Guido Westerwelle and the plan for Syria

In his book,  ‘Die Deutsche Diktatur’,  first published in 1969, the German historian, Karl Dietrich Bracher, referred to the history of National Socialism as the history of its underestimation. While that thesis might only cover one facet of what was a particularly German brand of fascism, it remains helpful in understanding why Hitler’s rise to power and his consolidating that power was possible. Of course, implicit in any underestimation might be an inability to comprehend the material itself . However, in the case of National Socialism, It is probably more accurate to say that the blueprint for world domination that Adolf Hitler drew up in Landsberg Prison when he was writing ‘Mein Kampf’ was simply never taken seriously by his opponents. However, with the wisdom of hindsight, one thing Hitler cannot be accused of is an inability to plan long-term.

There is evidence to suggest that this German “Sonderweg” ended on the 8th of May 1945 and it might even be that, at least until now, there has been no particularly independent foreign policy from any of the third Reich’s successor states. For that we might be grateful. However, the Federal Republic’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, continues to back Kofi Annan’s ‘six point peace plan’ for Syria, we might be forgiven for shaking our heads in disbelief. Of course, Guido has no plan, apart from planning his career, he doesn’t know what a plan is, and really there is enough evidence to suggest that Guido is at least as alienated from those who are actually doing the planning as Adolf’s bourgeoise contemporaries were from him.

Nevertheless, there should be no real surprise at this. After all the plans are just about as crazy as those drawn up by Hitler in 1924. Firstly, we have the wacky Wahhabis in Saudi and the Gulf states whose real foreign policy goals dictate that they should arm a right motley crew of jihadists to the hilt in the hope bringing a neighbouring country, at least, under its influence and, at best, into their “kingdom” before setting their sights on Iran and a re-run of the Battle of Karbala. Then, we have the Christian and Jewish Zionists with their version of ‘Mein Kampf’, the  ‘Project for The New American Century’ and with a “full spectrum dominance” that will facilitate that project.

Of course, it doesn’t matter that these plans ultimately conflict and it doesn’t really matter that the little matter of Armageddon might interrupt their proceedings. Indeed,that might even be a part of their plans. Yes, Guido,can be forgiven for not quite understanding the plan. After all,these people are at least as unhinged as Adolf ever was and, while we might not quite understand their madness, we should at least take them seriously.