Bush senior to meet Kohl and Gorby in Berlin

First of all I agree with your first observation.

However, Stalinism is not generally considered an ideology as Stalin himself was a follower of Lenin. Also the Stalinist method of government was repudiated by Krushchev in 1953 and effectively was condemned to history at this time.

Another thing, Islam is a religion, not an ideology. It teaches peace and, incidentally, the word directly translates as "peace". Unfortunately, as with every religion (Christian included as witnessed during the Crusades) have radical elements which should be, as you put it, "be defeated".

Also, I would like to counter the view you put forward about (West) Germans and relay the view of a professional German friend of mine. Her view is that the handling of the situation since the collapse of Communism has been unfair on the (former) West Germans.

The argument goes that, for their entire life, West Germans paid for pensions and health insurance (the East Germans paid signifcantly less) and that now, following reunification, the state payouts are the same irrespective of where you live. This means that a German pensioner in, for example, Leipzig has a significantly better standard of living than those living in the former West as the cost of living there is lower.

They also question the continued support through the levying of a special tax after such a long time. They question why, after so long, the government have not been able to better equalise the situation and whether this is now just "another" tax that fills the German Government pockets.

Many Germans, across the entire country, question whether the country has been damaged by the reunification.

I'm sure others on this forum will add to, support, or vehemently disagree with my comments, but I felt I had to contribute to this one.

Ronald Reagan would certainly laugh and smile a lot at this renuion if he were still with us. I just wish the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, was well enough to attend. What a memorable night that was!!

Oh goodie! A reunion of a bunch of losers who aren't in charge of anything anymore! How exiting.

I appreciate lamonita's balanced views.

"Besides, that's what true Christianity is about!"

I dont recall anywhere does Christ demand justice although we all like to seek it as it applies to us. You are correct though that Christ is about love.

I think true Christianity is about believing in Christ as a savior though ... anything else, is human interjection.

Another class reunion..... Oh boy.....

Class == (former country leaders)

While both Gorbachev as well as Bush Sr. were positive about German reunification this can hardly be said about Thatcher and Mitterand. Thatcher and Kohl never were great friends.

I believe that we can all count ourselves lucky that these tumultous events that culminated in the collapse of the Soviet Union were resolved peacefully.

I well remember being sat in the lounge of my German outlaws with my wife and the whole family groaning and bitterly predicting that it would cost us all a lot of money personally and drive down the general standard of living across Germany.

Seems they were right.

I'm surprised that Kohl still has such a positive reputation, considering what a crook he is. Nixon would be a better crony than Bush sen. Then again, he's a friend of Cheney.(full article in German)

I'm born in 1970, so I remember the Iron Curtain and Cold War. My parents came from East Germany in the 50's and they remember when the wall went up and how the parents of my mother were still on the wrong side. We all thought that this division of Europe wouldn't end soon, probably not even in out life-time. We just hoped that things might relax a little. And I grew up with two military alliances watching each other suspiciously on the German-German border and we hoped that there wouldn't be another world war which would start with the use of tactical nukes in Germany.

Today I live in an unified Germany which is surrounded by allies and partners. Even with Russia we have a reasonable relationship instead of hostility.

Kohl certainly didn't achieve this alone, but his government had enough opportunities to mess things up. But he got the important decisions right when the opportunity presented itself and I'm not convinced that others would have done that well.

So from my point of view, he could've done pretty much anything at other times and I'd still consider him a great chancellor since he did his job well when it really mattered.

By the way, I have a similar opinion about Bush sr.

Kohl considered his word of honor to criminals (namely the guys shoveling money into the CDU treasury right, left and center well above the legal limit) more important than his oath of office to avert harm from the nation. He paid a heavy fine to avoid a public trial and is still convinced that he was above the law in the case.

Nothing can redeem him. The unification would have taken place under any other chancellor, Kohl just happened to be in office at the time.

Who the hell cares about these corrupt bastards. Especially father of satan. Must have been a slow news day.

Somebody will probably have to remind Bush what the Berlin Wall was.

Read my lips, no new taxes.....

Father of satan? My theology might be a bit dodgy here but wouldn't that be God?

You think one of those 3 is God? I didn't know you were such a fan

You got me on a technicality : ) Nice catch.

Satan was formerly Lucifer, an archangel. Are all archangels sons of God? According to my source they were created, not begat.

There's still hope, jonc.

Not standing for that.

God created man but we still say "our father".

Point to me

Like all religion, it's a redneck thing. You don't investigate relationship that closely. Yeah, Father, whatever.

I see what you mean. Your dad is his own son plus some other strange guy and his daughter is the mother of his son.

Sounds like an episode of afternoon talk tv