Davids Medienkritik

Pleuger: Enthusiastic about Kofi

In an interview with public tv channel ARD's news programme tagesschau, former German UN ambassador Gunter Pleuger offers an enthusiastic evaluation of Kofi Annan:

"...a man of hugh integrity...great charisma...he took great interest in Germany...no other country he visited more often...great respect for him in (German) politics and in academia...

(Pleuger is a long-time fan of Kofi, as we have reported before.)

In other news:

Mystery Surfaces Over Apartment of Kofi Annan

As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan.

The apartment was where Mr. Annan and his wife lived before 1997, when he became secretary-general. The Roosevelt Island home is part of an estate of low-rent state-regulated housing. For years, the Annans saved considerable sums by occupying an apartment meant to help financially strapped low- to moderate-income New York families.

One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why he and his wife felt comfortable availing themselves of this generous arrangement. Another is how it is that, since Mr. Annan and his wife left that Roosevelt Island apartment 10 years ago to move into the rent-free residence on Sutton Place supplied to the secretary-general, their former low-rent apartment was handed over to be occupied by the family of Mr. Annan's brother.

...the current effective taxpayer subsidy for the Annan apartment could, by a conservative estimate, amount to upward of $10,000 a year, or even as much as twice that, which, over a decade, adds up to a significant sum.

(BTW, Mr. Annan's brother Kobina is Ghana's ambassador to Marocco. Also, he seems to have a knack for making money, as this report on his involvement in the oil-for-food scheme shows.)

For some strange reason, I cannot find any mention of this smart rent saving scheme of Kofi in the German media...

They are probably still busy translating the piece.

Yes, I believe that's the case.

Another Triumph for German Diplomacy

Take note, Texan cowboy in the White House: here's an example of nuanced German style diplomacy.

German diplomats don't shoot from the hip - they talk even to hard core dictators, such as Syria's Assad. And Germany's foreign minister Steinmeier didn't mince his words:

"I call on Syria to desist from all actions that could contribute directly or indirectly to the destabilization of the situation," he said before boarding his return flight from Damascus to Germany: "If you follow this path, you will have a partner in Germany."

Hey, Germany's carrot and stick approach has worked before! Remember Steinmeier predecessor Joschka Fischer's sensational diplomatic success in the case of Iran's nuclear ambitions?

Here we go again. The results of Steinmeiers's Syrian talks so far are truly encouraging:

Nil. Zero. Nought.

Steinmeier himself is unable to present any meaningful reaction of Assad to his proposals. Reporting in the Syrian media is somewhat sparse.

Anyway, as I said, Steinmeier talked to Assad.

SPIEGEL ONLINE's Return to Vassalage

(By Ray D.)

One of SPIEGEL ONLINE's favorite hobbies used to be smearing Tony Blair as a mind-numbed "vassal" of the United States. Blair was repeatedly lambasted as a poodle, lapdog or underling of the Bush administration...even as then Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was signing billion dollar pipeline deals with Russia, ignoring atrocities in Chechnya and openly praising Vladimir Putin as a "spotless democrat." Since Angela Merkel took office, the "vassal" rhetoric seems to have subsided...or so we thought.

The "vassal" rhetoric is back and this time the perpetrator is Amerika-Korrespondent Gerhard Spoerl. In his most recent article, entitled "Bye, Bye Blockheads" Spoerl celebrates what he describes as the downfall of America's neo-conservative movement. He writes:

"John Bolton was among the subservient ones, the vassals who were increasingly congregating around strong figures like Rumsfeld. Douglas Feith was another one. But does anyone remember him? He was allowed to bully intelligence officials who had the audacity to voice an opinion on weapons of mass destruction that diverged from that of the Pentagon and the office of Vice President Cheney. Bolton ended up as the Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations. Yet another irony of fate: Bolton, the blockhead and America First type, as UN ambassador. As a diplomat. And now he has resigned. Finally."

Bolton as a diplomat! How terrible. Damned blockhead. Why couldn't he be more of a gentlemen like German diplomats? Take his German counterpart at the United Nations, Dr. Guenter Pleuger: When confronted (by me) with a magazine cover depicting Americans as parasitic blood-suckers at a talk held earlier this year at Georgetown University, he refused to condemn or so much as distance himself from the caricature. In fact, Dr. Pleuger looked right at the cover as I showed it to an audience of listeners and declared that anti-Americanism is "not a problem" in German media. Then of course there was the other German diplomat in New York who compared human rights in the United States to human rights in North Korea.

Interestingly enough, after deriding Bolton as a "vassal" and "blockhead," Spoerl cannot list a single example of what Bolton did wrong while serving at the United Nations. Apparently, engaging in petty name-calling is enough to engage the SPIEGEL audience.

The article also features another oft-used smear tactic common at SPIEGEL ONLINE:

• The "smear photo": A photo or photo caption that makes the subject look ridiculous, stupid, ugly, aggressive, silly or presents them in a generally unflattering manner. See this gallery of photos that accompanied the Spoerl article: Perle and Kristol are quite obvious examples. The "smear photo" technique has been quite common through much of German media for years now.

The photo gallery also includes Richard Armitage as one of the eight key neo-cons in America. Yet anyone who knows Armitage knows that he cannot stand Cheney, Rumsfeld, Feith and other "neo-cons" or conservative "hawks" in the Bush administration who he views as having betrayed Colin Powell, his former superior in the State Department. To label him a "neo-con" at this point is questionable at best.

And like so many other members of the Far Left, Spoerl looks down his nose at his political opponents by claiming that they were fools to believe that Iraqis would welcome Americans in 2003. It has become a given fact for many on the far-left that no Iraqis welcomed the Americans. Unfortunately, reality contradicts this all-too common revisionism. Many Iraqis clearly did welcome the Americans and these videos (and many more like them) prove it:

As we have mentioned before: Gerhard Spoerl and others like him are the true vassals. They are vassals to a special 1968-brand ideology of anti-American Schadenfreude that their sick readers simply can't seem to get enough of. They will twist facts and reality to fit their worldview and have demonstrated their willingness to do so time and again. They are intellectually stuck in the Vietnam-era and see everything through the prism of defeat for America, its military and its President. Right now, they are crowing and thumping their chests in self-satisfaction. What happens to the people of Iraq and what happened to the people of Vietnam and Cambodia after a US withdrawal is something they could truly care less about. If a few million people have to die for them to be right and maintain a firm footing on the moral high ground - then so be it.

And let us close by asking this: How often have you seen people like Gerhard Spoerl lifting so much as a finger to make the world a better place? All they can do is criticize and tear others apart because deep down they are so pathetic, miserable and inadequate. They would rather ridicule and wallow in their own cynicism than spend a moment formulating constructive, measured criticism in an attempt to find a better way forward. 

But hey, don't let the innuendo bother you. After all, the good folks at SPIEGEL are just trying to please their million readers.

Top German Diplomats: Anti-Americanism "Not a Problem" in German Media

(By Ray D.)

Last November, former German Ambassador to the United States Juergen Chrobog visited Washington, DC and held a small discussion and lecture. Yesterday, Germany's current Ambassador to the UN in New York, Dr. Guenter Pleuger, also visited Washington and held a lecture before a modest audience (25 to 30 people) at Georgetown University. I attended both meetings, and asked both men about the problem of anti-Americanism in German media. In the case of Ambassador Pleuger, I specifically showed him the infamous IG Metall cover that depicts Americans as bloodsuckers and also mentioned Stern's series on US History that states that Americans could care less about the rest of humanity.

In both cases I received a remarkably similar response, which can be summarized as follows:

1. Anti-Americanism in German media is "not a problem." Ambassador Pleuger failed to condemn the IG Metall caricature and told me to not take it so personally. He told me that the cases I mentioned were just two cases and strongly attempted to downplay the situation. Apparently it didn't bother him that Germany's largest trade union was vilifying Americans as blood-sucking parasites.
2. The media are the media and boys will be boys. In other words, it is not the responsibility or prerogative of German politicians to speak out or ever take a moral stand against defamation, racism and hate-mongering, especially when directed against Americans. (We have to point out that Westerwelle and the FDP are exceptions here.) Former Ambassador Chrobog actually implied that my criticism of German media made me like the "Russians" because the "Russians" apparently wanted to shut up critical German media and deny them freedom of speech. I made it clear that we at Medienkritik were not like the "Russians" in this respect and that honest criticism of media was not at all inconsistent with democratic principles.
3. The US media is also bad and that somehow lessens the German media's failure. Ambassador Pleuger mentioned that the NY Post called Schroeder and Fischer "weasels." Mr. Chrobog told me that the US media was not interested enough in Germany or other countries (which may be true). Still, I wonder how failure in US media justifies chronic bias in German media. I also wonder how calling politicians "weasels" is comparable to stating that Americans don't care about the rest of humanity or that Americans are bloodsuckers.

When I asked about anti-Americanism in German media, both diplomats were noticeably uncomfortable, and in Chrobog's case, downright combative. Ambassador Pleuger struck me as a friendly, good-natured man, but his long lecture and even longer answers to questions literally put the man sitting next to me to sleep (and he snored quite loudly for about a minute) and left the room half empty by the time he had finished answering questions. (That may explain why he is at the UN.) On a funny note, Pleuger continually refered to George H. W. Bush as "father Bush." On the other hand, his unwillingness to condemn the IG Metall cover was downright disturbing. (I even passed a copy of the magazine up to him and he barely looked at it.)

German Ambassador to the UN Pleuger: Looked at the cover above and the article title page below and claimed that anti-Americanism was "not a problem" in German media and society.

Article Title Page: "The Plunderers are Here"

Anyway, I did not want to report on this sooner because, as many of you know, Chrobog was kidnapped in Yemen not long after he visited Washington and I didn't want to make any critical remarks about him while he was in danger. Still, I think it is vital that people understand the mindset of top German officials, particularly top diplomats. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that Pleuger and Chrobog's attitudes are highly representative of their fellow colleagues and employees in the German Foreign Ministry. They are highly critical of American conservatives yet condone and downplay the most egregious and troubling behavior in German media. Considering that, is it any wonder that bilateral relations aren't what they could be?

Endnote: Let's also not forget the case of the "German diplomat from hell." If you'd like to contact Ambassador Pleuger, he can be reached through the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN here.

Consequences for the German Diplomat from Hell?

(By Ray D.)

Not long ago, we posted on an article entitled, "The German Chair: A tale of torture at the hands of an America-hating diplomat," by Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal. According to the author, a relatively senior German diplomat attached to the German Consulate General in New York invited him and his wife to Sunday brunch. The article details Mr. Stephens' account of the harrowing conversation that followed with diplomat "Thomas P.", in which the German official allegedly made the following statements:

• "The gulag was better than Gitmo, since at least the Stalinist system offered its victims a trial of sorts."
• "Civil rights in the U.S. were on a par with those of North Korea and rather behind what they had been in Europe in the Middle Ages."
• "The Wall Street Journal takes its orders from the government."
• "The only people who appreciate American foreign policy are poodles."

Semi-Surprising: Potential Consequences for Diplomat "Thomas P."

In Germany, big-shot bureaucrats and officials often get away with treating people like garbage with absolutely no consequences. So it was semi-surprising to read that the German government was actually taking the case seriously despite the best efforts of Uwe-Carsten Heye, the Director of the German Consulate General in New York, to downplay the allegations and cover for his underling. "Thomas P.", the diplomat who allegedly made the comments, denied the charges and claims the conversation went differently.  (Apparently he thinks Mr. Stephens would be willing to put his career and reputation as a journalist on the line and lie about the conversation simply to ruin his life.)

According to SPIEGEL ONLINE, diplomat "Thomas P." has been recalled to Berlin and the German Foreign Office (Auswärtigen Amt) has opened an investigation. The official will be required to report on the incident from his point of view. The German government apparently felt it necessary to closely examine the case to avoid further straining transatlantic relations.

SPIEGEL ONLINE further points out that the case has drawn the attention of Guido Westerwelle, the leader of Germany's FDP (Free Democrat Party), who sent out a fax demanding that Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer personally clarify what happened. Westerwelle is quoted as saying, "Someone who has such abstruse thoughts is hardly qualified to represent Germany."

Indeed. If "Thomas P." truly made the statements listed above, he has no place working as a German diplomat...especially not in the United States. Germany deserves diplomats who are capable of representing the nation with dignity in both public and private. Anyone capable of making statements so outrageous in any setting has no business serving our great land. Let's hope that German officials at the Foreign Office get to the bottom of this fiasco. We will continue to follow this case.

Update: Letters from our Readers

We would like to thank those of our readers who responded to our earlier call to write letters to German authorities about this case. Here are a few outstanding examples forwarded to us:

Letter 1:

Dear Generalkonsul Heye:

I oppose the foreign policy of the current U.S. administration. I deplore the yet-to-be-civil status of civil rights in this country. And I advocate the privilege of Free Speech.

Having said that, I add my voice to those who are appalled at the unseemly conduct of Thomas P., the diplomatic official who so egregiously abused his role as guest (in this country) and host (of journalist Bret Stephens and his wife).

Free speech is a curious thing. In the U.S., we allow everyone—including morons, hate-mongers and fascists—to speak their mind. But it is one thing to express one’s opinions in a professional setting, public or private. It is quite another matter to invite a guest and his wife to one’s home for an ostensibly social occasion, then subject them to overbearing, insensitive, and inappropriate rants.

That the Federal Republic of Germany should assign incompetents such as Thomas P. to any diplomatic position—never mind one so crucial—does not speak well of its standards. I urge you to take the appropriate steps to remove Herr P. from his position and replace him with someone who understands the difference between Free Speech and Disrespectful Oafishness.

Sincerely,

Leslie L.

For more letters, click the link below:

The German Diplomat from Hell

German Diplomat Describes Civil Rights in the USA as "on a par with those of North Korea"

We at Davids Medienkritik are not easily impressed by bad behavior from German elites. After all, we've seen and reported on a lot in the past. But we were simply blown-away by what we read in a recent Wall Street Journal piece by Bret Stephens:

The article, entitled, "The German Chair: A tale of torture at the hands of an America-hating diplomat", details Mr. Stephens harrowing conversation with a relatively prominent official from the German Consulate General in New York during a recent social call to his Manhattan apartment. The remarks of the German diplomat were so outrageous and over-the-top that it is difficult to understand how he received his position in the first place, even by German standards.

Here is the article's money passage:

"What occasioned this discovery was meeting a relatively senior German diplomat posted to the New York consulate. My wife--also German--knows his wife socially; our children use the same playground. They had invited us to their home for Sunday brunch.

I should say here that I speak almost no German, and it quickly became apparent that the diplomat's wife spoke almost no English. So it was perhaps natural that, soon after we arrived, she and my wife took to one corner of the spacious apartment while the diplomat ushered me into his study. Less natural was the conversation that followed. I made the normal chitchat of first encounters: praise for the unobstructed (and million-dollar) views of the Hudson River; a query about what he did at the consulate.

But the diplomat had no patience for my small talk. Apropos of nothing, he said he had recently made a study of U.S. tax laws and concluded that practices here were inferior to those in Germany. Given recent rates of German economic growth, I found this comment odd. But I offered no rejoinder. I was, after all, a guest in his home.

The diplomat, however, was just getting started. Bad as U.S. economic policy was, it was as nothing next to our human-rights record. Had I read the recent Amnesty International report on Guantanamo? "You mean the one that compared it to the Soviet gulag?" Yes, that one. My host disagreed with it: The gulag was better than Gitmo, since at least the Stalinist system offered its victims a trial of sorts.

Nor was that all. Civil rights in the U.S., he said, were on a par with those of North Korea and rather behind what they had been in Europe in the Middle Ages. When I offered that, as a journalist, I had encountered no restrictions on press freedom, he cut me off. "That's because The Wall Street Journal takes its orders from the government."

By then we had sat down at the formal dining table, with our backs to Ground Zero a half-mile away and our eyes on the boats on the river below us. My wife and I made abortive attempts at ordinary conversation. We were met with non sequiturs: "The only people who appreciate American foreign policy are poodles." After further bizarre pronouncements, including a lecture on the illegality of the Holocaust under Nazi law, my wife said that she felt unwell. We gathered our things and left."

The article was so upsetting that one of our German readers has already written an official letter of protest to the German Consulate General in New York and the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. You can view the letter's English version here, the German original here.

We want to encourage our readers to follow the good example of our reader. Please email, call and write the responsible German authorities with your thoughts on the matter.

The German Consulate General in New York can be contacted at: [email protected] and [email protected]. The Consulate General's contact info is here. 

We also suggest you forward a copy of your letter to the Embassy in Washington, DC at this link. 

You should also forward a copy to the office of Karsten Voigt, the German government's Coordinator for German-American Cooperation at: [email protected]

You may also want to forward a copy to the office of Dr. Friedbert Pflueger, the CDU/CSU fraction's expert for foreign policy in the Bundestag at: [email protected]

This is truly unacceptable for both Germans and Americans. This diplomat is an embarrassment to Germany and needs to be fired. Make your voices heard!

Note: We would leave to read your letters and any responses you receive in our comments section, or you can email them to us.

(Emphasis ours throughout, article by Ray D.)

German Diplomats to the Front!

It is a habit of mine to criticize the German media correspondents in the USA, namely those in Washington, for the deteriorated image of America in Germany. After all, Germans consider the biased and misleading reporting of German journalists as factual and trustworthy.

But it's not the German correspondents alone who shape German's perception of the U.S. - have a look at this interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about a special kind of German diplomat...

The German Chair
A tale of torture at the hands of an America-hating diplomat.

BY BRET STEPHENS

(...) the (relatively senior German) diplomat (posted to the New York consulate) ushered me into his study. ... I made the normal chitchat of first encounters: praise for the unobstructed (and million-dollar) views of the Hudson River; a query about what he did at the consulate. But the diplomat had no patience for my small talk. Apropos of nothing, he said he had recently made a study of U.S. tax laws and concluded that practices here were inferior to those in Germany. Given recent rates of German economic growth, I found this comment odd. But I offered no rejoinder. I was, after all, a guest in his home.

The diplomat, however, was just getting started. Bad as U.S. economic policy was, it was as nothing next to our human-rights record. Had I read the recent Amnesty International report on Guantanamo? "You mean the one that compared it to the Soviet gulag?" Yes, that one. My host disagreed with it: The gulag was better than Gitmo, since at least the Stalinist system offered its victims a trial of sorts.

Nor was that all. Civil rights in the U.S., he said, were on a par with those of North Korea and rather behind what they had been in

"Without Shedding a Drop of Blood" - Part 2

In response to complaints stemming from our recent article, the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. has been sending out the following standardized email on Ambassador Ischinger's comments regarding Central and Eastern Europe as quoted in the current May 30, 2005 edition of "The New Yorker":

"Dear _____

Thank you very much for your response to the article in The New Yorker which quotes the German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger on transformation in Europe. The Ambassador has asked me to convey to you the following:

My statement that "the region in this world that has seen the most transformation and change is Central and Eastern Europe" should have continued "since 1990". My unfortunate omission may have created the impression that I was not specifically referring to the peaceful transformational change since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, - the last 15 years. I am, of course, totally aware of the horrible history of bloodshed, terror and repression that characterized much of Europe in the first half of the 20th century and, in certain parts of Europe, well beyond 1945."

We are sorry if his comment lead to a misunderstanding, and we hope this clears it up.

Sincerely,

Spokesperson
German Embassy Washington"

Well, we are pleased that Ambassador Ischinger admits his "unfortunate omission." Sadly, he only makes things worse by trying to qualify his original statement. If we amend the Ambassador's previous quote from "The New Yorker" as he has asked us to do, it would read like this:

"As older societies, we tend to think of ourselves as more experienced in the way societies evolve, and we tend to be skeptical of Americans who seem to think that if you believe hard enough, and you muster enough resources, you can change the world."

"In the last year or so, as we've engaged in discussions about the transformation of the Middle East and democracy, I have told my American friends that the region in this world that has seen the most transformation and change is Central and Eastern Europe (since 1990)--without shedding a drop of blood. So don't preach to us."

It seems that the Ambassador would like us to believe that the changes in Central and Eastern Europe "since 1990" somehow occurred in an historic vacuum, completely independent of the Cold War events that preceded them. Furthermore, transformational changes in Central and Eastern Europe since 1990 have hardly occurred "without shedding a drop of blood.":

Photos from Central and Eastern Europe "since 1990"

Croatia: This woman bled to death all over a Zagreb street after Serb rocket attacks on the Croat capital. Thousands more died in ethnic cleansing campaigns conducted by both Serbs and Croats between 1991 and 1995.

Mass Grave in Srebrenica: About 7,500 Bosnians were killed in July 1995 in a zone that was supposedly under UN protection...

Sarajevo Graveyard: A three-year siege left this once beautiful Olympic city scarred forever with many of its citizens dead

Kosovo Graveyard: Thousands died in the Kosovo conflict during the late 1990s...NATO forces finally intervened and put an end to the fighting---without a UN resolution---and with the support of the Schroeder government

The "Disappeared" in Chechnya: Over 100,000 have already died in two Chechnya wars (1994-1996/1999 to present). Thousands have disappeared without a trace. The German government and "peace" movement have largely looked the other way and instead adopted a do-nothing policy of promoting "internal dialogue" in Russia...

Frankly, it is extremely difficult to understand how Ambassador Ischinger could possibly make such an insensitive, wrong-headed statement considering the fact that, according to his biography on the German Embassy's website, "he led the German delegations to a number of international negotiating processes, including the Bosnia Peace Talks at Dayton, Ohio, the negotiations concerning the NATO-Russia Founding Act, as well as the negotiations on NATO enlargement and on the Kosovo crisis."

In other words, Mr. Ischinger could not possibly be ignorant of what has happened in the Balkans over the past fifteen years and the thousands of victims of wars and genocide campaigns there. His clumsy attempts to correct and qualify his original statements as quoted by "The New Yorker" are even more upsetting and offensive than before. How could anyone with the slightest knowledge of Central and Eastern European history over the past decade-and-a-half possibly make such a statement, let alone a seasoned diplomat?

Ambassador Ischinger should stop trying to defend and amend his statements. They were wrong, they were undiplomatic and they were downright insulting. Mr. Ischinger would be well advised to simply admit he made a mistake and apologize for his outrageous remarks.

We won't be holding our breath though. Anyone capable of making statements as arrogant and condescending as those made by Mr. Ischinger is unlikely to express regret or remorse to those whose bloodshed and suffering he denies. As German citizens, David and I are both ashamed that Mr. Ischinger represents our great country in the United States.

Note: Those wishing to contact the German Embassy to comment on Mr. Ischinger's remarks, can best do so here. We suggest readers select "German foreign policy" as the subject of their inquiries/comments. The German Embassy's contact information can also be found here.

(Article by Ray D.)

"Without Shedding a Drop of Blood"

"As older societies, we tend to think of ourselves as more experienced in the way societies evolve, and we tend to be skeptical of Americans who seem to think that if you believe hard enough, and you muster enough resources, you can change the world."

"In the last year or so, as we've engaged in discussions about the transformation of the Middle East and democracy, I have told my American friends that the region in this world that has seen the most transformation and change is Central and Eastern Europe--without shedding a drop of blood. So don't preach to us." 

---German Ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger, as quoted in The New Yorker, May 30, 2005 edition, page 70.

Photos from Central and Eastern Europe:

Peter Fechter: Bled to death all over the base of the Berlin Wall after being shot in the back attempting to escape in August 1962. Around 200 others shared his fate. The last victim in Berlin, Chris Gueffroy, was shot to death by border guards in February 1989.

Soviet "liberation" of Eastern and Central Europe 1944-45. Millions were left dead or in prison camps. From 1945 to 1989, millions more ended up in prisons for alleged political crimes. Many never made it out alive...including scores of Americans.

Berlin Uprising 1953: Soviet tanks crushed German protests. Over 100 were left dead after the protests were put down.

1956 Revolution in Hungary: Between 25,000 and 50,000 Hungarians were killed by attacking Soviet forces bent on suppressing a popular uprising.

Prague: The True 1968 Revolution: Crushed by Soviet troops along with troops from several other Warsaw Pact nations, including East Germany, leaving over 100 dead and ending hope for democracy in Czechoslovakia.

April 9, 1989: Will forever be remember as "Bloody Sunday" in Georgia. Soviet troops broke up a peaceful anti-regime demonstration, killing twenty participants.

Timisoara, Romania, December 1989: Scores of anti-Ceaucescu demonstrators were gunned down in cold blood by government forces. Many of them are buried in the graveyard above.

How upsetting it must be for Ambassador Ischinger when his American friends preach to him about changing the world. If only more people would listen to him they would realize that appeasing dictators is far preferable to confronting them. Just look at the bloodless transformation in Eastern Europe. Of course the fall of the Berlin Wall came about almost entirely because of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik. The American military was a mere provocation standing in the way of European Socialist brotherhood and unity.

And it really is too bad that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette didn't have the sort of historic vision of the older, wiser European societies. They would have known that believing you can change the world if you just muster enough resources is a futile, utopian idea. After all, we could all be living under wonderful totalitarian monarchies and dictatorships today!

Think about it: The world would be far better off today if America just hadn't interfered so much in German and European affairs with its confounded idealism over the past hundred years. After all, those older, wiser, more experienced societies were evolving quite nicely without America getting in the way. What was so bad about Fascism, Communism, world war and mass genocide? It was all just a part of the nuanced, complicated European thought process...don't you get it you arrogant Yankees? And now you want to interfere again in Iraq? When will you ever learn to respect European wisdom?   

So get over yourselves! Why ever try to change the world for the better? Is being jaded and cynical really that difficult? Get with the times...you preachy Americans!

(Article by Ray D.)

Note: Those wishing to contact the German Embassy to comment on Mr. Ischinger's remarks, can best do so here. We suggest readers select "German foreign policy" as the subject of their inquiries/comments. The German Embassy's contact information can also be found here.

Update: Check out the Ambassador's outrageous response in "Without Shedding a Drop of Blood" - Part 2.

Thank You For Your Lecture, Wolfgang...

Here's a completely non-arrogant, balanced, nuanced assessment of the different political styles of the US and Germany, by the German ambassador to the US, Wolfgang Ischinger, as quoted in the current issue of the New Yorker:

"As older societies, we tend to think of ourselves as more experienced in the way societies evolve, and we tend to be skeptical of Americans who seem to think that if you believe hard enough, and you muster enough resources, you can change the world...In the last year or so, as we've engaged in discussions about the transformation of the Middle East and democracy, I have told my American friends that the region in this world that has seen the most transformation and change is Central and Eastern Europe--without shedding a drop of blood. So don't preach to us. And don't think transformative change will work according to mechanistic rules. This is very complicated. Changing the way people think often has to do with religious and cultural issues--we tend to think of them as long-term, and Americans think, Let's solve the problem in the next four years!"

Read the devastating critique of Ischinger's remark at The Belgravia Dispatch. BTW, this smart guy Ischinger is no stranger to this blog...

(Hat tip John T.)

Germany's Diplomacy is Paying Off

Finally: Germany's patient, multilateral diplomacy approach is paying off!

Democratic elections in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq. Masses in Lebanon demanding Syria's withdrawal. Elections (sort of) in Saudi Arabia (men only) and Egypt (hopefully). Marrocans marching for freedom. Kuwaiti women demonstrating for equal voting rights. And so on...

Vielen Dank, German diplomacy. Vielen Dank, foreign minister Joschka Fischer!

It is hard to overemphasize the contribution of German diplomacy to this cry for freedom from the "Arab street".

Of course, had the US followed the plea of Joschka "I am not convinced" Fischer and UN secretary general Kofi Annan March 2003 to abstain from military means in Iraq, democracy and freedom in the region would have materialized already much earlier.

Definitely. ... OK, probably.

Well, perhaps.

Or not at all.