Berlin 's Duncker und Humblot publishing house has just published a book on means and methods for creating popular support for wars. The book entitled "Crucial Tests of a Nation" focuses on the Bundeswehr's engagement abroad. The authors hold high-ranking posts in government administration, military, academia and the media. They include Mathis Feldhoff, journalist at the ZDF television channel, Michael Rühle, assistant at NATO as well as Vice Admiral Ulrich Weisser and Claus Kreß, Professor for International Law at the Cologne University. In his text, Feldhoff elaborates a detailed propaganda concept of the enemy: "Starving children, marauding gangs, bloodthirsty dictators are images that can be used as moral flywheels for military engagement. They influence the popular mindset." … … "Security policy has been and must remain the domain of the elite, regardless of opinion polls." "The German political class" according to Rühle "must be self-confident" in its security policy. This self-confidence must be strong enough "to take important decisions independently of partisanship and without false consideration of public acceptance." … This is where the international jurist Claus Kreß (Cologne) picks up. According to him, "decisions concerning internationally legal foreign military deployment" should not be dependent upon the German constitution, which was influenced by the experience of German fascism: One should be "confident that 60 years after WW II, German politicians as well as the German population are capable of rationally deciding. "Kreß is therefore not only calling for" preventive arrests of enemy combatants "within the framework of combat operations, but also displays acquiescence for killing innocent bystanders:" it is not forbidden to attack military targets, just because civilian collateral damage can be expected. "(Excerpt) Read more at german-foreign-policy.com …
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