically, Germany is a European middle power; in terms of power politics, it remains rather small. Now that the U.S. has fallen away as a protective power, Germany must first strengthen and improve its military position.DER SPIEGEL: Could Germany’s Bundeswehr become part of a European army?
Fischer: That will be difficult to push through. We are under considerable time pressure. The simplest approach would be to assemble a coalition of those countries that feel threatened by Putin – which also means: making use of national strength. In Europe, Germany and France are vital in this regard. We simply cannot rely on the U.S. anymore in the future. I have my doubts about NATO’s survival.DER SPIEGEL: You think the situation is so dire?Fischer: At least as a trans-Atlantic alliance. I think it would be sensible for a European NATO to continue to exist.DER SPIEGEL: In two years, the U.S. could have a new president who reverses Trump's course.
Fischer: Who can guarantee that another Trump won’t come along four or eight years after that? The trust is gone, and it cannot be restored through a different election outcome, as much as I hope for one. The stability of the trans-Atlantic alliance rested on this trust.DER SPIEGEL: Does Germany also need to consider establishing its own nuclear deterrent?
Fischer: If Trump withdraws the nuclear umbrella – and that possibility exists – this debate will be unavoidable. There would have to be an attempt to create a European alternative, together with France and Britain. Those would, of course, be extremely challenging changes.DER SPIEGEL: Is Europe ready for Germany to become a military power again, to build the strongest conventional army on the continent, as Chancellor Merz is demanding?
Fischer: Only if the Berlin conducts foreign policy with historical sensitivity. Twice in the 20th century, Germany was thwarted in its bid for world power. We don't seem to think about that as much anymore, but our neighbors have not forgotten this past, even if Chancellor Konrad Adenauer created a European postwar Germany through Western integration. That ultimately made unification possible and created a certain trust among former wartime adversaries.DER SPIEGEL: What does that mean for today? What does that mean for a Germany in which the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is gaining strength?
Fischer: If we have our country’s best interests at heart, we will remain committed to the principle of never again going it alone as a nation. That is also the great danger that the rise of the AfD brings with it: that we suppress our own history and once again develop fantasies of becoming a great power. The AfD wants to return to a pre-Adenauer Germany, a nationalist Germany. Doing so, in my view, would be quite simply insane. Europe is the only option remaining to us.DER SPIEGEL: You were once a militant opponent of the Bundeswehr, and you took part in demonstrations against rearmament and NATO. What was your path to the peace movement as a young man?
Fischer: My generation was raised by the surviving veterans of Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht. In primary school back then, it was customary for teachers to tell stories of their war experiences before report cards were handed out. Our playgrounds were the remnants of bombed out buildings. Materiel left over from the war was also still lying around – steel helmets, ammunition and so on.DER SPIEGEL: That made you a pacifist?
Fischer: It was also, to some extent, a stance against the older generation. But I wonder these days: Was I ever in the peace movement? After all, I was no pacifist. I never rejected violence per se. But I was firmly convinced that, against the backdrop of German history, a lasting peace was needed....
....MUCH MORE
As I said, interesting guy.
