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To: goldsnow who wrote (15619)12/29/1999 6:15:00 AM
From: cody andre  Respond to of 17770
 
He is inhaling the good stuff again ...

Forgot to mention that Germany-France duopoly has to bring Russia IN if they are to achieve peace in Europe.
As for the USE, Schroeder should cut the powder into half.



To: goldsnow who wrote (15619)12/29/1999 11:17:00 AM
From: MNI  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 17770
 
Hi gs, thanks for your excerpt, an interesting mirror of German publications, with some characteristic distortions.

The interview at Phoenix TV is obviously a tuned down version of an interview Schroeder gave 'Der Spiegel' political news printed magazine (at www.spiegel.de, they have a half-weekly review in English also), which is traditionally pro-SPD, but was anti-Schroeder for the longest part of his reign. Now it isn't anymore.

You know that I am not happy about the international conduct of the chancellor, nor of big parts of the parliamentarians. But one by one.

While Schroeder has clearly learned concerning European politics, and now takes more circumvision -especially with respect to France- than before, he is still the blind and noisy elefant between the delicate glassware. For fairness I should mention that the pointed 'versus' in the AP headline came out not so clearly in the interview, it was rather the older line 'to gain a responsible partner for the US'.
However I was surprised that the Chancellor predicted that in the long term (the year 2024 was mentioned) the prevalence of the US as the sole global superpower will be 'over for a long time', and that at that time EU and Russia will be in concerted action, while India, China and Africa will be equal powers to the NATO. He liked to mention that Germany was the main creditor of Russia (I am not sure whether that is true, but it maybe once was) and explained the debt of Russia was 60 billion Deutschmark, thereby suggesting that Russia could be bought by Germany - my God!

But what was even more striking to me: Schroeder has relied on very careful wording to avoid mentioning the word Nazi or any relatives of it. He therefore spoke of 'that part of our history', 'the darker hours' etc. He even succeeded in avoiding 'NAZI' and 'Germany' in relation to each other when discussing the process and outcome of the slave labour 'compensation' contract!

The chancellor's musings about world powers might be dismissed as unimportant and not very serious speculations, but that process of euphemisation cannot.
Unresponsible persons like that shouldn't be given government jobs!

As to my mentioned disliking of other parliamentarians: during the debate whether or not Germany should take part in the East Timor mission, the truly dangerous word 'Weltpolitik' was reintroduced into parliamentary German, and used by various politicians of various parties without any restraint. It has its' root in the famous chancellorian parliamentary speech that founded German pre-WWI hegemaniacism. It has been effectively shunned in the German parliament since the end of WWII, and is now reentered without dubitation, and linked to words like 'globalisation' 'global economic and political development', 'german interest' etc.

Since then I am alarmed for any misuse of language, and unconsidered steps in international politics, I can assure you. Disarm German politics! Let Germany be ruled by British, French, Italian and Dutch politicians! Remove those amateurs born between Harz and Hannover from any powered position!

In spite of this dull outlook,
I wish you a very Happy New Year,
regards,

MNI.



To: goldsnow who wrote (15619)12/29/1999 11:38:00 AM
From: MNI  Respond to of 17770
 
Just a flick of reading:

>>
Just beyond the horizon of current events lie two
possible political futures -- both bleak, neither
democratic. The first is a retribalization of large
swaths of humankind by war and bloodshed: a
threatened Lebanonization of national states in which
culture is pitted against culture, people against
people, tribe against tribe -- a Jihad in the name of a
hundred narrowly conceived faiths against every kind of
interdependence, every kind of artificial social
cooperation and civic mutuality. The second is being
borne in on us by the onrush of economic and
ecological forces that demand integration and
uniformity and that mesmerize the world with fast
music, fast computers, and fast food -- with MTV,
Macintosh, and McDonald's, pressing nations into one
commercially homogenous global network: one
McWorld tied together by technology, ecology,
communications, and commerce. The planet is falling
precipitantly apart and coming reluctantly together at
the very same moment."
<<
from theatlantic.com,
B.Barber, 1992.

For Europe it is vision two, vision two, vision two that is active - even if Gustave would claim number one for Belgium, and in a different way, for France inside EU. We don't see Germans reluctantly at globalisation. Americanisation is fun!

Regards MNI.