BERLIN: Germany
yesterday marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall that ushered in the
end of communism and national reunification, as the Western alliance that
helped secure those achievements is riddled with divisions. Two days before the
date that brought epochal change, France's President Emmanuel Macron dropped a
bombshell, declaring that transatlantic partnership NATO was suffering from
"brain death" and that Europe itself was "on the brink".

Chancellor Angela
Merkel responded with uncharacteristic sharpness, saying Thursday "I don't
think that such sweeping judgments are necessary", and the ensuing storm
over NATO laid bare the growing differences among traditional allies. The bad
tempered prelude to the festivities stood in sharp contrast to celebrations
five years ago, when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ex-Polish
president and freedom icon Lech Walesa were present.

This time,
leaders of former Cold War powers will be absent, as Donald Trump's America
First policy, Britain's Brexit struggles and Russia's resurgence put a strain
on ties. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit ended Friday while Macron is
only planning a flying visit today, leaving the actual anniversary on November
9 without globally prominent figures. Pompeo also left behind a stark warning:
"As we celebrate, we must also recognize that freedom is never guaranteed.
"Today, authoritarianism is once again rising," he said, namechecking
China and Russia.

'Naive
complacency'

Carrying a
similar message, the EU's incoming chief Ursula von der Leyen noted that the
euphoric optimism over liberal democracy and freedom that characterized
November 9, 1989 has dissipated. "Today, we have to admit that our
complacency was naive," said von der Leyen. Russia is "using violence
to shift established borders in Europe, and is trying to fill every vacuum that
the US has left behind." And hopes that China would develop closer to the
Western liberal democracy model has not been fulfilled, she said.

Mikhail
Gorbachev, whose decision not to send the Soviet army to prop up the East
German regime was seen as crucial to preserving peace during the Cold War, told
Spiegel magazine in an interview that there is "no nostalgia" for
that period of division. But "we have to admit that after the end of the
Cold War new leaders failed to create a modern security architecture,
especially in Europe." "As a result, new lines of divisions have
emerged, and NATO's eastward expansion ... shifted these lines to the Russian
border."

'Half a century'

Beyond the cracks
surfacing in the global arena, a new chasm is opening up within Germany itself
with the far-right gaining a strong foothold in the former communist states. Underlining
the problem herself, Merkel said those who earlier thought the differences
between the former communist east and the capitalist west could be ironed out
now see "that it would take half a century or more."

Debate has also
opened up more intensively over the differences between the east and west as
"nationalist and protectionist trends have gained ground worldwide,
thereby fuelling more discussion too from a national perspective," Merkel
told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Amid the somber mood, a serious political program is
planned, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies.

They will join
Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to mark their countries'
"contribution ... to the peaceful revolution" that led to the collapse
of the communist regime. Merkel will speak at the Chapel of Reconciliation,
which stands on a stretch of the former wall border strip where local people
jumped from windows the day it was built to escape the communist East, while
others later dug tunnels towards the West.

Steinmeier will
also make a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in the evening, before a series of
concerts including one by the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. On
November 9, 1989, East German border guards, overwhelmed by large crowds, threw
open the gates to West Berlin, allowing free passage for the first time since
the wall was built. The momentous event would end up bringing the communist
regime crashing down and lead to German reunification a year later.- AFP