Right now there is a terrible crisis in Yemen. Well over a hundred thousand people have died, mostly from starvation or lack of basic needs due to a war with Saudi Arabia. The crisis has been described by international observers as a genocide and the Saudi government has shown no care for the people at all.
The US has already made her position clear by making a massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia that according to President Trump was “too big to pass up.” The German government has responded to this with moving to continue training the soldiers from the Saudi government who are committing the genocide according to a report:
Germany will continue to train soldiers from Saudi Arabia despite its brutal military campaign in Yemen, reported German news agency DPA on Monday.
Five Saudi soldiers are expected to start an officer’s training course in July with the German army, while two others are to receive similar preparation with the air force. Seven more Saudi soldiers will begin German language training in July in anticipation of starting officer’s training in 2020.
The training was part of an agreement made in 2016 during an official visit by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
Last year, Germany imposed a temporary halt on arms exports to Saudi Arabia following the assassination of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi diplomatic building. However, it has lifted restrictions on certain components following French and British pressure.
‘Disgrace’
Berlin also cited the 4-year-old Yemen war when suspending arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The conflict triggered what the UN has described as currently “the biggest humanitarian disaster in the world.”
Christian Blex, an opposition state lawmaker for the far-right Alternative for Germany, criticized the military cooperation in a tweet, saying: “[Angela] Merkel, [Heiko] Maas, von der Leyen — anyone with their hand in the game is a disgrace,” referring to the German chancellor, foreign minister and defense minister, respectively.
While Germany approved markedly fewer arms exports in 2018, exports to Saudi Arabia and Turkey surged, in part due to deals that had been inked years earlier. (source)
Recall that Germany said that unlike the US, she would not sell weapons to Saudi Arabia in light of the “humanitarian” crisis. This is obviously a mere half-truth, for while the US is selling Saudi Arabia the weapons, it is Germany who is giving the Saudis the training for how to use their weapons. It is no different in terms of the effect that it has, which is to continue and worsen the present crisis.
A question that was not answered and would be interesting to know is the role of the German banks in this crisis, specifically Deutsche Bank.
During the Armenian Genocide, American and German businessmen worked closely to provide the Ottoman Empire with the tools she needed to slaughter Christians. American firearms manufacturers, specifically Colt Firearms, produced many of the weapons for the Empire from Abdulhamid II onward in 1876. The Empire was so happy with her work that she gave the company numerous metals until her dissolution in 1923, and many of those metals can be viewed today at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT. Germany provided logistical support, military training, and banking services to the Ottomans before, during, and after the genocide. Many infamous perpetrators in the genocide of the Armenians, such as Talaat Pasha, became very wealthy after expropriating the assets of murdered Christians and then deposited them into Deutsche Bank, which was happy to accept such “blood money” as they did not care about the source:
But this thievery was not without European collaboration. While it is true that there were people within the Deutsche Bank who sympathized with the Armenians, it is also true that a sum of five million Turkish lira (about 30,000 kilograms worth of gold) was deposited by the Turkish government at the Reichsbank in Berlin. This huge amount of money was, in the words of historians Ugur Ungor and Mehmet Polatel, “probably the aggregate of all Armenian bank accounts as well as the total sum gained from the liquidations in the provinces.” (source)
As German diplomat Hans Freiherr noted in a meeting with Henry Morgenthau about the slaughter being done to the Armenians, he said:
“I think the Turks are entirely justified. The weaker nation must succumb . . . I do not blame the Turks for what they are doing to the Armenians . . . They are entirely justified” (source)
It is a known fact that Deutsche Bank has a very large presence in Saudi Arabia and is close with the Saudi Royal Family. Deutsche Bank is also closely tied to President Trump, as he and his entire family, including his infamous son-in-law Jared Kushner, have accounts and do regular business with them.
Trump’s $110 billon USD weapons deal with the Saudi government was made for geopolitical reasons, but could there be something else? It is well known that Trump does play by the legal rules, as he has made clear that he has no care for morality at all in spite of the still clamoring crowds of many older Evangelicals. Is it possible that Trump, the Saudi family, and Deutsche Bank have some mutual collaboration where they also benefit from such a deal, remembering too that it is legal for politicians (including presidents) to have “insider trading” information but the average citizen cannot?
It is not just Deutsche Bank or the Armenian Genocide. German banks have a history of very questionable and immoral financial transactions, and have no problem with using crime to enrich themselves, as Ted explained using the example of the 1527 Sack of Rome:
What one is seeing happen here is a historical pattern with the US and Germany. What is interesting is that such patterns are as historical as the wars the follow in the following years and decades, since such “business dealings” paid for in blood are usually measures taken in preparation for a larger war.
It is a know fact that many of such conflicts are happening right now, and it comes at the same time which nationalism is rising and inciting a return to militarism.