Die außenpolitischen Ansichten der Linkspartei bereiten den US-Vertretern in Deutschland Kopfschmerzen. Die Forderung die NATO aufzulösen oder aus Afghanistan abzuziehen stoßen nur auf wenig Gegenliebe. So ist Außenpolitik auch ein Thema bei den anscheinend zahlreichen Besuchen von Politikern der Linkspartei in US-Vertretungen. Konstruktive Gesprächspartner sind Lederer, Ramelow, Scholz und Gysi, dessen Kaffeekränzchen mit Murphy in einem eigenem Cable lobend festgehalten wurde. An einem Punkt ist nur von "Several LP Leaders" die Rede; man kann davon ausgehen, dass es sich hier um Bartsch und andere aus seinem Umfeld handelt.
Den US-Vertretern wird versichert, dass sich die außenpolitische Sichtweise der Linkspartei ändern wird. So sind laut Lederer pragmatischere Mitglieder in der ehemaligen PDS zu finden, die flexible Positionen einnehmen können. Auch Ramelow, Scholz und Gysi sehen die pazifistische Haltung der Linkspartei als Fehler, den man korrigieren müsse; sie wollen durchsetzen, dass wenigstens Beschlüsse des UN-Sicherheitsrates von der Linkspartei unterstützt werden, auch wenn sie den Einsatz von Militär erfordern. Ramelow bezeichnet zudem die Ablehnung von Militäreinsätzen als reine Mobilisierungsmaßnahme. Wegen der Popularität der außenpolitischen Forderungen in der Basis, so Scholz, wurden während des Bundestagswahlkampfs 2009 diese in Vordergrund gestellt und von Gysi bei Demonstrationen vertreten. Nach der Bundestagswahl besuchte Gysi das erste Mal die US-Botschaft in Berlin. Im Gespräch betonte er, dass er die Schlüsselfigur in der Linkspartei sei und nur er den problematischen Teil der Partei im Westen und den erfolgreichen im Osten zusammenhalten könne. Außerdem bestimme er nach Absprache mit Lafontaine die außenpolitischen Positionen der Partei und beschwichtigte die Forderung der Auflösung der NATO sei nur Schadensbegrenzung, um dem radikalen Teil in der Partei entgegenzukommen. Überraschend sagte er, dass nur Afghanistan das problematische außenpolitische Thema zwischen der Linkspartei und den USA sei. Murphy lobte ihn als geselligen Gesprächspartner und merkte an, dass sich Gysi über die Möglichkeiten weiterer Gespräche mit US-Vertretern freue.
SUBJECT: OFFICIAL DEBUT OF GERMANY\'S LEFT PARTY
5. (C) On the margins of the convention, Klaus Lederer, head
of the Berlin LP, told us that the real work would now begin,
as the party tries to draft a common program. Because of
their more pragmatic approach, former PDS members and the LP
leadership are generally (with important exceptions) expected
to take positions that would be flexible and not so extreme
as to preclude participation in state (and perhaps eventually
federal) governments. PDS hardliners and many in the WASG,
coming from a more purely protest tradition, are expected to
support a more ideological platform. However, the WASG also
includes a large number of former SPD and labor union figures
who can probably find common cause with former PDS members.
As de facto party leader, Oskar Lafontaine will have a large
voice in the debate, and his position is far from clear. His
speeches at the various conventions breathed fiery resistance
(we must learn from the French, we need a general strike!\")
to reductions in workers\' protections or social services,
demanded nationalization of the energy sector, and excoriated
the evils of international finance and predatory capitalism.
Though appealing to the delegates, such sentiments, if
translated into a party platform, will not make the LP an
easy coalition partner for the SPD.
[...]
6. (C) Foreign policy figured in the convention on a strictly
ideological basis. Speakers deplored any kind of German
military engagement abroad, denounced globalization, and
attacked the U.S. as the source of most of the world\'s evils.
In his speech to the LP, Oskar Lafontaine said \"Bush and
Blair are terrorists. That must be said clearly,\" in
addition to praising Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales in South
America for their contributions to \"democratic\" control of
their national economies. Several LP leaders, including
Lederer, Member of the Bundestag (MdB) Bodo Ramelow, and
Executive Board member Helmut Scholz have admitted to us that
foreign policy is used mainly as a rallying point for the
party. In a post-convention meeting, Ramelow told PolCouns
that one of the debates the party is going to have to go
through before it could become a national coalition partner
will be about foreign policy and, especially, the use of
military power overseas. Ramelow said that he and other PDS
leaders like Gregor Gysi considered the PDS\' categorical
opposition to German military deployments to be a mistake.
SPD leaders such as FM Steinmeier have cited the LP\'s
pacifism as a primary reason why it is unfit for federal
governing responsibility.
[...]
22.06.2007 07BERLIN1253
SUBJECT: EMERGING LEFT PARTY SHAKES UP GERMAN POLITICS
[...]
5. (C) Despite these handicaps, Ramelow predicted to poloffs
February 26 that if the SPD continues to implement economic
reforms, the Left Party would continue to grow, with the aim
of reaching 15 percent national support, which would make it
Germany\'s undisputed third-strongest party. He also
predicted that, over time other parties will consider it more
acceptable to form coalitions with the Left Party. The Green
Party was also once a pariah, Ramelow noted, but has since
slowly become part of the political mainstream. He added
that the starkest differences between his party and others is
in the foreign policy arena, where the Left Party stands
alone in its opposition to most German deployments abroad,
including in Lebanon and Afghanistan. When asked if the Left
Party would also moderate its foreign policy positions, as
the Green Party had done over time, Ramelow indicated that
this would be difficult, but that some policy evolution would
occur. Gysi gave a similar answer, suggesting that the party
could shift over time to support German participation in
military action sanctioned by the UN Security Council.
(Note: Gysi and Ramelow have the reputation among politicians
from other parties for being among the more reasonable voices
in the Left Party, so these views do not reflect party
consensus. End note.)
[...]
14.3.2008 08BERLIN335
SUBJECT: GERMANY\'S LEFT PARTY CONTINUES TO MARGINALIZE ITSELF WITH EXTREME POSITIONS ON FOREIGN POLICY AND THE ECONOMY
1. (C) SUMMARY: Germany\'s radical Left Party launched its
electoral campaign manifesto at its June 20-21 national party
convention in Berlin with a palette of predictable pacifist
foreign policy and anti-capitalist domestic appeals that
almost guarantee it will continue to remain on the political
sidelines after the election. The party is viewed as a
pariah by the four other major national parties and has
almost no chance of being invited to join any of the possible
coalitions. Its platform calls for the dissolution of NATO
and its replacement with a new European security structure
that includes Russia, and the end of all foreign deployments
of Germany\'s military forces, including in Afghanistan.
[...]
4. (SBU) On foreign and security policy, the Left Party used
its party convention to reinforce its reputation as Germany\'s
anti-war party. The platform calls for the withdrawal of all
German military forces from Afghanistan and elsewhere around
the world and the abolition of NATO in favor of a collective
European security system which includes Russia. While
earning great applause from conference delegates, these
positions make it difficult for other parties to even
consider a coalition agreement with the Left Party in the
near future.
The Left Party\'s Head of InternationalRelations and future MEP,
Helmut Scholz, told PolOffs that these measures, especially
the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan, were very
popular with the party base. The Left Party\'s Vice-Chairman
and Minister-President candidate for Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow,
told PolOffs that the Left\'s anti-war/peace message would
feature at the very top of the party\'s electoral campaign.
[...]
24.06.2009 09BERLIN759
SUBJECT: GERMANY\'S LEFT PARTY: NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME -- BUT GETTING ESTABLISHED
[...]
It is doubtful that the party will manage to pull
more than 10-11% of the vote in Sunday\'s election. That
said, The Left Party has never harbored any hopes of entering
government this time around. Indeed, the Social Democratic
Party\'s (SPD) opposition to forming a coalition with the Left
Party at this time is clear. In addition, the Left Party\'s
Berlin Chairman Klaus Lederer told PolOff that his party
\"could not even contemplate power in 2009 since it needed
more time in opposition to gain legislative and political
experience.\" This will be The Left Party\'s principal
objective from 2009 onwards.
[...]
\"NO\" TO AFGHANISTAN AND ARMS EXPORTS
------------------------------------
7. (C) At a Left Party campaign rally with Gregor Gysi
(Oskar Lafontaine\'s political comrade in arms), Gysi kicked
off his presentation with The Left Party\'s anti-war message
on Afghanistan. The September 10 Hamburg rally was attended
by PolOff and took place under the watchful eye of a large
number of agitators from the right-wing extremist National
Democratic Party (NPD). The Left Party has been successful
in turning the German public\'s opposition towards the
Bundeswehr\'s participation in ISAF into electoral points.
Two-thirds of the German electorate oppose the \"war\" in
Afghanistan. This segment in German society will not
automatically support The Left Party, but some will. In the
current political landscape where all other major parties
support Germany\'s engagement in Afghanistan, it makes sense
for the party to continue to tap into German discontent on
this issue. 8. (C) In addition, Gysi attracted great applause by chiding
the government for its pro-active arms exports policy, which
have catapulted the country to third place (behind Russia and
the United States, but before China) in the arms exports
tables. He cited a 70 percent increase in German arms
exports and said that \"Germany should be ashamed of itself,
given its history in this area.\"
[...]
24.09.2009 09BERLIN1186
SUBJECT: GREGOR GYSI - PIED PIPER OF THE LEFT
1. (C) Summary: Left Party Caucus Chief Gregor Gysi told the
Ambassador during a November 23 meeting that he alone was
responsible for building The Left as a national force. He is
aiming for The Left to enter all state parliaments by 2013,
after specifically targeting North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in
2011 and Bavaria in 2013. By that time he also hoped The
Left would gain the Minister-President position in
Saxony-Anhalt. That said, Gysi admitted that the western and
eastern divisions of The Left were oil and water -- only
combinable due to Gysi\'s alchemy. Gysi praised President
Obama\'s election as the event of the century. He said his
party differed with the United States on only one issue -
Afghanistan - and military force could not prevail. He
suggested that his party\'s call for the dissolution of NATO
was needed in order to derail a more radical party effort to
call for German withdrawal from NATO. Gysi said he would be
traveling in February to Cuba (and \"old friend\" Fidel
Castro), Honduras, Nicaragua (and \"friend\" Ortega),
Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Columbia (one \"rightist\"
country). Gysi said he and Lafontaine agreed that Gysi would
run the party\'s \"foreign policy.\" End Summary.
2. (C) Gysi recalled that the eastern German Party of
Democratic Socialism (PDS), which had been largely the former
East German communist apparatus, combined with western German
radical groups several years back to build \"The Left.\" It
had not been easy. He recalled his own biography, saying the
PDS was created to represent Eastern German interests. He
said that Easterners were represented in all state
parliaments, and were now interested in running governments.
However, in the western states the rabble-rousers making up
The Left had never been elected to anything. He recalled the
Essen party convention this year where all The Left groups
bickered and fought during the entire convention, the result
being plunging polls in the subsequent European Parliament
elections. However, when the party later came to Berlin for
a convention, Gysi took over and taught the party the errors
of its previous (fighting) ways. The result was unanimity.
Gysi said this unanimity was his greatest achievement leading
to the September election successes. 3. (C) With a national party, Gysi said he now had the
attention of other parties in the Bundestag. Previously,
everyone had written off the PDS as regional and irrelevant.
Now, he could speak authoritatively. He said that The Left
had received 8.3 percent of the votes in the western German
states due to the fact that the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
had surrendered its \"left alternative\" ways in order to mimic
the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). This had
been a fortuitous opening that The Left had exploited. 4. (C) Asked about differences with the United States, Gysi
said the only real issue was Afghanistan. He asserted that
the military would never win in Afghanistan, and argued that
openness and engagement were the only tools that would work.
He reviewed former West German tactics since the end of WWII
in opening up the GDR as an example. Gysi did not point out
differences over NATO policy (The Left is calling for
dissolution of NATO in favor of a broader -- as proposed by
Russia -- security community) but tried to suggest the
Party\'s call for dissolution of NATO was a way to avoid the
more dangerous path of pulling Germany out of NATO. He
explained that the United States, France and UK would have to
agree to dissolve NATO, and that was unrealistic. Gysi tried
to criticize U.S. policy on Cuba, claiming isolating enemies
did not work. However, he backed off at the mention of
President Obama\'s new efforts with Cuba. 5. (C) Regarding the condition of The Left Party Chairman
Oskar Lafontaine since his November 19 operation for cancer,
Gysi said that he speaks to Lafontaine daily and that he
expects Lafontaine to return to work. Gysi said he planned
to visit Central and South America in February and the United
States in July. He hoped to visit New York, San Francisco
and L.A. He noted that the uncle of his wife currently
resided in Chicago. Gysi had been to Chicago previously. He
said he had no plans to visit Russia since things there were
too \"uncertain\" at present. 6. (C) Comment: Gysi was gregarious and chatty. He welcomed
the possibility of meeting with embassy representatives to
discuss issues such as Afghanistan or NATO. He repeatedly
stressed how impressed he was with President Obama, and
wished he could meet him someday. This was the first time we
can recall an ambassador meeting with Gysi, who is easily one
of Germany\'s most renowned talk show participants and
parliamentary icons. His rhetorical flourishes and sly
intellect are evident from the start. He speaks little more
than bits and pieces of English.
MURPHY
25.11.2009 09BERLIN1504
