[War] US/Germany: Reforging old links

[John Penta]

"Reforging old links"
16 August 2014
Pres. John Williams, USA
Chancellor Klaus Menzel, FRG
========================
<Berlin>

It had taken long enough, John Williams thought to himself as Air
Force One touched down at Berlin's new airport.

Long enough for him to be able to get this trip done, at least.
Everything had seemed to conspire to prevent it until quite recently.

That thought quickly left his mind, though, as AF1 rolled to a stop
and the stairs rolled up.

Regardless of how long it'd taken, he was here.

It was, in a word, showtime.

The honor guard snapped to attention as Klaus straightened his tie
unconsciously, one problem with meeting world leaders he couldn't
exactly go without.

As he strode down the pathway to meet president Williams face to face
he extended his hand, "Welcome to Berlin Mr President, and Welcome to
Germany."

"It's good to be back," Williams replied, smiling as he shook his
counterpart's hand. Last time he'd been in Germany, it had been as
part of the usual Congressional delegation - he mostly remembered the
beer; the rest of the trip had been kind of pointless.

"I hope the trip was not arduous."  They walked along reviewing the
troop, towards the end was the now Sgt Goss, not sure about his fame
but wearing his new medal with some uncertainty. After all, he never
figured he'd be here of all places.

Williams reviewed the troops with a practiced eye as he replied to
Menzel in crisp German, "It wasn't, thanks." As they reached the end
of the line, he noticed the unusual new medal about one soldier's
neck. With a reflexive coming to attention, he saluted first. If the
custom of saluting living holders of the Blue Max hadn't been
established, he figured, it had been so established now.

The Sgt returned the salute, Klaus nodded, "Mr President this is
Feldwebel Joachim Goss, our first recipient of the Pour Le Merite in
almost a century."

"Congratulations, Feldwebel," Williams replied, shaking hands with the
nervous NCO.

"Thank you sir." Goss responded then the group moved down the line,
Klaus understood Goss would rather be in the field, as would most
young soldiers.  They got in the armored limousine and the drive to
the Berlin office began.

"I believe last time we were here, there were more congressmen with
you and that Kennedy fellow wanted to hit the beer hall."

"You're right, but it wasn't Kennedy - he was doing an admirable job
of staying clean and sober despite the temptations - it was Tom
Waters, one of his aides," Williams recalled with a grin. "Who drank
like a fish." A pause. "I miss being an anonymous House member at
times - I don't miss the CODELs, generally. Sure, it's fun to
travel...But it never felt right to be getting plastered on government
business."

"True, but then again, how much business gets done in the Gasthaus, it
can be considered part of government business."  Then he got serious,
"I visited Bucharest, as a tourist of course."

"They're not exactly looking at the politics of the matter rationally,
I think. I understand their frustration...but dropping out of the
system does nothing to change it," Williams replied. "But I'm
interested in your impressions."

That got a nod from Klaus, he didn't disagree, but he thought it was
all for nothing, "She is a determined woman, she has a vision that she
wants, right now she needs to focus on her country, and well with the
situation with China and the Canadians of all countries, she was upset
and angry.  She is not unwilling to talk, we had a good conversation."

"You're upset, therefore you shut down all normal lines of
communication and try to isolate yourself like Shogun-era Japan? That
makes no sense," Williams replied. "It's looking like it might well
*devastate* her country, and she was looking to improve it?" He shook
his head in bemusement. "Maybe there's something I'm missing, but are
her advisors clueless? What did she *think* the world would do, other
than make her into the butt of jokes?"

"If she shut down all lines of communication how did I meet with her?"
Klaus asked directly, "She does not want to have the rigamarole of a
State Visit, but has been more then willing to sit down over a cup of
coffee, amazing what can get worked out over that."  He continued, "It
will only devastate if the EU tariffs are opposed and we will be
filing a motion to stay the tariffs. Think about it, the United States
has been lucky, but I've driven through the eastern part of my own
country, where poverty exists, because the Communists had no
management skills to speak of."

"She is upset because how many times have we only reached out when we
needed something from them, if not we look at them as our backwards
cousins.  And I am not talking about the zoo fiasco, I have seen the
video of US Marines fishing in the rivers with blasting caps."

Then he paused, "Next time I take a trip to Bucharest for the sites,
perhaps you might wish to come along. "

Williams looked thoughtful. "September 30 comes ever closer, else I'd
extend my trip for a few days to head out there on my own. As it is,
I'm lucky to grab what time I have from forcing through the budget
bills - we're close to actually getting them all signed by 1 October,
but I'm taking no chances after this trip."

"No arguments from me, budgeting is the newest curse," He waited a
second, "when you have the time, there's a small coffee shop near the
state house, it is a place where a treaty can be negotiated over a
biscotti."

That definitely got a curious look from Williams. "Oh?"

"The German Embassies will be assisting Romanians abroad with all
consular services." Klaus explained, "Also we have offered to continue
our trade relationship." Then he paused, "Perhaps treaty was not the
best word, more like, agreement."

"No need for formalities, the notification is enough," Williams
replied. At that point, they pulled up to the Chancellery.

Stepping out of the limo media seemed to be everywhere as cameras
flashed, the plain-clothed police officers of the BKA formed a loose
protective wall as they headed inside.  Several shouted questions were
ignored, though there would be a press conference.

As they escaped the horde of press, Williams shrugged. "I'm almost
getting used to that," he quipped. He paused as they reached the
Chancellor's office.

Once inside they took their seats as coffee was brought in by white
uniformed stewards and cups were poured, Once they settled in Klaus
leaned back slightly, "Now, that we are alone...why is Canada poking
the Chinese dragon so insistently?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. McColl isn't insane, but he likes Hong
even less than I do." Which was saying something. "Plus, it is
punching above their weight, which is good for a government to do on
occasion, I suppose."

"There's punching above your weight and letting the child in Golden
Gloves take on the Heavyweight champ, one is a good idea, the other is
pure foolishness."

"No argument, but the Canucks had to prove themselves somehow; their
initial op was brilliantly done, speaking professionally. The timing
sucked, is all. I have feeling he's using it to build capital in DC
for revisions to NAFTA with the new Congress." Williams paused. "I'm
not sure how successful he'll be on that, but his odds did improve
when our guys got rescued."

"I am glad your personnel were rescued, however I do ask that he not
do that again, considering her reaction was to test the readiness of
her nuclear weaponry.  As for NAFTA, where else can you expand it too,
Central America?"

"He doesn't want to expand it, he wants to strangle it. And somehow
not destroy US-Canadian relations in the process. By all accounts,
he's against free trade." Pause. "Which is lunacy to me, but then,
he's never asked."

"Perhaps he is certifiable after all." Klaus said, "Free trade is the
lubrication that keeps the world going."

"Could you kindly convince Bucharest of that, get them to come back
into NATO at least, while I tug on Ottawa not to do something weirdly
similar?"

"I will try, but she is a strong willed woman, I guess you could say
stubborn in her own way."  He paused, "I will talk with her about it."

"She wants to focus on her country? No argument. She wants to drop out
of the international system and give Allies that were willing to spend
serious money on *helping her do that* a middle finger? There I have
to argue."

He nodded, "I don't see it as a finger I see it as frustration, maybe
I see it different because of what we've seen with the soviet's
"assistance" to their former puppet nations.  LIke I said, I will talk
to her, it's not irreperable Herr Williams, but it will take some
work, carrot instead of stick."

"We had a few-billion-dollar project all ready to go to design and
build her new nuclear reactors to handle her power issues under ANDA,
she agrees and then, come the inevitable crisis, tells us 'fuck you'.
In those terms." Williams shrugged, though. "It made life interesting
for Secretary Abbot - it made his kids think swearing like a sailor
was okay cuz the President of Romania did it...On global TV." Another
shrug. He'd be just as happy if friendly nations didn't make raising
Luke so hard.

"Moving along, did you see what I sent out to the North Atlantic
Council regarding upgrading the defenses of our Eastern allies?"
Williams moved the topic along, past the Romanian sticking point "It's
a crying shame how they've been neglected, and in my opinion, it's
time to tug them up to NATO standards - they've done their bit, now we
need to do ours in regards to training, supply, and infrastructure
upgrades." He couldn't, he reflected, *not* talk about this with the
Bundeskanzler - they were talking about countries smack between a
resurgent Germany and a resurgent Russia. So it was best to draw
Germany in, have them do part of the heavy lifting.

Which, as Klaus recalled, meant pay a chunk of it. "I can talk to the
Poles, and we could also begin training our eastern allies with
western units, so they can get up to NATO doctrines."

"Good idea - how much local opposition do you think there'd be within
Germany to resurrecting and expanding the old REFORGER exercises?"
Williams asked. "I know they're not particularly popular with the
Greens, so we'd do about half the exercise schedule in the US - but
it'd be good for everybody if we could stress test the systems for
deployment to Europe from CONUS regularly, in particular."

"The Greens are a bit annoying, but what Hong did and the Iranian
situation, Germans would not object, we don't have the same freedom we
did in the cold war, but if we use the East, we could rent fields as
needed, and the income from soldiers can't hurt these communities."  A
pause, "I can handle the Greens and the BKA can handle the extremists
in the area."

A nod. "I'd prefer not to cause too much trouble for you if I can
avoid it - that said, it'd be good to use the East - and Poland,
probably - for training space."

"It makes sense, as for trouble, there will be no trouble, like I
said, Hong's decisions and Russia has made things much more
palletable, plus it is a good idea to get our newest allies on the
same game plan in training then in an actual conflict."

With that, the conversation drifted to less substantial matters.
---
Actions:
1. POTUS visits Germany.
2. US and FRG agree to resurrect the old REFORGER exercises, and to
jointly upgrade the training, equipment, and defense infrastructure of
the newer NATO allies - all of the allies that acceded since 1989, who
in many cases aren't fully up to NATO standards, nor fully integrated
in the Alliance.
3. Discuss Romania and other issues of mutual concern.