Georgette Mosbacher said in a Twitter post dated May 15: “If Germany wants to diminish nuclear capability and weaken NATO, perhaps Poland … could house the capabilities here.”
She added that Poland “pays its fair share, understands the risks, and is on NATO's eastern flank.”
A day earlier the US ambassador to Germany, Richard A. Grenell, was quoted as saying that “rather than eroding the solidarity that undergirds NATO’s nuclear deterrent, now is the time for Germany to maintain its commitments to its allies through continued investments in NATO’s nuclear share.”
He added: “Now is the time for Germany’s political leaders, especially in the SPD, to make clear Germany stands by that commitment and stands by its allies.”
Grenell also said, as quoted on his embassy's website: “An honest assessment of the threats we face is essential for our partnership. Our allies in Poland and the Baltics know these threats are not a Cold War relic; no ally can fail to recognize that fact.”
He noted that NATO leaders meeting in London in December reaffirmed that “as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance.”
Rolf Muetzenich, parliamentary leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), a junior government coalition partner, called earlier this month for the withdrawal of all US nuclear weapons from Germany, a view that divides his left-leaning party, and is not shared by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, the Reuters news agency has reported.
(gs/pk)
Source: bankier.pl, usembassy.gov, Reuters