The Base Is Loaded

4 April 2019 continued from page 1 Trading places The base is loaded The fact that Trump is scar- Despite all the US president’s statements to the contrary, ing off previous partners is the Americans are expanding their military presence in Germany also bound to have a nega- tive economic and political impact. For decades, Europe But the funny thing is, many So why is the US government In the Schlemmerscheune, a not feelings of friendship. Since was Washington’s closest part- BY NANA BRINK people don’t know this. There are signaling otherwise? General popular meeting place in Wei- 2014 – with the annexation of ner on the international scene. no press conferences and no spec- August leans back in his chair and lerbach, English is already spoken Crimea by Russia – the number But the president failed to take everal times a month, Anja tacular tape-cutting ceremonies. gives an unusually unambiguous more often than German. And if of US soldiers stationed in Ger- advantage of the opportunity Pfeiffer, the mayor of Wei- Most of these sorts of events occur response: “We’ve survived Repub- any communication difficulties do many has consistently been on to increase US exports via Slerbach, drives to “her” behind barbed wire, in military lican administrations and Demo- arise, Sigi Degen, one of the estab- the rise. Weiler assumes that the the widely negotiated TTIP construction site, she likes to say no-go zones to which the locals cratic administrations. We’ve sur- lishment’s most loyal regulars, is Americans will continue to invest trade agreement as well as the with a laugh. At the outer edge of have no access. But the UFO has vived Cold Wars and Hot Wars. there to help. For almost 50 years, more, not less, in their locations chance to agree on joint tech- her municipality, directly across not yet landed – so far, all you can So the strategic reach that we Degen ran a barbershop on the air in Germany. nological standards that would from the US air base in Ramstein, see is a massive area of steamrolled offer from Ramstein isn’t moving base. “I had no problems finding Many people are aware of the keep their mutual global com- the Americans are building a new earth, as if a huge piece of cake anywhere else.” customers. We live off the Ameri- fact that the investment windfall petitor, China, at a distance. hospital. The diminutive mayor has been cut out of the green Wei- The same message was delivered cans; it’s always been like that.” is not an isolated incident. A 1975 Instead, Trump continues to is a welcome guest at these site lerbach Forest. It’s raining dollars by Roger Lewentz, interior minis- And like that it shall stay. treaty based on the NATO Status snub Europe, accusing the consultation meetings. She in the Palatinate, but it’s all largely ter for Rhineland-Palatinate, after In Weilerbach, every fourth resi- of Forces Agreement stipulates former allies of playing eco- knows her stuff. Since 2011, when invisible to the local population. returning from the US. He attends dent has a US passport. They’re who is responsible for which nomic tricks on the US. she first learned of the project, One person who has a crystal- an annual meeting with high- not only neighbors, they’re also costs. The Americans assume By targeting the auto indus- she organized a trip to the United clear view of all that the Americans level officials in the US Defense customers and consumers. Many all construction costs, while the try, Trump is taking aim at States. She wanted to know what are up to here sits only a few kilo- Department, and this year’s date locals have rented out apartments Germans are responsible for a sector that is particularly an American military hospital meters away from the construction is soon approaching. It’s always to Americans and built their own planning costs and coordinating important for Germany. looks like. “A hospital is better the construction. Since February, he has had a than a shooting range,” thought In the case of the new US hos- report on his desk issued by the energetic mayor back then, pital in Weilerbach, the costs the US Department of Com- and she thinks the same today. NANA BRINK (2) DPA, break down as follows: The $990 merce exploring the absurd Only: “I believe it’s not clear to million for the new building falls question of whether the mass the people here how big this to the US. The planning costs to of European auto exports UFO is that’s landing in our back date of €151 million are paid for endangers US national secu- yard.” by German taxpayers. The loca- rity. Trump now has until But big it is. So big that even tion and size of the hospital was mid-May to impose punitive the head planner, Brad Dunbar determined by the Americans tariffs of around 25 percent of the US Defense Health Agency alone. In other words, Germany on European cars. If he makes that is realizing the project, some- is subsidizing the construction this move, it would trigger a times gets a lump in his throat. of the largest military hospital in first-ever showdown between “We’ve never done something this Europe, to accommodate 50,000 these formerly close allies. big before.” It will be the largest US troops – and zero Germans. In July 2018, after a meeting military hospital ever built out- The 5,000 residents of Wei- with European Commission side the US. The dimensions defy lerbach will not be patients here. President Jean-Claude Juncker, the imagination: 5,000 rooms, 42 “That’s not something that’s Trump suddenly announced specialty departments, nine oper- easy to communicate,” admits that an agreement was in the ating rooms. The US Congress Marc Gutenberger, of the Fed- works; however, nothing spe- has allocated $990 million for the eral Department of Construc- cific has been agreed upon new building. It’s been in planning tion, which has been involved since. now for eight years and is set for in building for the Americans For the past several months, completion in 2024 at the latest. for decades. Gutenberger was the Europeans have been wait- The new clinic will not only essential in planning another US ing to see what happens to the serve as a replacement for the showcase project: the 21st Cen- major conflict launched by the hospital built in 1953 in Landstuhl, tury School, for 850 children of US government with China. near Ramstein; the Rhine Ord- American personnel in Kaiser- Trump slapped unprecedented nance Barracks Medical Center slautern. “You can shoot a high tariffs on that country, its bur- Replacement, as it’s officially school musical here,” he says geoning rival for the title of called, will be the medical facility with a chuckle, as he enters the world’s largest economic for around 50,000 US soldiers, light-flooded auditorium, which power. If we include the Chi- civilian staff and their families in is as large as the train station in nese counterstrikes, the value Europe. an average-sized German city. of the goods on the list of puni- The UFO, whose landing has The school is chock-full of tive tariffs reaches $350 billion. thus far gone more-or-less unno- modern technology. The lights And yet, the US trade deficit ticed by the public, strikes Anja are electronically controlled; the with the Middle Kingdom Pfeiffer as sometimes uncanny. It’s Unidentifed Flying Objective: a computer simulation of the planned US military hospital in Weilerbach. walls of the classrooms slide at nevertheless swelled to €420 as if they’re building Hamburg’s Below: Weilerbach Mayor Anja Pfeiffer and General Mark August, the commander of Ramstein Air Base, in his office. the press of a button. Electronic billion in 2018, even though Elbe Philharmonic beside this chalkboards – Smartboards – are Trump kept on signaling that community of 5,000 souls in the site for the new hospital. From his about money, lots of money. home from the earnings. Accord- everywhere, and every seat has a monumental deal with Presi- middle of nowhere. After all, it’s office window, Brigadier General This time, Lewentz is hoping for ing to data collected at the base, its own laptop. The cost? Some dent Xi was on its way. as big and as expensive. But the Mark August, commander of the further commitments, not state- around 40 percent of the salaries $48 million, of which the Associ- In the meantime, the damage hospital is also a signal: “They’ve Ramstein Air Base, directly over- ments with no bite. Last year he of military personnel flows into ation of Planning Costs assumed to the global economy con- already sunk so much money into looks one of the runways. A giant returned brimming with good the local economy. €6.5 million. tinues unabated. The aggres- the project that they can’t back Boeing 767 – one of the world’s news. Some $119 million would be And the local economy has As a planner, Gutenberger sive posture of the US – that out, even if they wanted to,” says largest transport aircrafts – is spent to expand the Ramstein air adjusted to it. Most signs in is often asked why the Federal former paragon of free trade the mayor, who follows up with taking off. “I love that sound,” he hub. An additional $100 million town feature both German and Republic is in the business of – is unsettling companies an admission of what many fear: says, flashing a wide grin.

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