An apparent split within Germany’s governing coalition over NATO’s military exercises and BMD deployments threatening Russia, may actually signify a shift in Germany’s population and institutions, realizing that NATO’s escalation is threatening the very survival of Europe.

The German leader who on June 16 called the NATO exercises “saber-rattling,” and “war cries” against Russia, and called for them to stop, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, currently enjoys the most support of any German politician, according to polls. The subsequent attacks on Steinmeier by NATO’s General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg and others were strongly rebutted as “absurd,” Tuesday, by German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who is reported to be going to Moscow himself next week and meeting with Russian President Putin.

Former NATO Military Committee head (2002-2005) General Harald Kujat (retired, former German Armed Forces Chief of Staff) told German NDR radio in an interview Tuesday morning, that he fully supports Foreign Minister Steinmeier. General Kujat’s stand represents deep consensus among German military and strategic experts, not only that the conflict with Russia originated, unnecessarily, in the West; but also, that an escalation will lead to a strategic nuclear showdown. General Kujat said that in crisis periods like this one, military measures always have the effect of escalation. He posed the obvious question: “Does one want to escalate the tensions, or, does one want to help to reduce the tensions?” For the many conflicts in the world, be they Ukraine, Syria, or Libya, “we need Russia … it is a question of reason which way one chooses and I think the foreign minister [steinmeier] wanted to change things.”

Kujat said the criticism of Steinmeier was “a Pavlovian response to the remarks of the Foreign Minister and completely absurd. I think they should carefully listen to what he said. He is proposing the proper approach.”

In Berlin, June 21, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and then warned against the danger fueling tensions between Russia and the European Union.

“We can only solve the problems of Europe and Russia by dialogue,” Sarkozy said. He defined the most serious threat facing Europe as the terrorist groups ISIS and al-Qaeda, both being fought by Russia. 

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Monday, that, in addition to the agreements Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will sign next Saturday to facilitate China purchasing Russia’s RD-180 engines (the ones that nuts in the U.S. want to stop the U.S. from using) and Russia’s accessing Chinese micro radio electronics for space use, China has “taken a keen interest” in Russian proposals for “joint experimentation for the development of new pharmaceutical products, for commercialization of this process, for creating possibilities for the protection of human musculoskeletal system…. We can also join our efforts in the development of freeze-dried foods, special diets for the restoration of human metabolism,” Rogozin added.

“What is tested in space, is also fully applicable on Earth,” he emphasized. This will provide “a powerful demonstration that the money invested in space exploration is of major use for the people, because the results of this collaboration will be used in the clinical sense — for ensuring people’s safety and health.”

Russia’s Ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, expanded on the higher principle driving space collaboration between Russia and China, in an interview with TASS Tuesday. Our countries are not discussing merely securing “a batch of goods” between them, but seek “to organize long-term mutually advantageous cooperation” in space work which will “finally benefit the entire humankind.”

Tass quoted Denisov at some length:

“Our country has substantial potential accumulated in the sphere of engine-making. This is a well-known fact… I would emphasize cooperation in outer space activity as a whole rather than a specific delivery of a batch of goods. The point is not to deliver specific equipment but to organize long-term mutually advantageous cooperation of the sides, which are objectively close to each other from the viewpoint of technical and technological compatibility.

“The Chinese space industry was largely created with account taken of our technical developments. While it has long reached the level of independent development and made achievements in recent years in the sphere of Chinese cosmonautics both manned and unmanned, the field for cooperation remains quite broad. This is, perhaps, the main thing. The delivery of rocket engines is quite possible and is viewed both by us and our Chinese partners….

“In a perspective, cooperation is perceptible in the field of designing a heavy rocket and establishing interaction in the sphere of space stations and long-distance flights.

“This is a very promising sphere in whose development both the Russian and Chinese sides are interested…. This cooperation is of purely peaceful, civilian nature and will finally benefit the entire humankind rather than only the participating states.”