Germany’s New Ostpolitik

Abstract

A survey of perceptions of Germany’s new Ostpolitik in Russia, the United States and Germany. The author argues that Germany’s abandonment of its strategic alliance with Russia by assuming the lead on sanctions within the EU has not received due attention of experts because it is not supported by any doctrine within Germany itself. The new Ostpolitik is the product of many small steps. It is the consequence of Germany’s uncritical acceptance of democracy promotion as the guideline to foreign policy coming from Brussels and of Berlin’s political accommodation with its neighborhood, the new EU Member States to the East, bringing their revanchism and hostility to Russia into the EU institutions that Germany controls.