May 17, 2012
Published: 2 Nov 09 18:42 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20091102-22983.html
Angela Merkel’s speech to the US Congress on Tuesday is an honour for both the chancellor and Berlin. But her trip to Washington comes at a price, believes Dr. Josef Braml from the German Council on Foreign Relations.
The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
They are not ?America's? international commitments, they are the ?West's? international commitments...lets not get that confused. (we can sit here all nice and comfy in the beergarten and say ?oh, that wasn't us! That was the US?. However, I can assure you, the mullahs and muftis in Saudi and Pakistan see it differently...
?The US leadership could ask for more German money to stabilise Pakistan, a bigger contribution to Iraq?s reconstruction or more German troops for Afghanistan.?
Stabilizing Pakistan is a good idea. More German troops for Afghanistan? Yep, probably necessary. Contributing to Iraq's reconstruction??? F U Obama!! I'll be pissed off if that happens. (We told the Americans in 2002 that ?Curveball? was full of sh!t...DIA wanted to take him for his word anyway!) They made their bed in the land of the two rivers....now sleep in it...or get the hell out, but don't even TRY to ask Germany to pay for a damn thing in Iraq.
¦quot;Americans international commitments¦quot; - as the author disingenuously calls US bellicose foreign policy- unfortunately under Obama have not been altered since the reign of George W Stupid.
The new US Obama administration have not reacted in an objective manner in the middle east as they said they would, and have recently been forced yet again by another extremist right-wing Israel government to back down from promises to play as a neutral broker with the Palestinians. They have not had any dialogue with Iran, which they said they would begin, only made more threats. They have not done their home work on Afghanistan and seem to want to continue with the mindless Nato presence which has not built one school or one hospital and continues to support a corrupt government.
And the author is asking Germany to support this or face being ostracized by the US? Better to be ¦quot;side-lined¦quot; than line up with yet another loser-going no-where US foreign policy.
You can not hold all germans, their children and the children of their children, responsible for what happened in the early 20th century forever. As for the US, yes, they helped, and the germans are grateful, why shouldn´t they. Things happended were horrible for all humanity, these abominable deeds this one german wack job did.
But i think what kim proffitt is trying to say is that you always have to look on both sides of the story. Going into war always means making profit. Why do you think the US spents 547 billion! every year in the military. Now, you don´t want to know how much is spent on education, believe me.
They got used to it and so they try to keep up war. At all costs, and this has been going on throughout the last century.
Furthermore, the germans are making themselves a target the longer they stick their nose in business not of their own, but just out of pure reciprocation. Things aren´t just black or white.
I respect your opinion (everyone is entitled to one), but I humbly disagree. As a German, it pains me to admit that the majority of Germans share your beliefs. Unfortunately, that's precisely the kind of thinking that's gonna get us all killed...
When someone's belief-system automatically designates you as "the enemy", it becomes "your business" (in the Machiavellian sense of the word).
Furthermore, Germany is in Afghanistan because after 11.9.2001 NATO invoked "Article 5". The concept of collective-security doesn't permit cherry-picking the conflicts that are politically convenient to take part in...
Profit making in war, what a concept. Well, again, Germany is the world's third largest exporter of arms. O.K., when those export led jobs are given up, those employed in the arms export business laid off/terminated, and those profits taken from the German economy, along with the associated tax revenues, I will concede to your point. Kim's comments are one sided, as if the U.S. is the only culprit in the international arms/war industry.
In my opinion sustaining jobs by all means, even if that me…[/quote]No, they´re not. Unfortunately not. War is still money making. And nearly everyone who would have the possibility to grab a piece of the cake would do so, no doubt about it. Sad but true.
Don't want to fight ("reciprocated") wars overseas?! Ok, we can wait for them to bring the fight here (which they have already started), but I can guarantee you that you're not gonna like the measures necessary to fight these guys domestically (not to mention the cost to the civil-liberties you currently enjoy).