According to a posting, Sunday, on Zerohedge, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s criticism of NATO’s warmongering was a surprise, because it came from a completely unexpected direction.

ZH shows that Steinmeier hit the nail on the head by quoting the CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich, who tweeted,

Bloomberg News sees Steinmeier’s statement as evidence of a split in the German government coalition.

said Juergen Hardt, the foreign-policy spokesman of Merkel’s parliamentary faction, in a statement on Sunday. Steinmeier’s comments could lead to “misunderstandings or even glee in Moscow,” he said. The public dispute between Merkel’s CDU and Steinemeier, whose SPD is the junior partner in the coalition

On top of this comes Gerhard Schroeder, the former chancellor, also of the SPD. Schroeder, in a June 18 interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, warned NATO that its policies could lead to a new arms race with Russia, saying that they “will help neither to mitigate conflicts with Russia nor restore good relations.” He ridiculed the idea that Russia “may be nurturing a plan to invade NATO-countries,” stressing that the notion is completely out of touch with the real state of affairs. Schroeder also praised Steinmeier’s call to lift the sanctions on Russia gradually. He also argued that it’s inappropriate for Germany top participate in the NATO military build-up in the Baltic states, particularly as the 75th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa—Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941—comes on June 22.