Unspeakable truth!

During the heydays of Hitler's Nazi Germany, the Kriegsmarine ('War Navy') was a potent force of over 8,00,000 personnel (today, German Navy has only around 16,000). It had progressively violated the limitations on size and on building submarines, as part of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. It's famous 'Plan Z' (1939) envisaged a massive U-boat manufacturing and deployment plan with Rudeltaktik (Wolfpack) tactics that wreaked havoc on British convoys, initially. Pursuant to the times that be, it was imperative that those in senior military ranks also held a political position that was ideologically aligned to Nazism. Then German Naval Chief, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, was one such believer — unlike Field Marshal Erwin Rommel who was forced into committing suicide for non-conformity. Karl Donitz also went on to assume the office of President of Germany briefly, in accordance with Hitler's last will. Later, as part of Nuremberg trials, the Naval officer was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, and thereafter he retreated to a village to live out his last years in obscurity. The unrepentant naval officer was buried without military honours and service members who did attend his funeral service were disallowed from wearing uniforms – politics had consumed a straight-speaking Naval officer.

The German national narrative itself evolved post-WW2, and the German Navy transited culturally and manifestly from Kriegsmarine to just Marine or Bundesmarine (1956-present), for West Germany. It assumed a significant role in NATO and Warsaw Pact comity, for West and East Germany, respectively. Accession of East Germany to Federal Republic of Germany led to the amalgamation of forces to the Bundeswehr, with the German Navy assuming a decidedly smaller, though significant role, in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) posturing. The genesis of NATO was Russia-centric (USSR, then) with a mandate that sought to counter any possible Russian belligerence. The restive Eastern front with the 'Berlin War' became the definitive symbol of NATO-versus-Russian bloc shadowboxing in the cold war era. However, while Germany formally committed to NATO sensibilities, the two World Wars and the accompanying discourse had taken a subliminal toll on the psyche of Germans, even if it wasn't expressed overtly. There was an obvious guilt of history and that was particularly centered and reserved for the Russians (besides the anti-Semitic angle), and to the horrific sufferings inflicted on them.

Today, in supposedly the post-cold war era (after 1991), geopolitical tensions between the euphemistic 'Western Bloc' and 'Eastern Bloc' are resurfacing under Russian President Vladimir Putin. The epicenter of this reemerging strain is Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe, after Russia – with clouds of war building up, rather dangerously. The fundamental issue at stake is the Ukrainian enthusiasm to integrate itself into the European Union (and more so, to the NATO), which Russia perceives as a redline signaling grave security-military risk to its own geopolitical interests, and sure loss of leverage in the region. Ukraine's potential entry into NATO could bring elements of the United States military to its much-disputed and volatile Russian-Ukrainian border, with the additional commitment of defending Ukraine's military in case of any attack from Russia.

Not everyone in the so-called 'Western Bloc'/NATO is as devoted about checkmating Russia on Ukraine (at least militarily), and Germany is earning the notoriety of possibly undermining the NATO unity on this issue. Past political emotions (nearly 50 per cent of Germans are opposed to supplying weapons to Ukraine) and modern-day realpolitik or ostpolitik (engaging Russia through talks and commerce) is contributing to the German drift. With more than half of Germany's crucial gas imports coming from Russia, the Germans certainly look 'iffy' in their NATO commitment, in the second ushering of cold war portents.

The first casualty of opining on politics and war is neither a Russian nor a Ukrainian, but again, a German Naval Officer! The much-downsized German Navy is now headed by humbler designation i.e., Inspector of the Navy (Konteradmiral). Recently, Kay-Achim Schonbach, as the Konteradmiral or Chief of German Navy, made politically controversial remarks when talking to a thinktank in New Delhi, which awkwardly ended up expressing a fairly widespread, though not the official outlook, of the German people. The German Naval chief had categorically stated that Putin 'deserves respect', with the incredulously frank insistence that Ukraine would never win back Crimea. He had also downplayed the Russian threat on Ukraine by dismissing the same as 'nonsense', only to be called out by the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany that the said Naval officer's stand, 'called into question Germany's trustworthiness and reliability' and that the, 'patronising attitude subconsciously also reminds Ukrainians of the horrors of the Nazi occupation'. As it is, NATO pressures were mounting on Germany to be more assertive than it has been recently on the Ukraine-Russia face-off, and the embarrassment caused by its Naval Chief's political views led to his immediate resignation.

Yet again, a German Naval officer is paying the price for harbouring and expressing uncomfortable political opinions that were frankly beyond his professional mandate. The disunity in the NATO camp is palpable and it brings into question the obvious issues of potency and efficacy of the Western strategy, especially when matched to a solid multipronged strategy (even if amoral) of Putin's, which generates more hybrid and dependency-options for it to counter-leverage, as opposed to those emanating from the other side. Nations in the crosshairs of geopolitical one-upmanship like Ukraine face the heat, as the 'West' remains clearly confused with multiple faultlines, and the invariable sword falls on the straight-speaking serviceman who state the obvious, even if the same were uncalled for. The hemming and hawing of the Germans at the altar of mutual Russian-German commercial interests is undeniable. The French too are still licking their wounds from the humiliation of the Australian submarine deal, and with disruptive winds generated by Brexit, the overall picture of the trans-Atlantic 'Free World' unity in EU-NATO versus an authoritarian-grade power in the Kremlin, is dismal. Truth is obvious but cannot be stated.

The writer is the former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry. Views expressed are personal