Europeans Tend to See Germany as "Leader" of EuropePosted by Joerg Wolf in European Issues, German Politics on Tuesday, June 17. 2008
I learned about this poll in the US Embassy's InfoAlert, which recommends many other interesting articles from the last two months as well, especially regarding the future of NATO. "Germany's Intolerant and Militaristic Culture"Posted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics on Wednesday, June 11. 2008 "Support for the far-right National Democratic Party quadrupled in local elections in the eastern state of Saxony on Sunday. In the village of Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna, one in four voters chose the NPD," writes Spiegel International. Michael van der Galien of the PoliGazette blames Germany's culture for these election results. He also claims that most of his Dutch compatriots "basically believe that what happened in World War II was not an 'accident,' but a logical result of Germany's intolerant and militaristic culture." Such accusations will not lead to more German troops for Afghanistan, more burden sharing within NATO or a higher defense spending, which have been long-standing demands by the United States and other NATO allies. Instead these accusations contribute to the dominant feeling among the majority of Germans that we should not participate in any wars on foreign soil anymore. Well, the Dutch press -- in contrast to their US or Canadian counterparts -- has not called for more German troops for Afghanistan. I thought the reason was that they understand that there just is not enough support among the rather pacifist (a better term might be: "war-weary") German public. Though, perhaps van der Galien is right and "the Dutch" are really concerned about the next invasion by their xenophobic and militaristic neighbors and therefore they don't want the Germans to play a stronger military role in Afghanistan, but I doubt it. I think he exaggerates Dutch concerns regarding Germany. "Europe Deserves Obama More"Posted by Joerg Wolf in European Issues, German Politics, Transatlantic Relations on Thursday, May 29. 2008 Benjam
He also quotes Roger Cohen in the New York Times, who describes Obama as an online phenomenon, jumping national borders and "stirring as much buzz in Berlin as he does back home." Well, that's quite a bit of an exaggeration, but there is probably indeed more popular support for Barack Obama than for Tony Blair for the position of EU President. (See Nanne's post on Contention About the New "EU President") Obama is considering a visit to Berlin, says Karsten Voigt, the German government's envoy for German-American relations, according to DW World. I doubt that Obama will indeed visit Germany during the hot election campaign. He already has won more than 80% of votes from the US expats living in Germany and registered as Democrats, I believe. It would be great, however, if Obama would take time of from the campaign trail and visit Europe in order to put to rest the criticism from Steve Clemons (and myself) regarding his Lack of Real Interest in Transatlantic Cooperation:
Related posts in the Atlantic Review: German NSC Sparks ControversyPosted by Editors in German Politics on Tuesday, May 13. 2008 This is a guest blog post by our long-time reader and commenter Pat Patterson: The blog Coming Anarchy has a balanced piece concerning the recent proposal by Chancellor Merkel and the CDU to create a German National Security Council that argues, "It is for these reasons that a seemingly innocuous and in fact logical step like creating a national security council has again sparked debate among citizens and politicians alike." And that, "Over the past few years though with the changes in both the domestic and international security situation, debate has been ongoing about whether Germany needs a National Security Council based more on the American model for example." Something similar was argued by the SPD in 1998 but very little in the way of change was made to the Bundessicherheitsrat (Federal Security Council) other than advising on the domestic state of affairs of the countries that were purchasing arms from Germany. But the current proposal goes much farther and states:
But the immediate opposition came from the SPD's Frank Walter-Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, mainly because the new proposal was similar to the US's National Security Council and thus, "This cannot be the model for us." (Deutsche Welle) A longer description of the proposal and the introduction of the idea that this new body would also be not only carrying out the instructions of the Chancellory but advising on the ".national interests" of Germany. The International Herald Tribune also mentions that the creation of this body would essentially bypass the Foreign Ministry which obviously would weaken the SPD presence in the government. As well as a quote from Karl-Heinz Kamp of the NATO college,
German Banks and the US Mortgage CrisisPosted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, International Economics on Tuesday, May 6. 2008 Deutsche Bank got a lot of negative press coverage in the United States. David Vickrey, who used to work on corporate finance transactions at Deutsche Bank Securiites and Barclays Capital, has written extensively in his blog Dialog International about the involvement of German banks in the US mortgage crisis. Here are a couple of posts in chronological order (latest on top): Karma and Bad Times for Deutsche Bank in America (April 27, 2008) Greed and Fear: US Subprime Crisis Takes Its Toll in Germany (April 9, 2008) The Subprime Crisis Leads to Mad Mergers in Germany (April 1, 2008) German Government: Please Sue Deutsche Bank (March 10, 2008) Deutsche Bank: America's Foreclosure King (January 24, 2008) What Schadenfreude?Posted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, International Economics on Friday, May 2. 2008 German Bundesbankers expect a gradual slowdown of the economy as a result of weaker global growth, higher oil prices and a stronger euro. They are not concerned about any direct fallout from the US mortgage crisis, writes Ralph Atkins in the Financial Times. The article's headline is "Schadenfreude stirs in resilient Germany," but Atkins only claims once that "across Germany, a sense of schadenfreude has even started to emerge." His only indication is that "Peer Steinbrück, finance minister, has long maintained that a run on a bank, as seen with Northern Rock in the UK, would not happen in Germany." Well, many Germans are scared about their jobs and worry about poverty in their later retirement. Many are so concerned about the financial markets that they do not invest their savings, but keep them on a bank account with low interest, which is bad for retirement plans and for the economy. That's why the finance minister tries to reassure the public. That's not Schadenfreude. Perhaps the folks at the Financial Times felt compelled to use a German word in their headline. Next time write "Blitzkrieg" or "Kindergarten" or address people as "Herr Steinbrück" rather than "Mr. Steinbrück" (a weird habit of some). Otherwise the article is good and describes what has been going on:
Atkins ends with an FT typical conclusion: I believe "steadier but lower" is the very much preferred model in economic (and political) matters over here. Political Asylum for Thousands of Iraqi Christians in Germany?Posted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, US Foreign Policy on Tuesday, April 22. 2008 German conservative interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has come out with a bold initiative to provide asylum for thousands of Iraqi Christians forced to leave their homeland in recent years because of religious persecution at the hands of Muslim extremist groups, writes Ulf Gartzke in the The Weekly Standard Blog: According to the Schaeuble plan, which is backed by the interior ministers of the 16 German states, Iraqi Christians would be allowed to stay in Germany until conditions on the ground in Iraq have improved to the point where they can return home. While the Interior Ministry has not officially come out with any concrete refugees quotas, Berlin insiders believe that Germany could end up accepting anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 Iraqi Christians per year. Related post in the Atlantic Review: Small Town in Sweden Accepted More Iraqi Refugees than the Entire United States Creative Bush BashingPosted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, Transatlantic Relations on Saturday, April 19. 2008
UPDATE: Mr. Gabriel was criticized in March for polluting the atmosphere. He used a government plane to fly back from the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca for a cabinet meeting in Berlin, writes Spiegel International (HT: Bashy). Germany's Shrinking Middle ClassPosted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, International Economics on Monday, March 10. 2008 Germany's economic recovery "resembles that in Dubya's USA: growth for the well-off, more (crap) jobs but less income for the rest," writes DoDo in the European Tribune and points to a just released study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) that says that real income fell by 3.5%. In Berlin, Outrage Over Nord Stream Deal Seems to Have DiedPosted by Editors in German Politics, International Economics on Saturday, March 1. 2008 David Francis, an American reporter traveling through Europe to report on EU energy security issues, notes that Germans are not concerned about dependence on Russian energy. He wrote the following guest blog post and asks Atlantic Review's readers why Schroeder got away with the Nord Stream deal: I've been in Berlin for the last week, interviewing German officials about the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, more commonly know here as the Baltic Sea pipeline. For those who aren't familiar, the pipeline is controversial for a number of reasons. First, it makes Germany heavily dependent on Russia's state-controlled energy monopoly Gazprom, a firm that in the past has been accused of playing "pipeline politics." But the main controversy surrounding the deal, in Germany at least, centered on former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who pushed hard for the deal before leaving office, only to be named chief of Nord Stream's shareholder's committee after leaving office. This position pays quite a large paycheck. Continue reading "In Berlin, Outrage Over Nord Stream Deal Seems to Have Died" Afghanistan: Merkel Has "No Time" for Burden Sharing ProposalsPosted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, Transatlantic Relations on Saturday, February 23. 2008
According to Williamson she made those comments in a meeting with foreign correspondents in Berlin. It's bad diplomacy to tell the foreign press that she has no time to consider proposals for better burden sharing in Afghanistan. Usually, Merkel is more careful. Continue reading "Afghanistan: Merkel Has "No Time" for Burden Sharing Proposals" Germany Seeks Multilateralization of Nuclear Fuel CyclePosted by Joerg Wolf in German Politics, International Economics on Tuesday, February 19. 2008 The Federal Foreign Office announced today:
Could this be a workable compromise for the conflict over Iran's nuclear program?
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