On Wednesday, January 25 at 7 PM (German time, which means 1:00 PM EST), US Ambassador to Germany Philip D. Murphy will deliver a keynote speech at the American Academy in Berlin entitled "What Germans Don't Understand About America."
I am quite excited that Germany participates in the Eurovision Song Contest with an original, charming and funny artist, who can actually sing and is a bit crazy and therefore represents the new Germany very well. Lena Meyer-Landrut will perform the song Satellite at the Eurovision Song Contest, which was written by an American-Danish duo.
Although for the first time in years, Germany deserves "douze points," I don't think Lena Meyer-Landrut will get them from the other European countries. Animosities against Germany are too strong. Most Europeans have stronger emotional ties to other countries.
Resisting a bailout for Greece, digging in over economic policy and opposing parts of a strategy for Europe's growth, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will arrive Thursday at a European Union summit meeting ready to play an unfamiliar role: the bloc's naysayer. Once the invisible glue that bound the Union, German policy is now being dictated by less idealistic priorities rooted firmly by national interests.
I guess, we act now like a "normal" country. Well, so be it!
Germany's previously strong monetary and political support for EU integration did not make us popular enough to win the Eurovision Song Contest either. It just paved the way for German unification, but we got that now and have to focus on bigger national interests, like the Eurovision Song Contest and the Soccer World Cup.
My statements to the Russian English language TV station Russia Today probably cost us a few votes from Greek's Eurovision Song Contest community as well. The 10 minutes live interview took place last Friday. The video clip is from a weekly round-up and mentions just a few short statements of mine:
With the Winter Olympics now behind us, countries are seeking to evaluate how they fared. In the US, there is plenty of self accolades for the record haul of 37 medals. In Russia, the poor performance of the Federation has led to the resignation of the head of the national team and remarkably brusque comments from Medvedev. And while Canada did not win the overall medal count, gold medals in hockey and curling leave our northern neighbors with plenty to be happy about.
But the real winner of the Olympics is Norway. On a per capita basis, no other country earned as many medals as this small Nordic country. And it is not just Norway. Nine of the top ten per capita medal winners are European countries with populations smaller than 10 million inhabitants. The following chart shows the top 26 medal winners ranked on a per capita basis. (HT: Mark Warren)
What explains the dominance of European countries in the Olympics? History, climate, and geography certainly play a role. David Brooks suggests it also has to do with social capital and natural toughness. I personally wonder if sports are an emphasized expression of national sovereignty in Europe because other forms of national identity, such as currency and foreign policy, are increasingly transnational in scope. Some dedicated federalists in the European Union are pushing for an EU Olympic team, at least according to this web page. But I suspect the likelihood of that ever happening is close to zero.
NATO recently launched a new website through the Public Diplomacy Division called NATO TV. The site has so far been producing front-line operational footage, interviews on NATO issues, press conference videos, an archive with footage going back to 1945, and more.
Undoubtedly much of the footage will be propaganda, though NATO is billing it as news and "the voice of 26 countries". However, this propaganda may not be a bad thing, for at least two reasons:
• First, there is a broad lack of understanding about NATO's role in the post-Cold War world, and reasonably so: today's threats are more complicated and nuanced than ever before, making NATO's role in responding to them more difficult to understand than when it had one main mission: deter a Soviet onslaught. NATO TV increases transparency on NATO's activities and organization in an easily digestible format.
• Second, while NATO has accomplished a lot historically, and continues to be a key Alliance for both Europe and the United States today, often the media (including yours truly) only highlight controversies or failures – “the only good news is bad news,” as they say. NATO TV will provide information on positive achievements.
As an example of a NATO TV product, the website is running a series that follows the daily life of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) located in Southern Helmand Province, part of the NATO International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). I found the second episode (three of six parts have been released at the time of this post) to be the most interesting. In it, Sergeant Ryan Messina provides the following quote on progress in Afghanistan from the perspective of a foot soldier:
When you see the way it was, and the effect you have on it, and the way it is now, it has a big impact on you as a person, you feel good about yourself, you feel like you have done something for these people.
You can find the three videos released so far at the natochannel.tv website.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
German Politics on Monday, September 3. 2007
"A German orchestra will play Beethoven and Brahms in Tehran in a rare visit by a European ensemble amid tension between Iran and the West," writes The Washington Post:
The 60-member Osnabrueck Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Hermann Baeumer will perform Wednesday and Thursday as part of an exchange that saw the Tehran Symphony Orchestra perform to a packed hall last year in Osnabrueck. (...) Some hard-line clerics say music comes between the faithful, and God and leads to impure thoughts, therefore being incompatible with the Shiite school of Islam that rules Iran. Secular songs were banned as un-Islamic, and in the early 1980s, police stopped cars to check tape decks and smashed offending tapes. In the 1990s, music gradually made a comeback in Iran under the then reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. Then in December 2005, the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced a ban on Western music on state radio and television.
Do you approve of the German orchestra's concert as some contribution to possible change in Iran or do you disapprove because Iran should be isolated at this point because of its current policies and because musical exchanges won't lead to change anyway?
Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, actor and director of the Jason Bourne movie, have criticized James Bond as an imperialist, who likes violence and has no guilt. Scottish journalist Alex Massie cannot leave such serious insults of Britain's super agent unanswered. Interesting transatlantic pop culture "fight" in The Debatable Land.
Personal question: Why are the initials J.B. so popular for (former) special agents who are loners? Jack Bauer, James Bond, Jason Bourne...
"The Miracle of Wedding: In one of the Berlin districts with the biggest social problems an American turns frustrated young people into a successful musical company," writes Thomas Hanke in the German daily Handelsblatt; translation at the US embassy. The above mention American is the 38-year-old New Yorker composer Todd Fletcher. The US embassy points out in an email: "The project took place under the patronage of U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr., and his wife Sue Timken. At the invitation of the patrons, German Federal President Horst Köhler and his wife as well as Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and his wife attended the event." Photo Gallery. I recommend the Handelsblatt article -- published on the Fourth of July -- because it is an example of pro-American articles in the German press and an example of the outreach work by the US embassy. Ambassador and Mrs. Timken have supported many similar efforts in the past, which also got some press coverage. In this context, check out these Atlantic Review posts about praise and criticism of the US embassy's work in Germany: • First Anniversary: Praise for Ambassador Timken's Work • Medienkritik on How to Improve US Public Diplomacy
Daniel Mark Harrison, a financial journalist and Englishman in New York, describes the 12 "most subtle but important mistakes English people and Europeans in particular make when they come to America. In fact, I think on many levels, these are some of the reasons for break-downs in political and business communications between the USA and the EU." According to him, a bit more cultural awareness would help European economies and improve transatlantic relations: "Building our trans-atlantic political and economic alliances to create a power center which is capable of doing bigger and better things is exactly what both Europe and the United States should be striving for."
Do NOT: 1. Assume that your typically understated demeanor will be recognized and admired by your American colleagues. 2. Politely respond to the question "how are you doing?" with a brief "fine, thanks" and walk away shyly without engaging in much further dialog. 3. Try to exaggerate an overseas experience for dramatic effect. Or, for that matter, underestimate the intelligence of your American companion. 4. Seize every point an American colleague is saying in a debate by analyzing and deconstructing his/her sentence structure word-by-word and pointing out the flaws in his/her logic 5. Hold back on sharing fairly intimate/personal stories on a first meeting. 6. Assume that anyone who is on some kind of anti-depressant or who has been on one/several is insane and that you shouldn't talk to them. 7. Assume that every American is pro-war in Iraq. 8. Assume that because wealth is greatly admired and sought after in the United States, your inherited wealth will be similarly admired. 9. Draw parallels between European pre-industrial revolution colonialism and America's post-world war II involvement in world economies and politics. 10. Make assumptions about America or American people based on what you have seen on Hollywood movies. 11. Assume that once you've been to one part of America you know it all. 12. Be afraid to ask for a pay rise.
He explains all of this Do NOT advice in detail in his blog Global Perspective. I disagree with several of his explanations and consider some of his advice obvious or not helpful, but some is quite interesting. Just my personal opinion, of course.
What is your advice? What should Europeans avoid in conversations with Americans? What should Americans avoid in conversations with Europeans? Not the obvious stuff, but the "hidden" dangers of putting one's foot in it (ins Fettnaepfchen treten). Or more positively put: What is the best way to impress Americans/Europeans, i.e. give a good first impression? Yeah, I know, tough question and very generalized. It all depends on the situation and the individual. Americans and Europeans have probably more in common than differences. Thus making a good impressing on an American or European is not so different. What do you think? Any tips to share?
Related: The American blogger Scot has some great advice for Germans in his blog USA Erklaert: "Warum Amerikaner (Briten, Kanadier) nicht sagen, was sie meinen."
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