German Left Party MP Sevim Dağdelen calls for US soldiers and nuclear weapons to leave, in the Bundestag on March 31, 2023. Photo: File photo.
By Ben Norton – Mar 31, 2023
On the floor of Germany’s parliament, Left Party MP Sevim Dağdelen called for the c. 38,000 US soldiers in her country to leave, and to take their nuclear weapons with them. She lamented that Washington “doesn’t actually want allies, just loyal vassals”.
A member of parliament from Germany’s Left Party has called for the thousands of US soldiers and nuclear weapons in her country to leave.
“After 78 years, it is now time for US soldiers to go home. All other allies left Germany a long time ago”, said Die Linke MP Sevim Dağdelen on the floor of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag.
“The US nuclear weapons must go”, she added, in a March 31 parliamentary event on the 75th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
As of 2022, the United States had 38,500 troops in Germany, in dozens of bases and other military installations.
Dağdelen urged for “breaking with the existing relationship of extreme subservience by Germany on matters of US foreign policy, one that is marked by war, breaches of international law, and support of coups”.
“The US administration gives the impression that they don’t actually want allies, just loyal vassals”, she said. “Yet fewer and fewer countries around the world are prepared to accept this. And that is good news”.
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“The US military bases behave like extraterritorial areas in which the [German] constitution does not apply”, Dağdelen said.
“On German soil, assistance is provided in US wars, lethal drone strikes, and torture flights, in breach of international law”.
“And the US hosts conferences at Ramstein Air Base in Germany as if the Occupation Statue was still in force”.
Deutsch-Amerik. Freundschaft heute heißt, dass US-Soldaten aus #Deutschland abziehen & die #Atomwaffen mitnehmen.Meine Rede zu 75 Jahre #MarshallPlan
German- #USA Friendship today means withdrawing US soldiers & nuclear weapons from Germany. My speech today in the #Bundestag 👇 pic.twitter.com/FC7iFmdlVH
— Sevim Dağdelen, MdB (@SevimDagdelen) March 31, 2023
Dağdelen noted that “there once was a time when the Bundestag had more courage”, recalling that, in 2010, the German parliament voted overwhelmingly to withdraw US nuclear weapons. But she lamented that that resolution was not implemented.
“Now, Germany’s federal government allows itself to be pushed directly into the line of fire by the USA, with supplies of Leopard battle tanks”, she continued, referencing the NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
“Now the federal government is refusing to support an international investigative commission into the terror attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines”, Dağdelen added. “I say, terror attacks among friends simply cannot be tolerated”.
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She called for Berlin to defend its “democratic sovereignty”, asking, “Why is the federal government refusing, even after 20 years, to condemn the US war of aggression in Iraq as a violation of international law?”
She also addressed Germany’s foreign minister: “Why are you, Ms. [Annalena] Baerbock, not lobbying for the release of Julian Assange, who faces 175 years in prison in the USA for making US war crimes public? Why did you not offer asylum to the dissident Edward Snowden?”
Dağdelen did thank the United States for its support in the battle against the Nazi regime, but she noted that “the main burden in the fight against German fascism was shouldered by the Soviet Union”, which lost more than 26 million people in World War II, compared to 400,000 North Americans.
In an interview with Geopolitical Economy Report in February, Dağdelen condemned the conflict in Ukraine as a NATO proxy war against Russia, lamenting that EU member states have been acting as US “vassals” and sacrificing their own economic interests on behalf of US corporations.
I interviewed German Member of Parliament @SevimDagdelen, of the Left Party, Die Linke.
She called to end NATO's "proxy war" in Ukraine, saying the EU are acting as US "vassal states".
She denounced the US "terrorist attack" on Nord Stream.
Full video: https://t.co/enAXNQbYrm pic.twitter.com/w8BlkroHV8
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 22, 2023
Ben Norton
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
