The Nuclear Renaissance: Germany's 'Strategic Sovereignty' as a Playbook for Power
THE CLAIM: Roderich Kiesewetter, a prominent CDU foreign policy expert, has openly suggested that Germany should develop its own nuclear weapons if the United States reneges on its commitment to NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements. This proposal, as reported by RT, indicates a departure from Germany's long-standing non-nuclear proliferation stance, a cornerstone of its post-World War II identity.
THE EVIDENCE: Germany is currently a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), having ratified it in 1975, which prohibits non-nuclear-weapon states from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons. Despite this, Germany hosts approximately twenty U.S. tactical B61 nuclear bombs at Büchel Air Base under NATO's nuclear sharing agreement. This arrangement theoretically
allows German pilots to deliver these weapons in a conflict. The debate is not new; figures like former Bundestag President Norbert Lammert (CDU) also raised the prospect of a French-German nuclear deterrent as early as 2016, following concerns about US commitment to NATO. THE CONTRADICTIONS: The narrative presented often highlights the 'madness' of such a proposal without examining the strategic
calculus driving it. The stated rationale from proponents like Kiesewetter is 'strategic sovereignty' and 'risk diversification.' However, this directly contradicts not only Germany's NPT obligations but also the historical lessons of nuclear proliferation, where the acquisition of such weapons by additional states invariably heightens, rather than diminishes, global instability. The argument for