Those who witnessed that night 20 years ago in Berlin, or elsewhere in Germany, will never forget what happened — the night the Wall came down.
History in the making is all too often tragic. Only rarely is it capable of irony. Nov. 9, 1989, was one of those rare moments when irony reigned, because East Germany’s bureaucratic socialism died as it had lived — with a bureaucratic snafu.
The Speaker of the Politburo, Gunter Schabowski, had simply misunderstood that body’s decision and, by releasing to the public incorrect information about the lifting of travel restrictions, triggered the fall of the Wall. Groucho Marx could not have bettered Schabowski that night. It was Germany’s happiest hour.
Twenty years later, many revolutionary consequences of that night lie behind us. The Soviet Union and its empire quietly disappeared, and with them the Cold War international order. Germany was reunited; Eastern Europe and the states on the Soviet periphery won their independence; South Africa’s apartheid regime fell apart, numerous civil wars in Asia, Africa, and Latin America ended; Israelis and Palestinians came closer to peace than at any time since; and a disintegrating Yugoslavia degenerated into war and ethnic cleansing. In Afghanistan, war continued under different circumstances, with serious ramifications for the region and, indeed, the world.
As the victorious heir to the collapsed Cold War order, the US stood alone, undisputed, at the peak of its global power. But, within two decades — following the war in Iraq and financial and economic crisis — the US had squandered that special status.
Arrogance of power and blindness about reality were the two main causes for the decline of the sole remaining superpower. While most of the blame lies with former US president George W. Bush, numerous negative trends had preceded him. He merely took them to the extreme.
After Sept. 11, 2001, the US had a second big chance to use its unique power to reorganize the world. After this terrible crime, countries — including in the Arab world — were ready to embrace far-reaching steps. At that moment, peace between Palestinians and Israelis could have been achieved, and thus a new beginning made in the Middle East.
Even a radical about-face in US energy policy, with the introduction of energy taxes, would have been possible under the banner of national security. The challenge posed by global climate change could have been addressed more effectively that way. But that opportunity, too, was thrown away.
Europe — and, within it, Germany — were among the big winners of Nov. 9, 1989. The Continent reunited in liberty: Germany on Oct. 3, 1990; Europe with the great EU enlargement of May 1, 2004. The introduction of a common European currency was successful; political integration by means of a constitutional treaty a failure. Since then, the EU has been stagnating, both internally and externally. Europe has made only insufficient use of its opportunities since 1989 — and could dramatically lose influence in the emerging power structure of the twenty-first century.
In Germany, which largely owes its reunification to its firm roots in the EU and NATO, Europe-weariness is palpable. The generation ruling in Berlin today increasingly thinks in national rather than European terms. This was never more obvious than in the deciding days and weeks of the global financial crisis.
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