> >The Times > >May 4 1999 > > > >Roger Boyes Inside Germany > > > >'Chancellor of war' faces tide of dissent > >The tide of German opinion is shifting rapidly > >against the Nato war in Yugoslavia. Popular > >opponents have found a voice in the form of Oskar > >Lafontaine, the former Finance Minister, who at the > >weekend relaunched his political career with a > >scathing attack on the Nato campaign. > > > >"We are stuck in a dead-end street," Herr Lafontaine > >told a May Day rally. "More and more innocent > >people are becoming victims of this bombing. I urge > >those responsible to work towards ending the > >bombing, to return to the negotiating table." Before > >the speech, Herr Lafontaine was urged by nervous > >Social Democratic colleagues to curb any direct > >attack on Gerhard Schrvder, the Chancellor. Yet the > >target was clear; Herr Lafontaine, former Social > >Democratic chairman, is convinced that he can feel > >the pulse of his party better than anyone. > > > >"Oskar," said a friend of the difficult, often edgy > >Saarlander, "regards it as his duty to alert the > >Chancellor to the public discontent about the war." > >Herr Lafontaine could well be reading the mood > >correctly. The May Day rallies were one useful > >pointer. Rudolf Scharping, Defence Minister, hailed > >by the media, was greeted with chants of "Killer, > >killer". At the Lafontaine rally, somebody hoisted a > >placard showing Herr Schrvder as Adolf Hitler. A > >section of the crowd shouted abuse at the "war > >Chancellor". Every trade union speaker at the > >weekend urged Nato to stop the bombing. In eastern > >Germany - where opposition is strongest - the > >Social Democratic prime minster of Brandenburg, > >Manfred Stolpe, won loud applause when he shouted: > >"Put an end to this bombardment." Even the Green > >Environment Minister, far from happy with German > >involvement in the war, was pelted with eggs. > >These protests were more than just ritualised > >left-wing grumbling. The Government is a Social > >Democrat-Green coalition. The demonstrators make > >up the Government's basic constituency. Their > >demands go beyond stopping the war. They want a > >commitment that Germany will not put itself on a > >collision course with Russia, and guarantees that > >Germany will not be flooded by refugees. > > > >Growing legions of German critics accept the Serb > >propaganda that Kosovans are fleeing Nato bombs > >rather than ethnic cleansers. The Forsa Opinion Poll > >Institute shows 52 per cent now favour an immediate > >unilateral interruption of the Nato campaign. "The > >consensus machine is beginning to break down," says > >Ernst-Otto Czempiel, politics professor. > > > >Modern German politicians have no experience of > >sustaining support for a long war. They have already > >deployed the familiar techniques to mobilise public > >opinion - pictures of massacres, accusations of Serb > >concentration camps - and are quick to remind > >Germans that their post-Holocaust moral obligation > >is to act against injustice rather than stand aside. But > >these devices are no longer working. Germans have > >stopped believing in a meaningful victory on the > >battlefield. They are looking for a speedy diplomatic > >face-saver. The release of three US soldiers appeared > >to open the way for some new thinking about > >postwar political and economic reconstruction of the > >Balkans - a campaign, they believe, that can be won. > >Germany is on the margins of the military offensive. > >In the postwar climate, it can take the lead with > >America on a Marshall-style aid package, financial > >support for democratic governments and backing for > >a European Union-backed stabilisation plan. > >Germany does not have the patience to wait for a > >natural military turning point: it wants > >reconstruction now. This tension between fidelity to > >the Alliance's military and political aims and erosion > >of domestic support for military action make Bonn > >look like a mansion with dry rot. > >The Government has reached its psychological limit; > >it could not take part in a ground-troop offensive or > >even a policing action. Nor would Germans willingly > >agree to an escalation of airstrikes. > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Dan Ciric > >DC Communications Centre > >E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Web: http://come.to/ciric > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---