German foreign policy positions leave Canada bemused
Washington’s lament that Berlin isn’t pulling its weight in NATO is old hat. But that criticism is increasingly being shared by a traditionally close ally who is puzzled by Germany’s stance.
Canada and Germany have a lot a common. Both countries pride themselves on being good members of the international community. Both consider themselves ardent multilateralists who try to solve conflicts through the United Nations rather than go it alone. Both subscribe to a general foreign policy style of understatement rather than pushing themselves onto the global stage. And both share a very close, but not always easy relationship as junior partners of the United States.
Particularly in the security arena German-Canadian relations have traditionally been strong. For decades Canada operated military bases in southern Germany until they were closed in the 1990s. Due to their multilateralist approach to foreign and security policy both often joined forces to soften or balance out unilateral tendencies their bigger ally, the US, might display.